72 



JOHN BURROUGHS 



BARRY GLACIER FROM A DISTANCE. 



(entrance to harriman fiord around the point 

 on the left.) 



The Captain naturally hesitated to enter it; it was un- 

 mapped and unsounded water. 



" Go ahead, Captain," said Mr. Harriman, " I will take 



the risk." 



We went on 

 under a good 

 head of steam 

 down this new 

 inlet where no 

 ship had ever 

 before passed. 

 It was one of 

 the most excit- 

 ing moments 

 of our voyage. 

 We could see 

 another huge 



glacier about ten miles ahead of us with its front on the 

 water barring the way. Glaciers hung on the steep 

 mountain sides all about us. Some of them, as Mr. 

 Elliot said, looked like the stretched skins of huge polar 

 bears. The scene was wild and rugged in the extreme. 

 One of the glaciers was self-named the Serpentine by 

 reason of its winding course down from its hidden sources 

 in the mountains — a great white serpent with its jaws 

 set with glittering fangs at the sea. Another was self- 

 named the Stairway, as it came down in regular ter- 

 races or benches. A Colossus of Rhodes with seven- 

 league boots would have been an appropriate figure upon 

 it. As we neared the front of this last glacier the moun- 

 tains to the left again parted and opened up another new 

 arm of the sea, with more glaciers tumbling in mute 

 sublimity from the heights, or rearing colossal palisades 

 across our front. Another ten-mile course brought us to 

 the head of this inlet, which was indeed the end of navi- 



