390 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



unsurpassed in Switzerland itself. Here, as on the Alps, the glacier and the 

 snow-clad peak appear in all their grandeur ; here also, in the valleys, the sum- 

 mer brooks flow between well-clothed banks, and the Helvetian lakes are wor- 

 thily rivalled by the magnificent fjords of Greenland. 



In many parts, the waves, beating against the steep coasts of the islands 

 and fjords, render access difficult, if not impossible during the summer, but in 

 winter or spring they may easily be visited across the ice. The surf has worn 

 many caves in these precipitous rock-walls, which are no less remarkable for 

 their picturesque basaltic forms than for the huge masses of ice on their sides, 

 which, in their tints and grouping, far surpass the stalactites of the most re- 

 nowned European grottoes. 



