114 
FORMS OF BERGS. 
in series during the progress of the original glacier. 
In one instance an escarped face of herg was impressed 
in intaglio with the mould of the cliff from which it 
had been severed, and the upper marginal line was 
studded with angular and attrited fragments, evident- 
ly deposited during the movement of the glacier. This 
interesting fact, which I have not found noticed in any 
of the books, admitted of no deception. We could not 
stop to collect specimens, but I had time to make an 
accurate sketch of the section, and was near enough 
to recognize the schistose character of the adhering 
detritus. 
The glacier, although too distant for nice observa- 
tion, showed how very readily such a debacle might 
carry with it not only the impression of its valley side, 
but rudimentary moraine traces, deposited from the 
ridges adjacent and above. With a Fralinhofer glass, 
I could see that the dark knob-like protrusions, which 
rose here and there above the surface of the glacier, 
were the presenting faces of hills that went back in 
winding ridges, on both sides of which a discolored 
line indicated the accumulation of detritus. 
The forms of these bergs were constantly varying 
under the action of the waves and the consequent 
changes in their equilibrium. Many of them were in- 
teresting, some fantastic, and some occasionally beau- 
tiful for their symmetry ; but I do not think they im- 
pressed us as vividly as they seem to have done other 
voy agers with their resemblance to more familiar ob- 
jects. Except when they came to us embellished by 
refraction, we had few of these imaginative pictures. 
Yet there was about the forms, and the coloring also, 
of the berg ice, a harmonious variety and grace, that 
needed no prototype to commend them. 
