136 
GLACIER FORMATION. 
hill, came dashing wildly over the rocks, green with 
the mosses and carices of Arctic vegetation ; while 
from the dome-like summit a stream, that had tun- 
neled its way through the ice from the yalley still 
higher above, burst out like a fountain, and fell in a 
cascade of foam- whitened water into the sea. 
The glacier itself was of the class which Saussure 
has designated as the second order. It was a small 
but elepnt type of glacial structure, and was to me 
conclusive as to the identity in all essential features 
of the Polar and Alpine ice-growths. Its material was 
hard but vesicular ice, and seemed marked by strati- 
fied bands rudely parallel with its rocky base. These 
bands commenced with bluish-green compact ice, near- 
ly transparent, and then gradually shaded off as they 
rose into a more vesicular structure, which ended in 
an almost granular whiteness. 
These markings, which I had an opportunity after- 
ward of studying in the bergs, were seemingly inde- 
pendent ol veined or ribboned structure. I look upon 
them as indices ol the annual growth ; made up by 
the snows and atmospheric deposits of the non-thaw- 
ing season, gradually melted, compressed, and refrozen 
during the alternating temperatures of the summer 
months. This view will explain the compact, trans- 
parent character of the lower jDortions of the band, and 
also its gradual transition into a nearly granular ma- 
terial ; for the surface thaws and rains which follow 
the long winter growth, percolating to the bottom, 
would impress the mass throughout its extent with 
these difterent changes. 
The direction of these lines was thus nearly in the 
long axis of the glacier. As they descended to the 
surface of its trough, a gradually deepening earth-stain 
