334 
THROUGH ASIA 
this part of the glacier until after it has emerged from the 
mountain's arms. The right half, on the other hand, even 
when in the gorge, is exposed to the direct rays of the 
sun, and therefore melts incomparably the quicker. This 
fact was plainly perceptible in the shape of the glacier, 
even after its issue from the passage, as the right half was 
about 130 feet lower than the left. After it emerged, 
the glacier-tongue spread out to two or three times its 
previous breadth, and became correspondingly thinner, 
so that the process of melting goes on over a more 
extended surface, and the tongue soon shrinks to a com- 
paratively narrow point. 
The inevitable hailstorm came on at four o’clock. First 
of all, in the deep valley below us we saw light clouds, like 
smoke, hurrying before the north wind. Then they swiftly 
ascended the mountain-side, and before we knew where we 
were had enveloped us in their disagreeable vapour. It 
erew dark and cold. The hailstones rattled on the ice, 
o 
and we could do no work, only seat ourselves under the 
shelter of a lofty ice-pyramid, and wait. When we got 
back to the tent, a long time afterwards, we were very 
tired and half frozen. 
The new day which broke promised fine weather by 
way of a change, and we had a glorious trip to the 
Kamper-kishlak glacier, the right side of which we had 
still to examine. On that side the glacier sent out a 
massive “spine,” which almost touched the left flank 
of the lateral moraine of the Sarimek glacier. It con- 
sisted of a sheet of ice, nearly too feet thick, broken 
off almost perpendicularly at its face, and on the whole 
was remarkable for its great purity. There were no 
moraines on the front wall of the glacier worthy of the 
name ; but there were occasional blocks of gneiss and 
mica-schist, the largest measuring as much as 850 cubic 
feet. This rudimentary terminal moraine was fed in a 
niggardly way by the fragments of rock we had seen 
scattered about over the surface of the glacier. 
At the base of the glacier-wall there was a large grotto, 
a dozen feet high and nearly as many deep, which had 
