Chapter VIII. 
afternoon they went down to the camp, as the weather was 
getting worse. The day had been completely wasted as far as 
exploring work was concerned. 
The 24th and the 25th of June were spent in a dense fog, 
with alternations of rain, snow, and hail. The guides set out- 
on a short excursion to endeavour to find the way to Mt. Emin 
across the valleys which run down to the north-west of 
Mt. Speke. On the 25th, H.R.H. attempted to proceed, but 
was very soon forced to return, the fog being so dense that 
it seemed like night. 
During these two days of obligatory rest, the Duke was 
able to observe in the little torrents which flow down from the 
Speke Glacier the periodic oscillations of volume, ranging from 
a minimum in the morning to a maximum in the evening, which 
are characteristic of torrents produced by the melting of ice. 
There would be no reason to comment upon this fact were it not 
that Mr. Freshfield was led, from observation of the small 
dimensions of the Mobuku torrent where it springs from the 
glacier, and from the limpidity of its waters, to conclude that 
it rather originated from a spring under the glacier than from 
actual melting of the ice. 
This view fits in with Mr. Freshfield’s general theory that 
tropical glaciers are consumed chiefly by evaporation, and in 
a minor degree only by melting. Whatever may be the con¬ 
ditions in the Himalayas, there can be no doubt that in this 
respect the glaciers of Huwenzori resemble those of our own 
Alps, and that they all give rise to torrents flowing from their 
extreme end with all the characteristic features of glacier 
torrents. As a matter of fact, the climate of Huwenzori is very 
little tropical in its nature, and it would seem that a condition 
of atmosphere so saturated with moisture as to render the 
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