. 
228 THE GREAT GLACIER. 
that I was looking upon the counterpart of the great 
river-system of Arctic Asia and America.. Yet here 
were no water-feeders from the south. Every particle 
of moisture had its origin within the Polar circle, and 
had been converted into ice. There were no vast allu¬ 
vions, no forest or animal traces borne down by liquid 
torrents. Here was a plastic, moving, semi-solid mass, 
obliterating life, swallowing rocks and islands, and 
ploughing its way with irresistible march through the 
crust of an investing sea. 
_ 
