THE ESCALADED STRUCTURE. 
147 
The surface seemed to follow that of the basis- 
country over which it flowed. It was undulating 
about the horizon, but as it descended toward the 
sea it represented a broken plain with a general incli¬ 
nation of some nine degrees, still diminishing toward 
the foreground. Crevasses, in the distance mere 
wrinkles, expanded as they came nearer, and were 
THE ESCALADED STRUCTURE. 
crossed almost at right angles by long continuous 
lines of fracture parallel with the face of the glacier. 
These lines too, scarcely traceable in the far dis¬ 
tance, widened as they approached the sea until they 
formed a gigantic stairway. It seemed as though the 
ice had lost its support below, and that the mass was 
let down from above in a series of steps. Such an 
action, owing to the heat derived from the soil, the 
