20S 
THE POLAR SEASONS. 
such deposits, it never met the eyes for which it was 
intended. 
The lake abounds in fish, apparently the salmon- 
trout; but the natives have not the art of fishing. 
The stream, which tunnels its way out near the 
glacier-foot, is about ten feet in diameter; and I was 
assured that it never completely suspends its flow. 
Although the tunnel closes with ice, and the surface 
of the lake freezes for many feet below, the water may 
still be seen and heard beneath, even in midwinter, 
wearing its way at the base of the glacier. 
This fact is of importance, as it bears upon the tem¬ 
perature of deep ice-beds. It shows that with an 
atmosphere whose mean is below zero throughout the 
year, and a mean summer heat but 4° above the 
freezing-point, these great Polar glaciers retain a high 
interior temperature not far from 32°, which enables 
them to resume their great functions of movement and 
discharge readily, when the coM of winter is at an 
end, and not improbably to temper to some extent 
the natural rigor of the climate. Even in the heart of 
the ice nature has her compensations. 
The phases of the Polar year so blend and separate 
that it is difficult to distribute them into seasons. In 
the Arctic latitudes a thousand miles to the south, 
travellers speak of winter and summer as if the climate 
underwent no intermediate changes. But nature im¬ 
presses no such contrasts upon any portion of her 
realm; and, whatever may be the registrations of the 
meteorologist, the rude Esquimaux of these icy soli- 
