272 
THE GLACIER. 
The discharge of water from the lower surface of the 
glacier exceeded that of any of the northern glaciers 
except that of Humboldt and the one near Etah. 
One torrent on the side nearest me overran the ice¬ 
foot from two to five feet in depth, and spread itself 
upon the floes for several hundred yards; and an¬ 
other, finding its outlet near the summit of the gla¬ 
cier, broke over the rocks, and poured in cataracts 
upon the beach below. 
The ranunculus, saxifrages, cliickweeds, abundant 
mosses, and Arctic grasses, flourished near the level of 
the first talus of the glacier: the stone crops I found 
some two hundred feet higher. The thermometer was 
at 90° in the sun; in the shade at 38°. 
I have tried to describe the natural features of the 
scene, but I have omitted that which was its most 
valued characteristic. It abounded in life. The 
lumme, nearly as large as canvas-backs, and, as we 
thought, altogether sweeter and more juicy; their eggs, 
well known as delicacies on the Labrador coast; the 
cochlearia, growing superbly on the guano-coated sur¬ 
face ;—all of them in endless abundance:—imagine such 
a combination of charms for scurvy-broken, hunger- 
stricken men. 
I could not allow the fuel for a fire; our slush and 
tallow was reduced to very little more than a hundred 
pounds. The more curious in that art which has dig¬ 
nified the memory of Lucullus, and may do as much 
for Soyer, made experiments upon the organic matters 
within their reach,—the dried nests of the kittiwake. 
