moraine. The descent required great caution, many of
the blocks being loose and easily displaced. When I
had reached the surface of the glacier, the passage was
not difficult. About a quarter of its width on each side
was occupied by blocks of stone ; the centre was almost
entirely ice, extremely irregular, and here and there a little
fissured. The pathway, which was only marked by the
footsteps of two men whom I had sent the day before to
select a place for crossing, at one time ascended to the
top of a ridge of ice, at another descended into a deep
hollow. At the time I crossed (about eleven a .m .) numerous
streams of water had begun to flow in furrows
on the surface of the ice. The whole width was close
upon half a mile, and on the north side I ascended a
steep moraine similar to that which I had previously
descended.
-From the top of the bank on which the moraine rested,
a second glacier came in sight at the distance of a mile!
My exploring party reported that they had been unable
to find a point at which this glacier could be crossed, and
as from the appearance of the mountains behind I felt
certain that after crossing it I should only arrive at a
third, I did not long persevere in trying to find a passage,
but descended to its extremity in order to see whether
or not I could walk round it, as it did not appear
to enter the water. At the bottom of the valley it spread
out in a fan-shaped manner to the width of at least a mile;
perhaps indeed much more, for as I failed in getting
round it, I was unable to ascertain precisely. At its
south-east corner, where it was nearly a hundred yards
from the river, a considerable stream, white with suspended
mud, was rushing out from beneath an arched
vault of ice, even before sunrise. To avoid fording this
icy stream, the margins of which were thickly frozen, I
crossed with a good deal of difficulty an angle of the end
of the glacier. On its surface I found several small moraines,
which had sunk down into grooves ten or fifteen
feet deep, and had therefore been invisible from outside.
Further progress on the ice was stopped by cliffs which
were not accessible without ladders, so that I had to descend
to the bank of the Shayuk. I walked along between
the ice and the river, till my advance was stopped
by the glacier fairly projecting into the water in such
a manner that I could not see anything of what lay beyond.
The icy wall being quite inaccessible, I could not
get upon the surface of the glacier to attempt to advance
in that way, nor could I ford the river, which was very
deep.
The terminal cliff of the glacier varied in height from
fifteen to thirty feet, and a talus of large stones lay in
front, evidently deposited by it. Indeed, while I was
there I saw several small stones which projected from
the face of the cliff, drop out by the melting of the ice
in which they were imbedded. Many cavities were seen
in the ice, from which large stones must have dropped
out no longer ago than the day before, and the stones
which, corresponded in size to them were seen lying
close at hand. Before I left the front of the glacier,
the heat of the sun having become considerable, rapid
thaw had commenced; rills of water trickled down its
face in every direction, and the sound of falling stones
was to be heard on all sides. Now and then a report