after wringing my getting it on was far from pleasant my eyes are better and i feel no bad effect from my icy bath the last trace of my three months cough is gone no could survive such experiences i have had a fine telling day examining the ruins of the old forest of that no great time ago grew in a shallow mud filled basin near the corner of the the trees were protected by a spur of the mountain that puts out here and when the advanced they were simply with fine sand and by the hundred three to fifteen feet high rooted in a stream of fine blue mud on still have their bark on a of bark leaves and old j my trip on the trunks is still in place some of the are on rocky of soil about one hundred and twenty five feet above the sea the valley has been washed out by the stream now occupying it one of the s streams a mile long or more and an eighth of a mile wide i got supper early and was just going to bed when i was startled by seeing a man coming across the professor who had seen me from the main camp and who came with mr and the cook in their boat to me over i had not intended making for them until to morrow but was glad to go i had been seen also by mr case and one of his companions who were on the western mountain side above the forest shooting i had a good rest and sleep and leisure to find out how rich i was in new facts and pictures and how tired and hungry i was chapter xix a few days later i set out with professor s party to visit some of the other large that flow into the bay to observe what changes have taken place in them since october when i first visited and them we found the upper half of the bay closely choked with through which it was exceedingly difficult to force a way after slowly struggling a few miles up the east side we dragged the whale boat and over rough rocks into a fine garden and comfortably for the night the next day was spent in cautiously picking a way across to the west side of the bay and as the strangely scanty stock of provisions was already about done and the ice jam to the northward seemed impenetrable the party decided to return to the main camp by a comparatively open way to the southward while with the and a handful of i pushed on northward after a hard anxious struggle i reached the mouth of the miller about and tried to find a camp spot on its steep bound shore but no where it seemed possible to drag the above high tide mark was discovered after examining a mile or more of this dreary forbidding barrier and as night was closing down i decided to try to my way across the mouth of the in the j to an open sandy spot on which i had in october a distance of about three or four miles with the utmost caution i picked my way through the sparkling and after an hour or two of this nerve trying work when i was perhaps less than across and the loss of the frail which would include the loss of myself i came to a pack of very large which loomed offering no visible and pushing to right and left i at last discovered a opening about four feet wide and perhaps two hundred feet long formed apparently by the of a huge i hesitated to enter this passage fearing that the slightest change in the tide current might close it but ventured nevertheless judging that the dangers ahead might not be greater than those i had already passed when i had got about a third of the way in i suddenly discovered that the smooth walled ice lane was growing and with desperate haste backed out just as the bow of the cleared the sheer walls they came together with a growling terror stricken i turned back and in an anxious hour or two gladly reached the rock bound shore that had at first me determined to stay on guard all night in the or find some place where with the strength that comes in a fight for life i could drag it up the wall beyond ice danger this at last was happily done about midnight and with no thought of sleep i went to bed rejoicing i i travels in my bed was two and as i lay and bent on their up sides the hard cold time in gazing into the sky and across the sparkling bay magnificent upright bars of light in bright colors suddenly appeared marching swiftly in close succession along the northern horizon from west to east as if in haste an display very different from any i had ever before beheld once long ago in i saw the heavens draped in rich purple clouds fringed and folded in most magnificent forms but in this glory of light so pure so bright so enthusiastic in motion there was nothing in the least cloud like the short apparently about two degrees in height though seemed to be as well defined as those of the how long these glad eager soldiers of light held on their way i cannot tell for sense of time was charmed out of mind and the blessed night away in rejoicing enthusiasm in the early morning after so inspiring a night i launched my feeling able for anything crossed the mouth of the miller and forced a way three or four miles along the shore of the bay hoping to reach the grand pacific in front of mt but the farther i went the ice pack instead of 