San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-07-31
SUNRISE ON A GLACIER.
A Marvellous Scene witnessed in Alasi
Wilds.


Wilds.
After we had seen the unwilling of
the majestic peaks and glaciers that
evening, and their baptism in the
downpouring sunbeams, it was incon-
ceivable that nature could have any
thing finer to show us. Nevertheless,
compared with what was coming the
next morning, all that was as nothing.
AS far as we could see, the lovely dawn
gave no promise of anything uncom-
mon. Its most impressive features
were the frosty clearness of the sky,
and deep, brooding calm, made all
the more striking by the intermittent
thunder of the bergs. The sunrise we
did not see at all, for we were beneath
the shadows of the ford cliffs; but in
the midst of our studies we
were startled by the sudden APP
pearance of red light burn
ing with strange, unearthly SPLEEN
dor on the topmost peak of the Fair
weather mountains. Instead of van
ishing as suddenly as it had appeared,
it spread and spread until the whole
range down to the level of the glaciers
was filed with the celestial fire. In
color it was at first vivid crimson,
with thick, furred appearance, as fine
as the alpenglow, yet indescribably
rich and deep-not in the least like a
garment or mere external flush or
bloom through which one might expect
to see the rocks or snow, but every
mountain apparently glowing from the
heart like molten metal fresh from a
furnace.
Beneath the frosty shadows of the
ford we stood hushed and awe-stricken,
gazing at the holy vision; and had we
seen the heavens opened and God
made manifest, our attention could not
have been more tremendously strained.
When the highest peak began to
burn, it did not seem to be stepped in
sunshine, however glorious, but rather
as if it had been thrust into the body
of the sun itself. Then the supernal
fire slowly descending, with sharp
line of demarkation separating it from
the cold, shaded region beneath, peak
after peak, with their spires and
ridges and cascading glaciers, caught
the heavenly glow, until all the
mighty host stood TRANSPORTED,
hushed and thoughtful, as if awaiting
the coming of the Lord. The white,
rayless light of the morning, seen
when l was alone amid the silent
peaks of the Sierra, had always
seemed to me the most telling of the
terrestrial manifestations of God. But
here the mountains themselves were
made divine, and declared His glory in
terms still more impressive.
How long we gazed l never knew.
The glorious vision passed away in a
gradual, fading change through thou
sand tones of color to pale yellow and
white, and then the work of the ice
world went on again in everyday
beauty. The green waters of the ford
were filled with sun-spangles; with
the upspringing breeze the fleet of ice
bergs set forth on their voyages; and
on the innumerable mirrors and prisms
of these bergs, and on those of the shat
tered crystal walls of the glaciers,
common white light and rainbow light
began to glow, while the mountains,
changing to stone, put on their frosty
jewelry, and doomed again in the thin
azure in serene terrestrial majesty.
We turned and sailed away, joining the
outgoing bergs, while "Gloria in Elk.
celsis" still seemed to be sounding over
all the white landscape, and our burn
ing hearts were ready for any fate,
feeling that whatever the future might
have in store. the treasures we had
| gained would enrich our lives forever.
John Muir. in Century.
The Crater OF PopocatepetL
The crater Of Popocatepeu contains
thousands Of tons of the purest sulphur
ever mined. When Cortez and his SOL
diers visited Mexico they needed sui
phur for gunpowder, and assembled the
mountains for the first time In its his