Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-06
GLACIERS.
Some of Their Curious Features-Val-
leys Filled With Ice.

legs Filled With Ice.
From the Edinburgh Scotsman.
Although we are far removed from the
Ice Age in point of time. the tourist agen-
cies have made 1t easy for any one who has
a week or two to spare and few pounds
in his pocket to visit countries where gla
cial conditions still prevail. Probably the
first impression of most visitors to a glacier
is that it is very like its picture. There
are the snow-crowned mountains. There is
the ice-filled galley. There are all the va
pict them. This first impression however,
is very superficial one. Glaciers are just
like most things in this world. When we
get to know them we find they are quite
different, in some respects. at least, from
what we expected. AS acquaintance ripens
we find out all sorts of little things which
perfectly well, but never thought of men,
tioning. things which perhaps were so ia
miliar to them. that to describe them would
have seemed like saying that rain is wet or
that snow is cold, but which nevertheless
fill the novice with the pleasure of having
discovered the unexpected.
One of the things which first struck the
writer when he first spent few days in the
near neighborhood Of a glacier was to find
what a noisy creature 1t was. Somehow
one associates with snow and ice the idea
of intense quiet, and no doubt IL one climbs
high up~among the snow on the mountains
one will find it quiet enough. But lower
down, on the surface of the glacier. there
Is at least in summer time. continuous
noise. The noise is the voice Of many wa
tiers. All around are innumerable little
rivulets caused by the melting of the ice in
the heat of the summer sun. These trickle
and babble and splash their sinuous courses
for longer or shorter distances but none go
very far before they plunge headlong down
one of the numerous assures or crevasses.
Some seem to fall into a larger torrent far
below: Others make their way into some
glacial mill where stones are churned round
and round, just as one may see In the pot
holes in the stream at East Linton.
By listening intently one may be able to
hear this churning sound mingling with the
voice of the waters. Miniature avalanches
contribute their quota of noise. Now some
pinnacle of ice topples over and splinters
into a thousand fragments. Anon a hand
full of stones come sliding down the side of
a ridge of ice, perhaps to splash into a
pool All these various causes combine to
produce a wonderful amount of noise. An
other curious feature of glaciers is that the
surface of the ice in many instances ap-
pears quite extraordinarily dirty. This
does not seem as it should be. Snow is one
of the symbols of purity Surely the ice
descending from the pure white snow on
the mountains should be pure also. Yet
when we view the glaciers from a little dis
lance we are often surprised at the enor-
nous amount Of debris gathered on its sur
face Besides the central moraine mo-
rafnes-often there are several-composed of
considerable masses of stone, we find finer
particles Of matter embedded in the ice all
over the surface, often in sufficient guam
tity to give it a grayish color.
All this solid matter has at time
another fallen upon the surface of the gla-
cier, and is being borne along by it as a
river bears along the sticks and leaves that
fall into it. But In the case of glacier
we may have exposed to view the accumu-
lations of hundreds of years. At the lower
end of the glacier there is much of interest.
In the first place there is very often great
cave in the ice, and from this there issues
the glacier stream. This cave often looks
as If it ought to be explored, and it may be
possible to make ones way under the ice
for considerable distance. But let the
traveller beware. Expeditions of this kind
are far from safe. The interior Of a gla-
cier may be studied safely emo, h in the
grottos and tunnels which carved into
the living ice of many show glaciers, such
as that of the Rhone But the ice at the
debouche of the stream is in unstable
condition Every now and then the cave
partially collapses, or great masses of ice
fall from the roof, and in a moment an
unwary tourist may be trapped or crushed
to death.