[5] It affords me great satisfaction to learn recently that Harvey Heywood has served during the late war, in the Southwest, with great gallantry, winning for himself a commission, being attached to the engineers, on the general staff. I found him to be an excellent draughtsman.
We set out on the 22d of October, the day following the celebration which closes the last chapter. Our sledge was lightly laden with a small canvas tent, two buffalo-skins for bedding, a cooking-lamp, and provisions for eight days. Our personal equipment needs but a brief description. An extra pair of fur stockings, a tin cup, and an iron spoon, per man, was the whole of it.
THE FIRST CAMP.
Our first camp was made at the foot of the glacier. The first camp of a journey anywhere in the world is usually uncomfortable enough, notwithstanding it may perhaps have its bright side; but this one, to my little party, did not appear to have any bright side at all. The temperature was -11°, and we had no other fire than what was needed in our furnace-lamp for cooking our hash and coffee. I believe no one slept. Our tent was pitched, of necessity, on a sloping hill-side, and on the smoothest bed of stones that we could find. We turned out in the moonlight and went to work.
The next journey carried us to the top of the glacier, and it was a very serious day's business. I have already described, in the last chapter, the rugged character of the gorge through which we were obliged to travel, in order to reach a point where we could scale the glacier. The laden sledge could not be dragged over the rocks and blocks of ice, and the men were therefore compelled to carry our equipments, piece by piece, on their shoulders. Reaching the spot where, with Mr. Sonntag, I had before made an ascent, we prepared to hoist the sledge.
The scenery was here quite picturesque. We were standing in a little triangular valley, with a lake in its centre. At our left rose the great glacier, and at our right a small stream of ice poured through a deep gorge. Before us stood a massive pillar of red-sandstone rock, behind which these two streams uniting, wholly surrounded it, making it truly an island—an island in a sea of ice. The little lake exhibited a phenomenon which I found quite instructive in connection with my present journey. It had been well filled with water at the close of the thaw season, and the ice was formed upon it before the water had subsided. When the lake had drained off under the glacier the ice was left with no other support than the rocks. In many places it had bent down with its own weight, and in one instance I observed that, the pressure being finally exerted on the corners of the remaining slab, this ice, in a temperature below zero, and six inches thick, had been twisted into a shape resembling the mold-board of a farmer's plow.
SCALING THE GLACIER.
The first attempt to scale the glacier was attended with an incident which looked rather serious at the moment. The foremost member of the party missed his footing as he was clambering up the rude steps, and, sliding down the steep side, scattered those who were below him to right and left, and sent them rolling into the valley beneath. The adventure might have been attended with serious consequences, for there were many rocks projecting above the snow and ice at the foot of the slope. The next effort was more successful, and the end of a rope being carried over the side of the glacier, the sledge was drawn up the inclined plane, and we started off upon our journey. The ice was here very rough and much broken, and was almost wholly free from snow.
We had not traveled long before an accident happened to me similar to that which had before occurred to Mr. Sonntag. Walking in advance of the party, who were dragging the sledge, I found myself, without any warning, suddenly sinking through the snow, and was only saved by holding firmly to a wooden staff which I carried over my shoulder, fearful that such a misadventure might befall me. The staff spanned the opening and supported me until I could scramble out. The crack may not have been very deep, but, not having found any support for my feet, I felt glad to have been able to postpone the solution of the interesting scientific question, as to whether these fissures extend entirely through the body of the glacier, to some future occasion.
As we neared the centre of the glacier the surface became more smooth, and gave evidence of greater security. The great roughness of the sides was no doubt due to an uneven conformation of that portion of the valley upon which the ice rested.