Some of the ice moved slowly down the mountain side. It formed the rivers of ice which the travelers see on the mountain slopes. But as the rivers of ice got lower down the mountain, the ice melted, but it melted very, very slowly. Little by little, only a few inches a year, the river of ice has moved back. As the ice moved down the slopes it carried under it big rocks and fine gravel. Great heaps of the rock and gravel are left behind when the ice melts. From those rocks men can tell just how far the ice moves back each year.
WALKING ON A GLACIER
Sometimes the ice melts in such a way that a cave is formed in the ice. As the sun shines on the thin walls around the cave the colors on the ice are very beautiful. The ice looks green, purple, and blue instead of white like the rest of the glacier. Some bits of the ice hang down, or stick up, like great icicles. The icicles too are bright colors in the sunshine.
Sometimes visitors to the glacier go into the cave or walk about on the ice. They do not stay long, for the ice cracks and pops and makes a great deal of noise. The visitors are always told that pieces of ice often break off the glacier and come sliding down.
Fredrik has been up to the top where the great ice-sheet lies for miles, and miles, and miles. You may be sure that Fredrik was not alone on the glacier. He went with a guide who knew where all the cracks in the ice are. Walking on a glacier is dangerous for a person who does not know the ice. The ice is most dangerous when soft snow covers the deep cracks in the ice. Then a traveler may step on some soft snow and drop several feet into the ice. But travelers say that a walk on a glacier is great sport for people who have learned how to walk there. Many travelers from different parts of the world go to Norway to climb glaciers.
Freezing and thawing made the rocks on the mountain crack and break. So after the glaciers passed, the low places between the mountains were cut deeper. Water from the sea came in to fill those low places and make the fjords.
A NORWEGIAN FJORD
So the great ice sheets were the real giants that made the sharp peaks of the mountains, the waterways, and the lakes of the north land.