tidal waves as we crept
around rocky points and along the bases of dizzy cliffs and
glacier-scored rock-shoulders. We were drenched to the skin; indeed, our
clothing and blankets had been soaking wet for days. For two hours
before we turned the point into the cozy harbor in front of the glacier
we had been exerting every ounce of our strength; Lot in the stern
wielding his big steering paddle, now on this side, now on that,
grunting with each mighty stroke, calling encouragement to his crew,
"_Ut-ha, ut-ha! hlitsin! hlitsin-tin!_ (pull, pull, strong, with
strength!)"; Joe and Billy rising from their seats with every stroke and
throwing their whole weight and force savagely into their oars; Muir and
I in the bow bent forward with heads down, butting into the slashing
rain, paddling for dear life; Stickeen, the only idle one, looking over
the side of the boat as though searching the channel and then around at
us as if he would like to help. All except the dog were exhausted when
we turned into the sheltered cove.

While the men pitched the tents and made camp Muir and I walked through
the thick grass to the front of the large glacier, which front stretched
from a high, perpendicular rock wall about three miles to a narrow
promontory of moraine boulders next to the ocean.

"Now, here is something new," exclaimed Muir, as we stood close to the
edge of the ice. "This glacier is the great exception. All the others of
this region are receding; this has been coming forward. See the mighty
ploughshare and its furrow!"

For the icy mass was heaving up the ground clear across its front, and,
on the side where we stood, had evidently found a softer stratum under
a forest-covered hill, and inserted its shovel point under the hill,
heaved it upon the ice, cracking the rocks into a thousand fragments;
and was carrying the whole hill upon its back towards the sea. The large
trees were leaning at all angles, some of them submerged, splintered and
ground by the crystal torrent, some of the shattered trunks sticking out
of the ice. It was one of the most tremendous examples of glacial power
I have ever seen.

"I must climb this glacier to-morrow," said Muir. "I shall have a great
day of it; I wish you could come along."

I sighed, not with resignation, but with a grief that was akin to
despair. The condition of my shoulders was such that it would be madness
to attempt to join Muir on his longer and more perilous climbs. I
should on