The hours passed quickly by as the supposed night wore away. At midnight
the twilight was so bright that one could read a newspaper easily. Then
the moon shone in the clear sky with all regal splendor until 3.30 in the
morning, when old Sol again put in his claims for admission. He lifted his
golden head above the snowy peaks, and spirited away the uncertain light
of unfolding dawn by drawing the curtains of the purpling east, and
sending floods of radiance upon the entire world. It was a sight never to
be forgotten, if seen but once in a lifetime.
Onward once again when the tide was in, and our next awakening was on the
grand glacier fields. The greatest sight of the entire trip, or of any
other in America, now opened out before many eager eyes. For several
days, icebergs had been seen sailing along on the smooth surface from the
great glaciers, and speeding to the southern seas like phantom ships. As
the ship neared the bay, these huge bergs increased in size and number,
with such grotesque and weird shapes, that the mind is absorbed in
shaping turrets, ghosts, goblins, and the like, each moment developing
more and more of things unearthly, until the heart and eyes seem bursting
with the strain, when suddenly a great roar, like the shock of an
explosion of giant powder, turns the eyes to the parent glacier to see
the birth of these unnatural forms. They break from the icy wall with a
stupendous crash, and fall into the water with such force as to send our
great ship careening on her side when the swell from the disturbed waters
strikes her.
The Muir glacier is the one that occupies the most attention, as it is
the most accessible to tourists. It rises to a perpendicular height of
350 feet, and stretches across the entire head of the Glacier Bay, which
is estimated from three to five miles in width. The Muir and Davidson
glaciers are two arms of that great Ice field extending more than 400
miles in length, covering more area