Flaming Jewel in Mountain Side.

Viewed from “Christmas Outlook,” some 3,000 feet above sea level, on Alec's Knob (4,288 feet), one of the lower peaks of the Kaiser Fritz range flanking the glacier on its Western or right-hand side looking up, the Franz Josef cannot but arouse the deepest feelings of reverence at the wholly delicate and yet sublime magnificence of the Creator's handiwork. It shines out as a vast, living, flaming jewel in the mountain side, scintillating under the brilliant rays of the sun like billions of gems of the finest hues…. Colossal and continuous masses of glowing white ice, measuring from half-a-mile to three-quarters of a mile in width and flowing at the rate of from 3 to 15 feet per day, are to be seen journeying down in weird, chaotic splendour, showing out here and there in splashes of the palest blue, in the most delicate shades of green, in violet and in saffron. In its colours, moreover, it is always changing—which is part of its strange enchantment—painting, as only Nature can paint, the most page 52 perfect of pictures, rose pink at dawn “and in sunset glow,” varying and ever-varying in sunlight, shadow and mist, never seen quite the same throughout the live-long day, or as the seasons advance. It is in its exceedingly unique setting, however, especially as revealed through the riot of Sub-Tropical forest, that it possesses its greatest charm. This is beyond one's wildest imaginings at any time of the year, but it reaches its climax in January, when the rata is in bloom, and the mountain sides, bordering the glacier for some three miles up its length are adorned in vast blazes of scarlet against the most vivid green.