{177} A noticeable feature of the Alpine glaciers of Alaska is that they expand on passing beyond the valleys through which they flow and form delta-like accumulations of ice on the plains below. This expansion takes place irrespective of the direction in which the glaciers flow, and, so far as may be judged from the many examples examined, is independent of the débris that covers them. It should be remembered, however, that none of the Alaskan glaciers thus far studied show marked inequalities in the distribution of the moraines upon their surfaces. Should one side of a glacier, on leaving a cañon, be heavily loaded with marginal moraines, while the opposite border was unprotected, it is to be presumed that a deflection of the ice would take place similar to the change in direction recorded by the moraines about Mono lake, California.[34] The normal tendency of ice, when not confined, to expand in all directions and form a plateau is illustrated on a grand scale by the Malaspina glacier. [Footnote 34: Eighth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1889, part I, pp. 360-366.] The most important ice-streams about Mount St. Elias and Mount Cook are indicated on the map forming plate 8. The Tindall, Guyot, and Libbey glaciers and the lower part of the Agassiz glacier there represented are taken from a map published by H. W. Topham.[35] All of the other glaciers indicated on the map were hastily surveyed during the present expedition and are described to some extent in the accompanying narrative. By far the most important of these is the one named the Seward Glacier. [Footnote 35: Alpine Journal, London, vol. XIV, 1887, pl. op. p. 359.] * * * * *