THE GLACIERS IN GENERAL.

53

the snow and the rocks. The most singular feature of this picture is perhaps a flat rock situated like an island amidst the ices and snows of Talèfre. It is almost circular in shape, a little elevated above the level of the glacier, and its summit is carpeted with green. The eternal frosts which cover this region seem to respect it: they either never touch the island, or quit it earlier than the rest of the mountain. At the end of August it is covered with a beautiful turf spangled with a variety of the prettiest Alpine flowers. It is called the Courtil, which, in the dialect of the country, as well as in old French, signifies a garden; indeed, it is now called "Le Jardin." It is even formed like one, for the glacier has deposited around it a barrier of stones and gravel, which form its enclosure. The view of Mont Blanc given in this volume has been taken from this spot.

THE GLACIERS IN GENERAL.

THE fall of snows, in the form of avalanches, is a well-known phenomenon. The fall of ice, on the other hand, effected more slowly and with less noise, has not been so particularly noticed. It may be easily understood that these masses of ice, following unavoidably the slope which constitutes their foundation, being disengaged by the waters from their connection with that basis, and even lifted up by those waters, would gradually slide down the hills which they cover. It is this slow but continued sliding which carries them into the

lower valleys, and causes accumulations of ice in places warm enough to produce great trees, and even rich harvests.

All these enormous glaciers have, at their lower extremities and along their borders, masses of sand and rubbish, the result of the crumbling of the mountains which rise above them; and they are not unfrequently encased along their entire length by a species of parapet and intrenchment, composed of the same kind of débris, which the lateral ices of other glaciers have lodged at their sides. Among the glaciers which were formerly larger than they are at present, these parapets rise considerably above the ice itself; in those of more recent formation, on the contrary, these parapets are below the surface of the ice, or upon a level with it. The peasants of Chamouni call these heaps of decayed matter the moraine of the glacier, and this title has been adopted by men of science.

Even in the winter these glaciers have been known to move, and drive before them the accumulated earth at their feet; but it is in the summer time that the pressure produces the grandest effects upon the objects which oppose themselves to their progress. “In July 1761," says De Saussure, "I was a witness of one of these scenes. Accompanied by my guide, I was passing under a very elevated glacier, when I observed a cubical block of granite, nearly forty feet square, standing on the debris at the foot of the glacier. placed there by a previous slip of the ice.

It had been

Let us make

THE NUMBER OF GLACIERS.

6

55

haste,' said the guide, or the ice resting against that rock may force it away and roll it upon us.' Scarcely were the words out of his mouth, when the rock began to shake it slipped at first slowly on to the débris which formed its base, then it fell on its face, then on one side; gradually it began to roll, and as the descent became more rapid it bounded along with great strides, at each bound scattering fragments of itself or of the rocks which it struck in its fall, and making the while a loud noise. At length it assumed the appearance of a fierce torrent of rocks of all sizes, which dashed against a forest, where its course was arrested after it had cut a road, in a few moments, half a league in length.”

The brothers Schlagintweit, so celebrated for their exploration of Upper Asia, made a very complete survey of the Alps. They counted from 1000 to 1100 glaciers, covering a superficies of earth equal to of the entire mountainous surface. Thirty-five of these glaciers fall into the valleys of the mountains from a height of 6200 feet, and they reach a level about 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Nothing on the other European chains can be compared to these enormous rivers. Seen in their congelated and immovable condition, they appear to be as eternal as the cliffs which overhang them; and the contemplation of their silent grandeur produces in the soul the impression of profound repose, supreme peace. And yet they can flow like the torrent which emanates from them; the solid waves which bristle their surface rise and fall in their course like the billows of

the ocean; they have their whirlpools and their tides; and the powerful moraines which they cast through the opening gorges is equivalent in value to the alluviæ which is deposited by the overflow of rivers.

MONT BLANC.

It was not until the close of the last century that the summit of this mountain, the culminating point of the European continent, was first trodden by human footsteps. For twenty-six years the distinguished naturalist, De Saussure, attempted the task; but all his efforts were futile. Thirty excursions in the Alps had made him acquainted with all the details of the mountain chain; but he could not take in their ensemble at one view, and he pined to achieve that object by making Mont Blanc his observatory. "This desire," says he, "became a sort of disease with me: my eyes never beheld that Colossus, which is visible from so many points, and at such great distances, without my experiencing a mournful sentiment." At length, however, his noble ambition was crowned with success. In August 1787 he reached the summit so long and ardently coveted. The road had been discovered in the previous year by Jacques Balmat, a simple guide, who subsequently perished in the glaciers. Balmat had disclosed the way to Dr. Paccard, but the doctor's physical strength was unequal to the fatigue of the ascent. Several other endeavours to reach