644 THE UNIVERSE. 



ice, as they are called, possess a very decided movement of 

 their own, the force of which no power can stop. They 

 constantly tend towards the base of the valleys, where the 

 milder temperature transforms their mass into the water 

 which forms our river-sources. 



The first geologists who announced that glaciers move 

 like rivers, though much more slowly, found their views 

 very ill received by their colleagues. 



However, this phenomenon had been suspected ever since 

 it had been noticed that a small stone hut, situated on the 

 side of the Lower Aar Glacier, in the upper Alps, had de- 

 scended towards the valley. 



Desirous of clearing up this mystery, Agassiz had the 

 courage to go thither, and for two years to confine himself 

 to a residence on this glacier in a hut sheltered by a frag- 

 ment of rock, a rude abode, which, since the sojourn there 

 of the illustrious naturalist, has enjoyed a certain celebrity, 

 and which is now known only as the Hotel of the Neufcha- 

 telese. What a hotel ! A room excavated in the ice, and a 

 bed of stone covered with a mattress of hay ! 



Soon after he had been installed in this frightful desert, 

 Agassiz discovered the hut we have spoken of ; it had de- 

 scended about 4930 feet in thirteen years, showing that the 

 annual movement of the glacier was about 380 feet. 



But, notwithstanding their aspect of grandeur and ter- 

 ror, notwithstanding the too frequent sacrifice of life they 

 occasion, what are the glaciers of the Alps in appearance 

 and extent when compared to the congealed deserts of the 

 polar regions, as, for instance, the glaciers of Spitzbergen, 

 and especially the Humboldt Glacier, which presents to the 



