46 SPARKS FROM A GEOLOGIST'S HA3IMER. 



ricochet along in company with it, and leaping from the 

 precipice, endanger the safety of the rapt spectator of the 

 scene, 



A short distance below we encounter another '* nant " 

 dancing down in a gentler mood. 



The moraine on which we travel is an immense ridcre 

 of boulders and pulverized rocks. On our right it de- 

 scends from thirty to fifty feet, forming a little valley 

 between us and the contiguous mountain. On our left 

 the descent is from fifty to one hundred feet to the sur- 

 face of the glacier. On this side the elements are caus- 

 ing the moraine to crumble away, and many a land-slide 

 has made it necessary to change the location of the tour- 

 ist's path. The material is deposited upon the glacier, 

 and enters into the formation of a new and smaller mo- 

 raine, corresponding to the present stage and condition 

 of the glacier. It is evident that this great moraine is 

 gradually disappearing. It is equally evident that when 

 it was formed the glacier filled the valley a hundred feet 

 higher than at present. And the polished rocks of the 

 mountain wall further evince that at some period ante- 

 cedent to the creation of this great moraine the ice 

 rubbed the sides of the mountain at altitudes a hundred 

 and fifty or two hundred feet above the existing ice-level. 



Our moraine, as we advance, grows thinner, and now 

 it fades out against a steep sloping wall of (schistose) 

 rock, along which we pass, rapidly descending, by means 

 of steps cut by the guides. To add to the voyager's se- 

 curity, an iron rod, bolted at intervals to the cliff, ex- 

 tends from end to end of this descent. This is the Mau- 

 vais Pas. Midway of the passage, a flock of goats skips 

 past us as if wholly unconscious of any difficulty in the 



