Fesearches on Existing Glaciers. 259 



of instruments, a piercer with two teeth, and one with Sifleuret 

 having four teeth ; but I soon perceived that the latter instru- 

 ment had the disadvantage of grinding the ice too violently, 

 which often rendered it extremely difficult to draw it out. 

 This year I had only brought simple chisels of different diame- 

 ters, and ancfther instrument having the form of an inverted 

 funnel, with circular and angular edges, which our miners call 

 a coiironne, and of which they make use in piercing very soft 

 substances. At first, and to a depth of 40 feet, this instru- 

 ment worked very well, but afterwards it became necessary to 

 give it up ; for, although its edges were very blunt, yet the 

 weight of the rods becoming always greater, caused it to be 

 too firmly fixed in the ice, and rendered its withdrawal a 

 matter of infinite difficulty. We therefore exchanged it i'or 

 simple chisels. 



I had remarked that the piercer acted better when the hole 

 was filled with water than when it was dry ; and, accordingly, 

 1 took care to place the bore in communication with one of 

 the numerous rills of water which flowed over the glacier. 

 This had, moreover, the advantage of enabling the borers to 

 dispense with the necessity of emptying the hole every minute ; 

 for all the splinters of ice which the piercer detached at the 

 bottom of the hole, came up of themselves to the surface, 

 merely owing to their smaller specific gravity, and they were 

 carried away by the current. But this proceeding had like- 

 wise its inconvenience ; for, as I wished to make daily obser- 

 vations on the temperature of the interior of the glacier, I was 

 obliged to cause the bore to be emptied every evening, which 

 was a pretty long operation. 



In this manner, a depth of 70 feet was reached. The 

 piercer then began to become too heavy, and the chief borer 

 proposed to me to construct a trepied above the hole, and to 

 fix to it a pulley, on which a rope was to be passed, to which 

 the piercer should be attached. He hoped by this means to 

 bore more rapidly, and with less trouble. The operations 

 were on this account suspended for several days, during which 

 my people went to the valley of Ha^^sli, to procure young fir- 

 trees for the scaffi)lding. When the trepied was prepared, 

 hey transported it to the glacier. It was now intended to 



