"Researches on Exhtin^ Glaciers. 251 



which bound the glacier were clothed with snow from their 

 base to their summit; and the Finsteraarhorn alone was black 

 as in summer, for its walls are too precipitous on the side next 

 the glacier, to allow of the snow adhering to them. As to the 

 glacier itself, it really did not exist for us at that time ; for 

 we had nothing else before us but an immense extent of very 

 uniform snow, which wanted the magic charm given by mo- 

 raines, as well as the crevices with their brilliant tints, the icy 

 cascades, and the thousand rills of water with their harmonious 

 murmur, all of which constitute the delightsof the scene in sum- 

 mer. The two rods which we had introduced the preceding 

 autumn into the holes that had been bored, and of which men- 

 tion will afterwards be made, were elevated only a few feet 

 above the surface of the glacier ; but they had preserved their 

 respective positions, and were both nearly vertical ; — a proof 

 that the superficial beds of the glacier had not since that period 

 advanced in an unequal manner. We then ascended to the 

 Abschwung, and saw that the snow had completely filled up the 

 space between the rock and the neve. We estimated the thick- 

 ness of the bed of snow at that place at 30 feet. At noon, we 

 returned to the Hotel des Neuchatelois ; and as I felt myself 

 indisposed, I decided on returning with a guide. Agassiz re- 

 mained for the purpose of making some observations on tem- 

 perature. His object was to ascertain if the temperature of 

 the snow was the same as at the Grimsel. With this view, 

 he introduced into the snow, at a depth of 8 feet, the same 

 thermometrograph, taking care to close the hole. After two 

 hours, the instrument indicated — 4°.5 ( + 25o.7 F.), the air 

 being at + 1° (+ 33°. 8 F.). 



** The descent seemed to me as easy as the ascent had ap- 

 peared difficult. We sank about half a foot ; but the snow 

 was firm, less powdery than in the morning, and slightly 

 moist, which considerably facilitated our walking. It is 

 not so much the thickness of the snow, as the inequality of 

 the surface, that produces fatigue in these walks, and it does 

 so by causing unexpected jerks, which are always annoying. 

 I did not fail, whenever I met with an eminence which cast 

 a shadow, to measure the temperature of the air, and I was 

 much surprised to find, that the thermometer almost invaria- 



