8Sl^' Vmiessor'^p'i^Obsermtiuks on the 



io'W"T^,"'i^^'f^^fi^iY''ihe greater number bel6n»rf« 



rather to the first kind, that is to say, present frozen summits^^' 

 which a little lower become true glaciers of the second kind. *^ 



i\ I r II u gi has ' piarticulM^ studied the Va:St Sea of ioe CGrtrf^I 

 prised between Grendelwold, the Vallais, Hasli, and the valley ' 

 of Lotch, a desert region, above which there arise five or si^^ 

 col6sse§, of 'wlilch th^ elevatioti exceeds 12,000 feet, and froiSfS 

 whence issue, in all directions, a great number of glaciers. Th^' 

 whole of the glaciers, of the different kinds of groups on thik^ 

 region, afford an extent that may be estimated at 4 J leagues'* 

 from south to north, and at 8J ffom east to west, which gived 

 a surface of about 38 square leagues. ' ' ' '^- --^ '^^ ij->l) 



'' In general," says the author, '^*"'tH^y assign' tb6 ^^t W 

 thickness to the mas§' df gkcierS. 'It is between 30 and 80 fe^F 

 at its extremity. Having met in tlie inferior glacier of the 

 Aar, about a league above its extremity, a crevice which reach- 

 ed to the soil, I sounded it, ahd found a depth of ISO fedt.^^ 

 There is on the great glacier of Aletch, at two leagues aboVe 

 its extremity, a httle lake (Moriler See), often empty^ of ^Vhich 

 the border affords a vertical cut of the glacier, which is tidk'^ 

 more than 100 feet; t^o le^^eS still higher, the glacier" i*fs^'^ 

 on the rocks between the peak of Aletch and th6 Faulhofi*!'^ ' 

 and at this place it cannot be estimated at more than 1 50 feet. 

 A deep crevice in the glaci^f'bf'Vi^sch' behind fh6 Fiftsteraarv 

 horn, does not indicate a greater thickness of ice. Often thd^ 

 glaciers of both kinds glide over the rock, and break vertically/ 

 and theit anterior partis precipitated into an abyss ; iti thi^fe 

 cases, the cut formed never exceeds 100 feet. During 20 yearfe 

 the inferior glacier of the Aar has advanced about one-fourth of k' 

 M^iie. 'The shepherds who frequent its environs, and whb 

 know the depth of the valley which it has filled, affirm that the 

 glacier cannot be more in this place than 80 feet thick. ' ' -^^*'^ 



^' On the high peaks the frozen mass diminishes eveti iS'&i" 

 tttiafefi^^'bf only korhb "M:"' me'pM^m- Fiti^etoMi^ 

 \vas c'omptetely bare in 1§29 ; evcri its "bWses were seen in sorifi^ 

 places. The covering is equally thin on the Schreckhorti^ 

 the Jungfray, the Titlis, and the greater part of the summits of 

 the AlpS.'^ j/i^iri- djLLii ii;rA ;j»A.' .>il. y^'i^«iBi>ij:>f; ji,d- iAiuAi uil Juv 



*' If, moreover, we consider the connexion that e53ltsl!j^'#6eri 



