Motion of the Glacier of the Pindur, 259 



River, in which it was noticed that I had been unsuccessful 

 in an attempt to measure directly the motion of the glacier. 

 In the past month (May 1848) I again visited this glacier, 

 chiefly with the intention of making an accurate measure- 

 ment of its motion ; and the result of my operations I now 

 propose to detail : 



About 200 yards below the small tributary that enters the 

 main glacier from the north-west, an old moraine, grown over 

 with grass and bushes, which vouched for its present sta- 

 bility, offered a convenient station from which the motion of 

 the ice could be observed. The moraine is heaped up against 

 an almost perpendicular wall of rock, sufficiently high to 

 command a view of the greater part of the surface of the 

 glacier along the line on which observations were to be made. 

 This line, which is nearly perpendicular to the general direc- 

 tion of the glacier, was marked by two crosses painted white, 

 one on the rock in contact with the old moraine, the other 

 on a cliff on the opposite side of the valley. A stake was 

 driven into the moraine, at its highest point, close to the 

 rock on the line between the two crosses, and a theodolite 

 was set up over it. Five other marks were also made on 

 the glacier, at intervals along the same line, by fixing stakes 

 in holes driven in the ice with a jumper. These marks, 

 which were all carefully placed on the exact line between 

 i\vi crosses by means of the theodolite, were completed at 

 about 0'^ 30"^ P.M., on the 21st May. 



On the following day the theodolite was again set up on 

 the same place as before, and being properly adjusted, the 

 cross wires of the telescope were directed to cross on the 

 cliff on the opposite side of the glacier. A stick was then 

 set up near the first of the five marks that had been made 

 the previous day, and was, by means of signals, moved up or 

 down the glacier, till it appeared to coincide exactly with the 

 cross wires of the telescope, and consequently to be exactly 

 on the line between the two crosses painted on the cliffs. 

 The distance between the centre of the stick and that of the 

 fixed mark was then measured, which evidently shewed the 

 downward progress of the ice at that point of the glacier 



