122 CLIMBING THE GLACIER. 



ascent becomes gradual, decreasing to six degrees, 

 where it finally blends with the mer de glace which 

 appears to cover the land to the eastward. 



At the foot of the glacier front there is a pile of 

 broken fragments which have been detached from 

 time to time. Some of them are very large — solid 

 lumps of clear crystal ice many feet in diameter. One 

 such mass, with an immense shower of smaller pieces, 

 cracked off while we were looking at it, and came 

 crashing down into the plain below. 



The surface of the glacier curves gently upward 

 from side to side. It does not blend with the slope 

 of the mountain, but, breaking off abruptly, forms, as 

 I have before observed, a deep gorge between the 

 land and the ice. This gorge is interrupted in places 

 by immense boulders which have fallen from the cliffs, 

 or by equally large masses of ice which have broken 

 from the glacier. Sometimes, however, these inter- 

 ruptions are of a different character, when the ice, 

 moving bodily forward, has pushed the rocks up the 

 hill-side in a confused wave. 



The traveling along this winding gorge was labori- 

 ous, especially as the snow-crusts sometimes gave way 

 and let one's legs down between the sharp stones, or 

 equally sharp ice ; but a couj)le of miles brought us 

 to a place where we could mount by using our axe in 

 cutting steps, as Sonntag had done before. 



We were now fairly on the glacier's back, and 

 moved cautiously toward its centre, fearful at every 

 step that a fissure might open under our feet, and let 

 us down between its hard ribs. But no such accident 

 happened, and we reached our destination, where the 

 surface was perfectly smooth — an inclined plain of 

 clear, transparent ice. 



