1866.] DAWSON — ICEBERGS AND GLACIERS. 37 



endeavoured to do the next best thing by passing as rapidly as 

 possible from the icebergs of Belle-Isle to the glaciers of Mont 

 Blanc, and by asking the question whether Canada was in the 

 post^pliocene period like the present Belle-Isle or the present Mont 

 Blanc, or whether it partook of the character of both ? 



Transporting ourselves then to the monarch of the Alps, let us 

 suppose we stand upon the Flegere, a spur of the mountains 

 fronting Mont Blanc, and commanding a view of the entire group. 

 From this point the western end of the range presents the rounded 

 summit of Mont Blanc proper, flanked by the lower eminences of 

 the Dome and Aiguille de Goute, which rise from a broad and 

 uneven plateau of neve or hard snow, sending down to the plain 

 two great glaciers or streams of ice, the Bossons and Tacony 

 glaciers. Eastward of Mont Blanc the neve or snow plateau is 

 penetrated by a series of sharp points of rock or aiguilles, which 

 stretch along in a row of serried peaks, and then give place to a 

 deep notch through which flows the greatest of all the glaciers of 

 this side of Mont Blanc, the celebrated Mer de Glace, directly 

 in front of our stand-point. To the left of this is another mass 

 of aiguilles, culminating in the Aiguille Verte, only recently 

 ascended by Mr. Whymper, of melancholy notoriety in connection 

 with the fatal ascent of the Metterhorn. This second group of 

 needles descends into the long and narrow Glacier of Argentiere, 

 and beyond this we see in the distance the Glacier and Aiguille de 

 Tour. As seen from this point it is evident that the whole 

 system of the Mont Blanc glaciers originates in a vast mantle of 

 snow capping the ridge of the chain, and extending about twenty 

 miles in length with a breadth of about five miles. This mass of 

 snow being above the limits of perpetual frost, would go on increasing 

 from year to year, except so far as it might be diminished by the 

 fall of avalanches from its sides, were it not that its plasticity is 

 sufficient to enable the frozen mass to glide slowly down the valleys, 

 changing in its progress into an icy stream, which descending to 

 the plain melts at its base and discharges itself in a torrent of 

 white muddy water. The Mont Blanc chain sends forth about a 

 dozen of large glaciers of this kind, besides many smaller ones. 

 Crossing the valley of Chamouni, and ascending the Montanvert 

 to a height of about 6,000 feet, let us look more particularly at 

 one of these glaciers, the Mer de Glace. It is a long valley with 

 steer/ sides, about half a mile wide and filled with ice, which 

 presents a general level or slightly inclined surface, traversed with 



