i8 9 6. THE GREAT AVALANCHE ON THE GEMMI. 



19 



produced a veritable bombardment of ice-dust mixed with stones, 

 which has stripped the roots and branches of the trees laid low 

 by the wind itself, and which must have killed man and beast 

 before ever the real avalanche overwhelmed them. Further away 

 the trees have only been denuded of their upper portion, the 



Fig. 1. — Neighbourhood of the Altels Glacier: from the Carte del' Etat-Major. 



The part of the glacier that was precipitated, almost up to the summit of the 

 Altels, on the 3,300 metre contour line, is left white, as also is the ground covered 

 by the avalanche. The course of the blocks of ice and snow is indicated by a dotted 

 line between the Altels and the Schwarzbach. 



(From Le Journal de Geneve, Sept. 21, 1895, by kind permission of the Editor.) 



branches composing which were transported to a great distance, 

 and now form a compact line of debris among the far-off 

 scattered trees, like the bank of sea-wrack left on open coasts 

 after a fierce storm. Ice-bombs, too, round like cannon-balls, but 



c 2 



