296 Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 
him the remains of his dinner, and he declares that never did 
shark devour its prey with greater avidity. 
The ascent of the glacier of the Oberaar afforded us an 
opportunity of making some interesting observations on the 
relations of the level between the line of polished rocks 
and the surface of the glacier. At the extremity of the 
glacier, this line is about 500 feet above its surface ; but in 
proportion as we ascend, this difference diminishes, and we 
at last arrive at a point where the two lines meet under an 
acute angle, the polished rocks becoming lost under the névé. 
This point here, at nearly a league from the Col, is at a 
height of upwards of 9000 feet.* The moraines disappear 
earlier; thus the névé is completely deprived of them, and 
none are observed but some bands along the little collections 
of ice which slide into the great basin. At ten o'clock we 
arrived at the summit of the Col, after crossing with great dif- 
ficulty numerous fissures, covered only with a frail roof of 
snow. Fortunately, the sun had not yet had time to soften 
the surface, so that we could pass directly over many of these 
snow-bridges, which we would necessarily have been obliged 
to make a circuit to avoid some hours later. The thermometer 
indicated + 2°C. (35° 6 F.) The summit of the Col is 10,023 
feet above the sea, according to Hugi’s observations. It is 
about 100 feet broad, and is enclosed between two large 
peaks, the highest of which, on the north, is the Obveraarhorn. 
It is a mass of very schistose gneiss, passing, in some places, 
into an earthy slate, very soft, and strongly resembling the 
rock vulgarly known by the name of pierre morte. 
We spent a quarter of an hour in contemplating the view 
enjoyed from this elevated point, gazing on this multitude of 
gigantic peaks rising around us on all sides, some of them like 
huge gothic spires, others resembling immense cupolas covered 
with snow. The Galenstock, which feeds the glacier of the 
Rhone, presented, in particular, a very beautiful appearance. 
The beautiful ridge of the Oberaarhorn, the summit of which 
is alone visible from the Hotel des Neuchatelois, rose vertically 
* I shall further consider the importance of this level of the roches mou- 
tonnées in a separate article. 
