300 Ascent of the Jungfrau in.1841. 
of snow, néveé, or compact ice—there is no difference, except 
in the intensity of the tint, which increases in proportion as 
the congealed mass becomes more compact. M. Agassiz, in 
his work on Glaciers, has already shewn that this blue tint of 
the fissures cannot be produced by the reflection of the sky, 
since it is equally observable in cloudy weather. 
After proceeding for nearly an hour along the fields of snow, 
we entered upon the névé. As walking on the latter is much 
easier than on the snow, it is usually the part of the glacier 
preferred to every other. That of Viesch was remarkable, 
this year, for the quantity of red snow which it contained, and 
which, at a distance, imparted to it a rose-coloured reflection. 
We brought a few handfuls of it with us, in which M. Vogt, 
-who had the charge of the microscopical observations, disco- 
vered a new infusorial form, not found, it would appear, on 
the glacier of the Aar. As the minute organisms which com- 
pose red snow are usually accumulated in greatest numbers 
some lines below the surface, it happened that we rendered 
them more apparent by trampling upon them ; and each step 
we took left, as it were, a bloody mark, which the eye could 
follow to a great distance. The névé, which at first had a 
southern direction, soon turned to the south-west ; and every- 
where, on the steep inclinations, the mass was so rent and al- 
tered, that it was very difficult for us to recognise the primi- 
tive direction of its beds. This displacement is here also pro- 
duced by the declivity ; for the adherence of the névé is not 
sufficient to counterbalance the force of gravitation in the 
masses. 
The névé which we had just passed, although very extensive, 
does not form the most considerable arm of the glacier of 
Viesch. On going round the Rothhorn, which here forms the 
extremity of the ridge of the Viescherhérner, we came to the 
great conflux which descends between the Griinhorn and the 
ridges which the brothers Meyer have inserted in their map 
under the name of Walcherhérner or Viescherh6rner of Grin- 
delwald (Grindelwalder Viescherhorner). This conflux has no 
particular name ; it is called the Névé de Viesch (Viéescher- 
jirn), like the one we had descended. We had to cross it in 
order to regain the right bank ; and as it is very full of cre- 
