302° Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. - 
sometimes in large erystals, which does not prevent it being, 
in a multitude of places, as smooth as polished marble. We 
likewise remark in it, in a very distinct manner, the parallel 
strize which constitute one of the distinctive characters of the 
polished surfaces produced by glaciers. These effects of the 
ice we contemplated with the greater interest, because it was 
on this same glacier that our friend Escher became convinced 
of the reality of the glacier’s action on the rock, a sufficient 
proof that the evidences of such action must have been 
strongly marked. 
It was four o’clock in the afternoon when we made our last 
halt ; this was still on the right side of the glacier of Viesch, 
at a place from which we could descry, for the first time, the 
bottom of the Valais. Here we observed many ancient mo- 
raines, which extended to a great distance on the left side of 
the glacier, to a height of many hundred feet above its actual 
level. A quantity of erratic blocks were, besides, scattered 
about, at levels still much higher, and seemed to rise to the 
very summit of the mountain. Among the blocks of gneiss 
composing the moraine, we remarked one of enormous size, 
which was beautifully polished on one of its sides; we con- 
cluded from this that it was a fragment detached from the 
walls of the valley, which are here polished to a very great 
height. On examining the bottom of the glacier, we saw some 
pebbles of considerable size, enclosed in the ice on its lower 
face. At first sight we were somewhat struck with this, as a 
fact opposed to the general rule, that a glacier never retains 
foreign bodies within its substance. But we remarked, at the 
same time, that the bed containing them was of a duller tint 
than the rest of the glacier, and we were at last convinced 
that it was a layer of snow transformed into ice, and which 
had not yet had time, in consequence of its want of compact- 
ness, to reject the pebbles which were originally mingled with 
the snow. 
We had still two leagues to travel. No one was much fa- 
tigued, although we had been on foot for twelve hours; but 
an exclamation of surprise escaped us, when, on turning the 
angle of a mountain, Jacob pointed out the path which we 
must follow. It was a very steep ascent, about 1000 feet high, 
