334 Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 
Note on the Ice of elevated Peaks. 
It may be perceived, by the preceding narration, that gla- 
ciers are divided into three regions, each of which has its pecu- 
liar characters ; these are—compact ice, the névé, and the 
snow. Although the limits of these regions do not correspond 
to a certain level, they always present themselves in the same 
order of succession, so that in ascending a glacier from its ter- 
mination to its source, we first meet with the compact ice, along 
with its moraines and the other accidents peculiar to it; then the 
névé, which is characterised by its granular structure and the 
absence of moraines; and lastly, the fields of snow, which usual- 
ly occupy the highest parts of the valleys and the ‘sides of 
the mountains which bound them. These different states are 
the result of the transformations which the frozen water, falling 
in the form of snow, has undergone in its course to the lower 
regions ; the compact ice, which is at the extremity of the 
glaciers, has previously gone through the states of ice and 
névé. But this order of succession is constant only in the val- 
leys: the high summits are often exceptions to the rule. Those 
who have read the preceding narrative will recollect the ice 
we encountered even on the summit of the Jungfrau, and which 
is consequently much more elevated than the névés and fields 
of snow which occupy the bottom of the circus of Aletsch. 
We likewise know that Saussure found ice on the summit of 
Mont Blane; Zumstein speaks of it on the summit of Mont 
Rosa; our guides, Jacob Leuthold and Johannes Weehren, in- 
telligent men and worthy of credit, inform us that they met 
with it nearly up to the summit of Finsteraarhorn ; and no 
one can cross névés between 9000 and 10,000 feet of absolute 
height, without seeing some of those small glaciers, whose ter- 
minal portion is of compact ice, come forward to terminate at 
the edge of the abrupt walls which overlook the valleys. I 
may mention, as examples, the foot of the Strahleck; many 
small glaciers abutting above the névé which feeds the lower 
glacier of the Grindelwald; many small affluents of a similar 
kind on the sides of the Oberaarhorn above the névé of the 
Oberaar ; and lastly, some pretty considerable collections of ice 
above the néyé and snow-fields of the Aletsch. The ice which 
