162 Dr Martens on the Glaciers of Spitsbergen. 



line north and south, from 79° 13' to 79° 26' of latitude :* at 

 a distance, their form is that of so many isosceles triangles. 

 Their length in general is not proportionate to their breadth. 

 According to the measurement of the officers of the Recherche, 

 the longest of them ali, the principal glacier of Bell Sound 

 was about ten miles in length by three and a third in breadth ; 

 that of Pointe aux renards three miles long by one and a 

 quarter in breadth. The glacier at the bottom of Magdalena 

 Bay was 1840 metres in length by 1580 metres in breadth at 

 the sea-shore ; that of Pointe aux tombeaux 1800 metres broad ; 

 the glacier of the entry 1810 metres long by 900 broad ; finally, 

 the smallest of them all, which commanded the anchorage of 

 the corvette, was 240 metres broad and 680 long. 



The great glaciers of Switzerland or of Savoy, on the con- 

 trary, are much longer than broad. That of Bois, in the val- 

 ley of Chamouni, extends to nearly five leagues without any 

 interruption, while its breadth never exceeds one league. t 

 According to the trigonometrical measurements of Hugi, J the 

 great glacier of Aletsch is seven leagues long, with an average 

 breadth of a league and a half ; that of Ober-vVar four leagues 

 by one ; that of Unter-Aar five by one and a quarter. This 

 difference between the glaciers of the two countries is easily 

 explained. Although those of Spitzbergen descend to the sea, 

 the mountains on which they rest are proportionally very low. 

 In Switzerland, the mountains are higher and the valleys 

 longer. Suppose that one or other of these circumstances 

 should exist in Spitzbergen, we would have seas of ice the 

 length of which would greatly exceed that of the most exten- 

 sive glaciers of Switzerland and Savoy, for they would descend 

 to the sea, while the lower extremities of the least elevated 

 glaciers in the last-mentioned countries, those of Grindelwald,§ 

 BossonsJI Brenva,H and Aletsch,** have a medium height of 

 1230 metres above its level. 



* 1 mile = 1852 metres. Appendix, p. 74. 

 t De Saussure, Voyage dans les Alpes, § 522. 

 \ Naturhistorische Alpenreisen. (See the map.) 

 § Lower Glacier 1030 metres, upper Glacier 1299 metres. (Hugi.) 

 || 1115 metres. Barometrical measurement of the author. 

 If 134/ metres. Rscher de la Linth in Alph. de Candolle : Hypsomtirie des 

 environs de Geneve, p. 31. 

 ** 1349 metres. Hugi, 1. c. Tab. iii. 



