of the Glaciers of the Alps. Ill 



age, which is 200 years. By the side of this trunk we ob- 

 served ancient beds of the same substance, passed into the 

 state of rotten wood, which must go back to a more remote 

 period ; but it was impossible to determine its precise age. 

 All the observers who annually visit this glacier, observe 

 that the pines which still gi-ow on the sides of this mountain 

 are gradually disappearing, and in a few years none will re- 

 main. 



At two kilometres further down, on the road from the 

 glacier to the hospice of Grimsel, a small peat-moss has been 

 dug, and the workmen frequently find there, at the depth of 

 a metre, old trunks of pines of very large diameter, such trees 

 as could not grow there in the present temperature of the 

 locality. 



At the pass of Saint Theodule (3111 m.), there is an old 

 military structure which goes back as far as the time when 

 Lombardy was occupied by the Spaniards. It is a dry wall, 

 coarsely built with slabs of gneiss and slaty serpentine, and 

 pierced with loopholes turned towards Switzerland. In order 

 to reach this pass, whether on the south or north side, we walk 

 for an hour and a half over glaciers of very difficult access, 

 especially on the side of Italy. At the time when I passed 

 it, in the month of September, the fresh snow was all gone, 

 all the neves were conveniently hai'dened. The establish- 

 ment of a military post at this point would be inexplicable, 

 in consequence of the difficulty of the passage even in the 

 most favourable season. On visiting the spot, we cannot but 

 suppose that at the time when the redoubt was built, the 

 passage was not only more frequented, but of much easier 

 access, and that for some ages the pass has become more 

 encumbered with ice. 



The greater part of the glaciers on the southern acclivity of 

 Mont Blanc are likewise in progress ; that of La Brenva has 

 advanced thirty-one metres this year, according to the state- 

 ment of M. the Canon Gal. 



We might multiply examples ; but the preceding facts are 

 sufficient to demonstrate the advancement in the course of 

 ages of the glaciers of the Alps : if there be any of them which 

 recede, this is only an exception to the general riile. 



