114 On the Glaciers of the Himalaya. 



seen in considerable masses, stripes of a darker and lighter 

 bluish-green are distinctly visible. It is composed of bands 

 of ice, containing small air-bubbles, alternating with others 

 quite free from them. In many places the surface presents 

 a striated appearance, arising fi'om the different degrees of 

 compactness of these differently coloured bands, and their 

 consequently different rates of melting. 



The direction of these coloured veins, as seen in crevasses, 

 or in the striated surfaces of the ice, follow laws exactly simi- 

 lar to those observed in the Alps. The dip was most dis- 

 tinctly inwards, i. e., towards the longitudinal axis, and up- 

 wards, i. e., towards the origin of the glacier in every part ; 

 the stratification being more perpendicular near the head, 

 and more nearly horizontal in the lower parts. The direction 

 of the strata was also very clearly marked in many parts of 

 the ice, and was plainly in curves, having their branches 

 nearly parallel to the sides of the glacier, and their apices 

 directed downwards ; the curvature in the centre not being 

 at all sudden. I nowhere could perceive " dirt-bands.'' 



The crevasses (perhaps owing to my visit having been made 

 somewhat early in the summer) were much less numerous and 

 terrific than I had expected. Although considerable detoui's 

 were at times necessary in crossing them, I remember no 

 place that I thought dangerous or difficult to pass. They are 

 developed across the dii'ection of the glacier's length, along 

 both of its sides, commencing from the small tributary on 

 the west side, and from the union of the eastern glacier on 

 the other, and continuing almost to the end, those on the west 

 side being, I think, the largest. They are generally wider 

 towards the edges of the glacier, closing up as they approach 

 the centre. They are nearly vertical, and are directed from 

 the sides upwards or towards the head of the glacier, those 

 on the west bear.ng nearly east and west, those on the east 

 bearing nearly north and south, thus forming angles of about 

 45° with the axis of the glacier. 



Many pools of water (the Baignoirs of the Alps) were seen 

 on the surface of the ice ; some of the largest were said by our 

 guides, who are in the habit of visiting the glacier, to be found 

 in the same place every year. The clear sm*face of the ice 



