Topography of the Pennine Alps. 321 



ret or eastern declivity. Repassing by the Val Orsine and 

 Tete-Noire, he visited the sites of the famous pudding-stones, 

 which are one of the characteristic rocks of the basin of the 

 Rhone, and remarked, on the summit of the Col de la For- 

 claz, numerous blocks of protogine, which indicate the height 

 to which the glacier of Trient formerly rose. 



M. Guyot penetrated into the heart of the Pennine Alps 

 by the valley de Bagnes. He describes the various basins, 

 at different stages, of which the valley is composed, and the 

 numerous glaciers which surmount the savage hollows of this 

 district. He at last arrived at the Chalet de Champriond, 

 at the foot of the great glacier of Chermontane. This glacier 

 is only the lower part of a vast mer de glace which turns 

 suddenly to the north-east, and ascends by a gentle, almost 

 imperceptible, slope as far as the ridge of the chain ; it is the 

 mer de glace of the great Otemma, which derives its name 

 from the western peak which commands it. This vast field 

 of ice, feeding eight lateral glaciers which descend from the 

 eastern chain which bounds it, and four tributary glaciers 

 suspended on the flanks of the great Otemma, has a regu- 

 lar system of moraines on its surface, each of which can be 

 easily followed to its origin. These moraines convey the 

 rocks of each of the summits before him to the feet of the 

 traveller. The mer de glace of Otemma extends along the 

 northern declivity, where it connects itself, according to the 

 report of the chamois-hunters, with the great glaciers 

 which descend to the bottom of the northern valleys. A 

 range of high peaks which belong to the northern aspect, and 

 whicli commence at some distance from the ridge, separates 

 it into two branches, one of which is said to join the great 

 glacier of Ai'olla on the east side, and the other, more to the 

 north, confounds itself with the masses of ice which descend 

 the northern sides of Som de Gietroz, in order to form the 

 mass of the great glacier of Lenaret, at the bottom of the 

 valley of Hermence. 



On the south side, almost in the same direction, a glacier 

 resembling a snowy valley descends from the south to the 

 north of the Col de Crcstasetz, to mingle its ices with those 

 of Chermontane. The glacier of the Col de Fenotre, whicli 



VOL. XLIV. NO. LXXXV'III. — AI'iUL 18i8. X 



