refpe&tng Snow. 169 



lower down 5 and it appeared alfo that it had not been con- 

 veyed thither bv the winds, becaufe it was not difpofed in. 

 ftripes or in the form of radii. The moil probable con- 

 jecture therefore was, that it was a production of the mow 

 itfelf, or the remains of its partial melting fnfpended at it* 

 furface as in a filtre when the water palled through it. 

 What feemed to favour this conjecture ftill more, was, that 

 the colour at the edges of the hollow places where little 

 water had funk down was extremely faint ; and, on the 

 other hand, fliewed itfelf ftronger in thqfe parts where the 

 greater! quantity of water feemed to have penetrated. 



M. de Sauflure took a tumbler full of this fnow, as he 

 had no other veflel with him, and held it in his hand till the 

 fnow melted, when he foon faw the red dull depolit itfelf at 

 the bottom. Its colour then did not appear fo dazzling as 

 before, and when dry it loft it entirely : it decreafed alfo in 

 quantity, fo as almoft to appear nothing. 



Next year M. de Sauflure afcended the Breven, and found 

 on it a quantity of the fame kind of red fnow, fome of 

 which he fqueezed clofely together and put into a lar^e 

 handkerchief, but before he got home it was entirely dif- 

 folved by the heat of the fun. It was not, however, on the 

 Breven alone that he difcovered fnow of this kind ; for he 

 found of it on all the high mountains of the Alps, about the 

 fame fcafon of the year, and in fimilar fituations ; fo that he 

 was much furprifed that authors who had written refpecting 

 the Alps, fuch as Scheuchzer, had made no mention of it. 

 It is, indeed, true that it is found only in hollows, where 

 the fnow lies deep, and at a feafon of the year when the 

 melting of it has proceeded to a certain degree; for, when 

 none of the fnow or when very little of it has been melted, 

 the dull is then in too final! quantity to attract the eye; and 

 if the melting has proceeded too far, the whole of the powder 

 has pallid through with the water, and it becomes equally 

 invifihle, Ikfides, towards the end of the melting, a great 

 jnany foreign particles and impurities, conveyed thither by 



5 tilft 



