108 



THE FORMS OF WATER 



lite ; one by one the stakes were fixed until 

 a series of eleven of them stood across the 

 glacier. 



229. To get higher up the valley was im- 

 practicable ; the snow was too deep, and the 

 aspect of th'3 weather too threatening ; so the 

 theodolite was planted amid the pines a little 

 way below the Montanvert, whence through 

 a vista I could see across the glacier. _ The 

 men were wrapped at intervals by whirling 

 snow-wreaths, which quite hid them, and we 

 had to take advantage of the lulls in the wind. 

 Fitfully it came up the valley, darkening the 

 air, catching the snow upon the glacier, and 

 tossing it throughout its entire length into 

 high and violently agitated clouds, separated 

 from each other by cloudless spaces corre- 

 sponding to the naked portions of the ice. In 

 the midst of this turmoil the men continued 

 to work. Bravely and steadfastly stake after 

 stake was set until at length a series of ten 

 of them was fixed across the glacier. 



230. Many of the stakes were fixed in the 

 snow. They were four feet in length, and 

 were driven in to a depth of about three 

 feet. But that night, while listening to the 

 wild onset of the storm, I thought it possible 

 that the stakes and the snow which held 

 them might be carried bodily away before 

 the morning. The wind, however, lulled. 

 We rose with the dawn, but the air w T as thick 

 with descending snow. It was all composed 

 of those exquisite six-petalled flowers, or six- 

 rayed stars, which have been already figured 

 and described ( 9). The weather brighten- 

 ing, the theodolite was planted at the end of 

 the first line. The men descended, and, 

 trained by their previous experience, rapidly 

 executed the measurements. The first line 

 was completed before 11 A.M. Again the 

 snow began to fall, filling all the air. Span- 

 gles innumerable were showered upon the 

 heights. Contrary to expectation, the men 

 could be seen and directed through the 

 shower. 



231. To reach the position occupied by the 

 theodolite at the end of our second line, I had 

 to wade breast-deep through snow which 

 seemed as dry and soft as flour. The toil of 

 the men upon the glacier in breaking through 

 the snow was prodigious. But they did not 

 flinch, and after a time the leader stood be- 

 hind the farther stake, and cried, Nous awns 

 fini. I was surprised to hear him so dis- 

 tinctly, for falling snow had been thought 

 very deadening to sound. The work was 

 finished, and I struck my theodolite with the 

 feeling of a general who had won a small 

 Battle. 



28:3. We put the house in order, packed 

 up, and shot by glissade down the steep 

 slopes of JM Film to the vault of the Arvei- 

 ron. We found the river feeble, but not 

 dried up. Many weeks must have elapsed 

 since any water had been sent down from the 

 surface of the glacier. But at the setting in 

 of winter the fissures were in a great measure 

 charged with water ; and the Arveiron of 

 to-day was probably due to the gradual 

 drainage of the glacier. There was now no 



danger of entering the vault, for the ice 

 seemed as firm as marble. In the cavern we 

 were bathed by blue light. The strange 

 beauty of the place suggested magic, and put 

 me in mind of stories about fairy caves which 

 I had read when a boy. At the source of the 

 Arveirou our winter visit to the Mer de Glace 

 ends ; next morning your deputy was on his 

 way to London. 



33. WINTER MOTION OF THE Msii DE 

 GLACE. 



233 Here are the measurements executed 

 in the winter of 1859 : 



LINE No. I. 



Stake t 2 .3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 



Inches 7 11 It 13 14 14 10 13 12 13 7 



LINB No. IT. 



Stake 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 



Inches 8 10 14 Iti 16 1J 13 17 15 14 



234. Thus the winter motion of the Mer 

 de Glace near the Montanvert is, in round 

 numbers, half the summer motion. 



235. As in summer, the eastern side of the 

 glacier at this place moved quicker than the 

 western. 



34. MOTION OF THE GHINDELWALD AND 

 ALETSCII GLACIEKS. 



236. As regards the question of motion, 

 to no other gfacier have W T C dtvoted ourselves 

 with such thoroughness as to the Mer de 

 Glace ; we are, however, abie to add a few 

 measurements of other celebrated glaciers. 

 Near the village of Gimdelwalcl in the Ber- 

 nese Oberland, there are two great ice- 

 streams called lespectively the Upper and the 

 Lower Grindelvvald glaciers, the second of 

 which is frequently visited by travellers in 

 the Alps. Across it on August 6th, 1800, a 

 series of twelve stakes was fixed by Mr. 

 Vaughan Hawkins and myself. Measured 

 on the 8th and reduced to its daily rate, the 

 motion of these stakes was as follows : 



MOTION OF LOWER GRINDELWALD GLACIER. 



East West 



Stake... 1 23 5 6 7 8 9 19 11 12 



Inches.. 18 11) 20 21 21 21 22 20 19 18 17 14 



237. The theodolite was here planted a 

 little below the footway leading to the higher 

 glacier region, and at about a mile above the 

 end of the glacier. The measurement was 

 rendered difficult by crevasses. 



238. The Ingest glacier in Switzerland is 

 the Great Aletsch, to which further reference 

 shall subsequently be made. Across it on 

 August 14th, 1860, a series of thirty-four 

 stakes was planted by Mr. Hawkins and me. 

 Measured on the 16th and reduced to their 

 daily rate, the velocities were found to be as 

 follows : 



MOTION OF GREAT ALETSCH GLACIER. 

 East 



Stake 12345 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 



Inches 23468 11 13 14 18 17 17 W 



Stake 13 14 15 16 17 13 19 20 21 21 S3 



Inches 19 18 18 17 19 19 19 19 17 17 13 



Stake 24 25 a<i 27 28 29 80 31 83 33 31 



Inches 16 17 K 17 17 17 17 17 16 12 13 



West 



