114 ICE AND GLACIERS. 



In the background are seen the two glacier currents 

 emerging from different valleys ; on the right from the 

 Schreckhorn, and on the left from the Finsteraarhorn. 

 From the place where they unite the rocky wall occupy- 

 ing the middle of the picture descends, constituting the 

 central moraine. On the left are seen individual large 

 masses of rock resting on pillars of ice, which are known 

 as glacier tables. 



To exemplify these circumstances still further, I lay 

 before you in Fig- 14 a map of the Mer de Glace of 

 Chamouni, copied from that of Forbes. 



The Mer de Glace in size is well known as the largest 

 glacier in Switzerland, although in length it is exceeded by 

 the Aletsch Glacier. It is formed from the snow-fields that 

 cover the heights directly north of Mont Blanc, several of 

 which, as the Grande Jorasse, the Aiguille Verte (a, 

 Figs. 14 and 15), the Aiguille du Geant (b), Aiguille du 

 Midi (c), and the Aiguille du Dm (d), are only 2,000 to 

 3,000 feet below that king of the European mountains. 

 The snow-fields which lie on the slopes and in the basins 

 between these mountains collect in three principal cur- 

 rents, the Glacier du Geant, Glacier de Lechaud, and 

 Glacier du Talefre, which, ultimately united as represented 

 in the map, form the Mer de Glace ; this stretches as an 

 ice current 2,600 to 3,000 feet in breadth down into the 

 valley of Chamouni, where a powerful stream, the Arvey- 

 ron, bursts from its lower end at k, and plunges into the 

 Arve. The lowest precipice of the Mer de Glace, which 

 is visible from the valley of Chamouni, and forms a large 

 cascade of ice, is commonly called Glacier des Bois, from 

 a small village which lies below. 



Most of the visitors at Chamouni only set foot on the 

 lowest part of the Mer de Glace from the inn at the 

 Montanvert, and when they are free from giddiness cross 

 the glacier at this place to the little house on the oppo- 



