ALPINE SCULPTURE 261 



the Swiss Alpine Club, M. Desor informs us that the Swiss 

 naturalists who met last year at Samaden visited the end 

 of the Morteratsch glacier, and there convinced themselves 

 that a glacier had no tendency whatever to imbed itself 

 in the soil. I scarcely think that the question of glacier 

 erosion, as applied either to lakes or valleys, is to be dis- 

 posed of so easily. Let me record here my experience of 

 the Morteratsch glacier. I took with me, in 1864, a theod- 

 olite to Pontresina, and while there had to congratulate 

 myself on the aid of my friend Mr. Hirst, who, in 1857, 

 did such good service upon the Mer de Glace and its trib- 

 utaries. We set out three lines across the Morteratsch 

 glacier, one of which crossed the ice -stream near the well- 

 known hut of the painter Georgei, while the two others 

 were staked out, the one above the hut and the other below 

 it. Calling the highest line A, the line which crossed the 

 glacier at the hut B, and the lowest line C, the following 

 are the mean hourly motions of the three lines, deduced 

 from observations which extended over several days. On 

 each line eleven stakes were fixed, which are designated 

 by the figures 1, 2, 3, etc., in the Tables. 



Morteratsch Glacier, Line A 



