294 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



LOUIS AGASSIZ TO SIR PHILIP EGERTON. 



NEUCHATEL, September 10, 1839. 

 . . . Under these circumstances, I thought 

 I could not do better than to pass some weeks 

 in the solitude of the high Alps ; I lived 

 about a fortnight in the region of the glaciers, 

 ascending some new field of ice every day, and 

 trying to scale the sides of our highest peaks. 

 I thus examined in succession all the glaciers 

 descending from the majestic summits of 

 Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn, whose nu- 

 merous crests form a most gigantic amphithe- 

 atre, which lifts itself above the everlasting 

 snow. Afterward I visited the sea of ice 

 which, under the name of the glacier of 

 Aletsch, flows from the Jungfrau, the Mb'nch, 

 and the Eiger toward Brieg ; thence I went 

 to the glacier of the Rhone, and from there, 

 establishing my headquarters at the Hospice 

 of the Grimsel, I followed the glacier of the 

 Aar to the foot of the Finsteraarhorn. There 

 I ascertained the most important fact that 

 I now know concerning the advance of gla- 

 ciers, namely, that the cabin constructed by 

 Hugi in 1827, at the foot of the Absch- 

 wung, is now four thousand feet lower down. 

 Slight as is the inclination of the glacier, this 



