202 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



found the party of chasseurs as the ' Eed Prince ' found 

 * our own correspondents ' somewhat in the way. The 

 hut was full, and Agassiz was inflexible, so they were sent 

 to sleep with the guides. 



* August 14. To-day we had a visit from Lord Ennis- 

 killen and the Hon. John Cole ; the former remained. 

 There arrived, also, M. Martins (of the French Spits- 

 bergen expedition) and M. Canson. We walked up to the 

 very foot of the Finster Aarhorn. The glacier becomes 

 very flat, and has a most imposing appearance of breadth, 

 opposite the entrance of the valley leading to the Strah- 

 leck. . . . The view from the flat part of the glacier 

 is most imposing ; the precipices of the Finster and Ober- 

 Aarhorns rising sheer from the flat surface. 



' We ascended part of the Neve or Firn leading to 

 the Strahleck, where the texture of the snow is soft and 

 entirely granulated. The blocks appear to rise through 

 it by their action in melting the snow, and forming 

 a pillar of ice upon which the block is gradually 

 raised. This is M. Agassiz' idea. In returning we 

 observed that the vertical structure of the ice must 

 be of a permanent character, for we traced it across 

 old crevasses for considerable distances, well marked by 

 the vertical stratification, and showing a shift, from the 

 lateral moraine, at each crevasse in descending order. 

 We slept this evening, Agassiz, Lord Enniskillen, M. 

 Martins, Canson, Heath, and myself. . . . 



'August 15. We had intended to-day to cross 

 the pass of the Gauli Gletscher, but Jacob did 

 not consider the morning sufficiently favourable to 

 call us : and as the sky soon became cloudy and 

 threatening, we resolved to descend to the Grimsel, 

 completing, on our way, our examination of the struc- 

 ture of the glacier, by a careful scrutiny of its lower 

 part. We traced, without difficulty, the vertical 

 stratification on both sides of the medial moraine, 

 but for a considerable space found it not truly 

 vertical, as it leans towards the lower part of the 

 glacier surface, at an angle of about 70. Towards 



