ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 75 



neath our feet. Even while we stand here the Titanic 

 forces are cracking- and crunching the glaciers, and the 

 deep thud which we hear makes us crawl with appre- 

 hension. Even before our eyes the great unfathomed 

 stream of ice is marching on. While we stand gazing 

 upon it the huge serac rises or topples. At our verv feet 

 the dark crevasse opens its jaws wider and wider. 



INCIPIENT CREVASSES AT JUNCTION AND THE PLATEAU. ASCENT 

 OP MONT BLANC. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. LEVY ET CIE., 

 PARIS. 



But, like so many of the grandest operations of Nature, 

 like the uplift of mountains and the building of con- 

 tinents, these operations are slow, resistless though 

 slow. The stream of ice moves but two feet in 24 hours. 



