The Mighty Deep 



the texture is so close — like that of glass — that 

 neither flowers nor needles are discernible. 



The fact that snow may be, through hard 

 pressure, actually transformed into firm ice — and 

 this is an everyday occurrence in the high Alps — 

 shows how closely akin the two are. 



Every country in the world has, at a certain 

 height, that which is called "the line of perpetual 

 snow," or, more briefly, "the snow-line." Below 

 that limit snow may fall in winter, and water may 

 freeze, but both vanish in the summer. Above 

 that limit snow and ice are found all the year 

 round, lessening to some extent in summer 

 months, but never disappearing. 



Over the equator the snow-line is about 

 sixteen thousand feet high, or higher than 

 Mont Blanc ; so if Mont Blanc were situated 

 on the equator it would not be a snow-clad 

 mountain. At the north and south poles the 

 snow-line is down at the sea-level. Summer 

 warmth there does not suffice to get rid of winter 

 ice and snow. Between the equator and the 

 poles the snow-line varies in each country, 

 according to that country's position and climate. 



Above the snow -line on lofty Swiss moun- 

 tains heavy falls add perpetually to the mass of 

 snow. Durinor the summer a certain desfree 



82 



