1846.] BALMAT'S OBSERVATIONS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 125 



In 1844 I made the casual discovery of one of my staves, 

 used to mark the position of the station A at the Angle, a little 

 higher up the glacier than the last, a point of which the motion 

 had been most carefully observed during the summer of 1842 

 (see Travels, p. 140). This stick still bore legibly written upon 

 it the date when it had been fixed in the ice at station A, and 

 as the painted marks on the rock of the Angle were still as fresh 

 as when they were made, I had no difficulty in finding the exact 

 position on the glacier which this mark had in any part of 

 the summer of 1842, and by measuring the distance to the place 

 where it was found (which was on a spot of the ice quite unfre- 

 quented by guides or any one else), I had good reason for 

 believing that this must be the space over which it had travelled 

 in the mean time ; although of course I do not ascribe to this 

 observation the weight of a direct measure, yet it proves an 

 interesting confirmation. Reckoning from the position it occu- 

 pied on the 1st of September 1842, it had advanced, down to the 

 26th of August 1844, or in' 720 days . ..952 feet, 

 or, per annum . . . 482*5 feet. 

 Mean daily motion . 15*87 inches. 



It will be seen that this result is in close agreement with 

 that observed at station P above mentioned, which is a little 

 further down the glacier, but about the same distance from the 

 side ; for though the motion of P is somewhat greater for 1843- 

 44 than the mean motion of A for 1842-44, it will be seen by 

 the comparative observations at C already referred to, that the 

 glacier moved more rapidly in 1843-44 than in 1842-43. 



But I am now enabled to present a view of the actual 

 progress of two glaciers during every part of the year from 

 direct observation. For these I am indebted to the intelligent 

 and persevering zeal of my excellent guide and assistant at 

 Chamouni, Auguste Balmat, of whose character I have had the 

 pleasure of forming a more and more favourable estimate the 

 longer I have been acquainted with him. To the long training 

 of the laborious summer of 1842, when he assisted me, he adds 



