192 THIRTEENTH LETTER ON GLACIERS. [1846. 



position of this line of stations is shown distinctly in the small 

 map. It will be seen that it was near the spot where the con- 

 traction of the gorge and the icy stream was greatest, in fact, 

 in the throat of the funnel. The inclination or slope of the 

 glacier in the direction of its motion was inconsiderable, espe- 

 cially near the centre and the southern side ; and the transverse 

 crevasses, which are here just beginning to be numerous, are 

 evidently owing to the extended influence of the steep ice-fall, 

 which is not many hundred feet in advance of the transverse 

 line selected. The glacier of Talefre, higher up, is remarkably 

 compact and united ; the crevasses few and inconsiderable, par- 

 ticularly on the northern side. The crevasses, as they present 

 themselves, are convex towards the origin or basin of the glacier, 

 and are here, as in other cases, perpendicular to the veined 

 structure so far as developed, and which was quite correctly 

 laid down in my map of 1842 ; the structural bands converging 

 towards the outlet like filaments of water towards the contracted 

 vein of a spout. The curvature of the crevasses (seen in piano] 

 appeared to me to have a point of contrary flexure, as shewn 

 in the drawing, dividing them into two loops. 



Three stations were selected, as shewn in the plan. The 

 central one, marked (2.), was placed on the moraine descending 

 from the Jardin. No. (1.), was nearly midway between it and 

 the northern shore at station W. Here there is a hollow in 

 the surface of the glacier, which was thickly covered with snow 

 in the end of July. At (2.) and (3.) the ice was quite bare 

 and more level, but at the same time more crevassed, the 

 crevasses being remarkably well defined, narrow, rather deep, 

 and rectilinear, or slightly curved, not uneven. No. (3.) was 1068 

 feet beyond (2.) No. (1.) was 533 feet northwards from No. 

 (2.), and was 687 feet distant from the northern shore. These 

 distances were ascertained partly by direct measurement, partly 

 trigonometrically. These three points were fixed in the trans- 

 verse visual line from W on the 24th July, by forming three 

 perfectly round and vertical holes, no less than five feet deep, 

 by means of an iron jumper. 



