156 GLACIERS THEIR MOTION I 



within the arctic circle. Before that first winter 

 has passed, many and many a fall of snow has 

 thickened and pressed down that first coat ; and 

 many a furious storm has caught up the snow from 

 the mountain-tops and swept it into the valley, 

 adding to and piling up the mass, and packing it 

 firmly down. 



Spring arrives. The short but warm arctic 

 summer bursts upon that vale, melting the surface 

 of the snow ; and the water thus produced sinks 

 through the mass, converting it into a sort of thick 

 slush half snow, half water, not liquid, yet not 

 solid; just solid enough to lie there apparently 

 without motion; yet just liquid enough to creep by 

 slow, absolutely imperceptible degrees, down the 

 valley. The snow in all the mountain gorges is 

 similarly affected : it creeps (it cannot be said to 

 flow) out and joins that in the vale. But we 

 cannot perceive any of the motion of which we are 

 writing. The mass of snow seems to be as still 

 and motionless as the rocks on which we stand; 

 nay, if we choose we may walk on its hard surface 

 almost without leaving the slightest print of our 

 foot. But if we throw a drge stone on the surface 

 of the snow and ma^k the spot, and return again 

 after many days \ve shall find that the stone has 

 descended the valley a short distance. We shall also 

 observe that the snow has now a variety of mark- 

 ings on its surface ; which might lead us to fancy, 

 had we not known better, that it had once been a 



