CHANGES IN THE GLACIER 27 



break up in this manner under the sun's rays, but as it 

 melts retains its smooth, slippery surface. It is formed 

 in water, and not from the cementing and regelation of 

 the powdery crystalline snow, as' is glacier ice. 



Pictures of the Rhone glacier published in the year 

 1820 and in the eighteenth century show that in old 

 days the terminal ice-fall did not end abruptly in a 

 narrowed " snout," as it does now, but spread out into a 

 very broad half-dome or fan-shaped, apron-like expanse, 

 some 700 ft. high and a quarter of a mile broad at the 

 base. It was considered one of the wonders of Switzerland, 

 and was pictured in an exaggerated way in travellers' 

 books. In 1873, when I first drove down the Furka 

 Road and saw the Rhone glacier, this wonderful, apron- 

 like, terminal expansion of the glacier was still in exis- 

 tence. It has now completely disappeared. In those 

 days, and for many years later, there was only a mule- 

 path over the adjacent Grimsel Pass, but now there is a 

 carriage road leading out of the Rhone glacier's basin 

 northwards to Meiringen, whilst the old-established Furka 

 Road, at the other side of the amphitheatre, leads east- 

 ward to Andermatt, the St. Gothard, and the Lake of 

 Lucerne. Hence three great roads now meet at Gletsch. 

 Before leaving this wondrous spot we inspected some 

 plump marmots, who were leading a happy life of ease 

 and plenty in a large cage erected in front of the hotel ; 

 then in absolutely perfect weather we mounted the 

 Grimsel Road. We heard the frequent whistling of 

 uncaged marmots as we ascended, and saw many of the 

 little beasts sitting up on the rocks and diving into 

 concealing crevices as we approached, just as do their 

 smaller but closely allied cousins the prairie marmots (so- 

 called " prairie dogs ") of North America. The view, as 

 one ascends the Grimsel, of the snow-peaks around 

 Gletsch is a fine one in itself, but is vastly enhanced in 



