ANCIENT GLACIER OF THE LINTH. 195 



they now form long chains of hills on the left bank of the lake 

 (as well as near lluttcii, at the foot of the Hohe-Rhonen) . A 

 second and very large moraine took its rise in the mountain- 

 masses of the valley of the Sernft, and brought down innume- 

 rable blocks of sernifite (" red acrestone ") to the environs of 

 the Lake of Zurich ; and here and there this moraine received 

 large accessions from the Freiberg, as well as from the Gant- 

 stock. A third moraine began at the Kurfirsten and the Speer, 

 and conveyed from those mountains limestones and blocks of 

 conglomerate to the eastern parts of the Canton of Zurich ; ad- 

 ditions to this moraine arrived on the glacier pushing down 

 from the Orisons into the valley of the Lake of Wallenstadt, 

 carrying the granites of Ponteljes to the other rocks ; and so all 

 these lines of debris concentrated into one district. Curved 

 ramparts of hills indicate the retreat or diminution of the glacier. 

 The terminal moraine of Wiihrenlos shows its greatest exten- 

 sion ; and the vast terminal moraine which surrounds the north 

 end of the Lake of Zurich demonstrates that at the time of its 

 formation the retreat of the glacier had been stopped, and that 

 for many years the masses of debris had accumulated in that 

 district. As the great terminal moraines of the valley of the 

 Glatt, of the Lakes of Baldegg and Sempach, and of Berne, lie 

 nearly in the same line, they were probably formed at the same 

 time, and represent a long period during which glaciers remained 

 in that part of Switzerland. The moraines of Rapperschwyl and 

 Tuggen show the further retreat of the glacier and its gradual 

 melting. 



The fifth great glacier is that of the Rhine, which drew its 

 materials from the lofty mountain-country of the Grisons. At 

 the Schollberg this glacier divided into two branches : that 

 on the left formed the glacier of the Lake of Wallenstadt ; whilst 

 that on the right occupied the valley of the Rhine, buried the 

 Lake of Constance and its environs under a thick covering of 

 ice, and extended as far as the Hohgau, leaving stones com- 

 memorative of its presence on the summits of those hills. 

 The valley of Ponteljes furnished materials to a large moraine, 

 whose blocks of granite have been deposited on the left side of 

 the valley ; and near the Schollberg the moraine spread over 

 a great part of the glacier, so that the blocks from Ponteljes 



o2 



