CLOUDS AND RIVERS ICE AND GLACILES. 51 



§ 16. Branches and Medial Moraines of the Mer de Glace 

 from the Cleft Station. 



129. We shall grapple with this question immediately. 

 Meanwhile look at that ice-valley in front of us, stretch- 

 ing up between Mont Tacul a,nd the Aiguille de Lechaud, 

 to the base of the great ridge called the Grande Jorasse. 

 This is called the Glacier de Lechaud. It receives at 

 its head the snows of the Jorasse and of Mont Mallet, 

 and joins the Glacier du Geant at the promontory of 

 the Tacul. The glaciers seem welded together where 

 they join, but they continue distinct. Between them 

 you clearly trace a stripe of debris (c on the annexed 

 sketch-plan) ; you trace a similar though smaller stripe 

 (a on the sketch), from the junction of the Glacier 

 du Geant with the Glacier des Periades at the foot of 

 the Aiguille Noire, which you also follow along the Mer 

 de Glace. 



130. We also see another glacier, or a portion of it, 

 to the left, falling apparently in broken fragments 

 through a narrow gorge (Cascade du Talefre on the 

 sketch) and joining the Lechaud, and from their point 

 of junction also a stripe of debris (d) runs downwards 

 along the Mer de Glace. Beyond this again we notice 

 another stripe (e), which seems to begin at the bottom 

 of the ice-fall, rising as it were from the body of the 

 glacier. Beyond all of these we can notice the lateral 

 moraine of the Mer de Giace- 



