CLOUDS AND RIVERS, ICE AND GLACIERS. 137 



348. Our hotel is not upon the peak of the iEggiseh- 

 hora, but a brisk morning walk soon places us upon the 

 top. Thence we see the glacier like a broad river 

 stretching upwards to the roots of the Jungfrau, and 

 downwards past the Bel Alp towards its end. Pro- 

 longing the vision downwards, we strike the noblest 

 mountain group in all the Alps, — the Dom and its 

 attendant peaks, the Matterhorn and the Weisshorn. 

 The scene indeed is one of impressive grandeur, a mul- 

 titude of peaks and crests here unnamed contributing 

 to its glory. 



349. But low down to our right, and surrounded by 

 the sheltering mountains, is an object the beauty of 

 which startles those who are unprepared for it. Yonder 

 we see the naked side of the glacier, exposing glistening 

 ice~cliffs sixty or seventy feet high. It would seem as 

 if the Aletsch here were engaged in the vain attempt 

 to thrust an arm through a lateral valley. It once did 

 so ; but the arm is now incessantly broken off close to 

 the body of the glacier, a great space formerly covered 

 by the ice being occupied by its water of liquefaction. 

 A lake of the loveliest blue is thus formed, which 

 reaches quite to the base of the ice-cliffs, saps them, 

 as the Arctic waves sap the Greenland glaciers, and 

 receives from them the broken masses which it has 

 undermined. As we look down upon the lake, small 

 icebergs sail over the tranquil surface, each resemblii*£ 

 a snowy swan accompanied by its shadow. 



