(38 THE FOKMS OF WATER IN 



350. This is the beautiful little lake of Margelin, or 5 

 as the Swiss here call it, the Margelin See. You see 

 that splash, and immediately afterwards hear the sound 

 of the plunging ice. The glacier has broken before our 

 eyes, and dropped an iceberg into the lake. All over 

 the lake the water is set in commotion, thus illustrating 

 on a small scale the swamping waves produced by the 

 descent of vast islands of ice from the Arctic glacieis. 

 Look to the end of the lake. It is cumbered with the 

 remnants of icebergs now aground, which have been in 

 part wafted thither by the wind, bul in part slowly borne 

 by the water which moves gently in this direction, 



351. Imagine us below upon the margin of the lake, 

 as I happened to be on one occasion. There is one 

 large and lonely iceberg about the middle. Suddenly 

 a sound like that of a cataract is heard ; we look towards 

 the iceberg and see water teeming from its sides. 

 Whence comes the water? the berg has become top- 

 heavy through the melting underneath ; it is in the act 

 of performing a somersault, and in rolling over carries 

 with it a vast quantity of water, which rushes like a 

 waterfall down its sides. And notice that the iceberg, 

 which a moment ago was snowy-white, now exhibits the 

 delicate blue colour characteristic of compact ice. It will 

 soon, however, be rendered white again by the action 

 of the sun. The vaster icebergs of the Northern seas 

 sometimes roll over in the same fashion. A week mnj 

 be spent with delight and profit at the iEggischhom. 



