

CLOUDS AND KIVEKS, ICE AND GLACIERS. 149 



two branches, the right branch running to St. Nicholas 

 and Zerrnatt, and the left one to Saas and the Monte 

 Moro. Three hours above Saas we come upon the end 

 of the Allelein glacier, not filling the main vallej, but 

 thrown athwart it so as to stop its drainage like a dam. 

 Above this ice-dam we have the Mattmark Lake, and 

 at the head of the lake a small inn well known to 

 travellers over the Monte Moro. 



372. Close to this inn is the greatest boulder that 

 we have ever seen. It measures 240,000 cubic feet. 

 Looking across the valley we notice a glacier with its 

 present end half a mile from the boulder. The stone, 

 I believe, is serpentine, and were you and I to ex- 

 plore the Schwartzberg glacier to its upper fastnesses. 

 we should find among them the birthplace of this 

 gigantic stone. Fcur-and-forty years ago, when the 

 glacier reached the place now occupied by the boulder, 

 it landed there its mighty freight, and then retreated. 

 There is a second ice-borne rock at hand which would be 

 considered vast were it not dwarfed by the aspect of its 

 huger neighbour. 



373. Evidence of this kind might be multiplied to any 

 extent. In fact, at this moment, distinguished men, 

 like Professor Favre of Geneva, are determining from 

 the distribution of the erratic blocks the extent of the 

 ancient glaciers of Switzerland. It was, however, an 

 engineer named Venetz that first brought these evidences 

 to light, and announced to an incredulous world the 



