182 THE FORMS OF WATER IN 



Still day after day passed without revealing to us the 

 final proof. Surely we have not let our own ease stand 

 in the way of its attainment, and if we retire baffled 

 we shall do so with the consciousness of having done 

 our best. Yonder, however, at the base of the Mat- 

 terhorn, is the Furgge glacier that we have not yet 

 explored. Upon it our final attempt must be made. 



462. We get upon the glacier near its end, and 

 ascend it. We are soon fronted by a barrier composed 

 of three successive walls of neve, the one rising above 

 the other, and each retreating behind the other. The 

 bottom of each wall is separated from the top of the 

 succeeding one by a ledge, on which threatening masses 

 of broken neve now rest. We stand amid blocks and 

 rubbish which have been evidently discharged from 

 these ledges, on which other masses, ready apparently to 

 tumble, are now poised. 



463. On the vertical walls of this barrier we see, 

 marked with the utmost plainness, the horizontal lines 

 of stratification, while something exceedingly like the 

 veined structure appears to cross the lines of bedding 

 at nearly a right angle. The vertical surface is, how- 

 ever weathered, and the lines of structure, if they be 

 such, are indistinct. The problem now is to remove the 

 surface, and expose the ice underneath. It is one of 

 the many cases that have come before us, where the 

 value of an observation is to be balanced against the 

 danger which it involves. 



