288 Charted '.vlaelaren, Esq., on the 



firmed part of the lateral moraine ui' a glacier, which was then sub- 

 siding under the effect of partial fusion.* The highest hlocks I saw 

 here were about 200 or 250 feet above the plain and the Jake, but 

 I have no doubt that there were others at a greater elevation. The 

 upper ground was pretty carefully fenced, and I did not choose to 

 become a trespasser. 



A bank of loose materials extends from the west side of this cone 

 along the foot of the mountain nearly to the opening of the valley of 

 Lutehen at d in the map. It is from 50 to 200 feet in height and 

 half a mile in length. The breaches made in it by transitory tor- 

 rents rushing down from the hills above, shew that it is composed of 

 gravel and sand or clay, and many erratics of granite or other crys- 

 talline rocks are lying on the surface. Figure 3 represents one 

 of these, b, which is 12 feet high, 10 feet long, and 10 broad, and 

 must weigh 50 or CO tons. It stands on the edge of a very steep 

 declivity of soil 80 feet in height, X. This long bank of sand and 

 gravel with the boulders resting on it, is apparently an ancient mo- 

 raine. While I was sketching the shape and position of the block, a 

 man of rather uncouth appearance, with a large rusty sword at his 

 side, came up. I attempted to get into conversation with him, but 

 in vain. He knew no French, and I was deficient in colloquial Ger- 

 man. I was only able to make out that he was a policeman ; and 

 when I pointed to " der gross stein,'' and manifested curiosity about 

 its history, his reply was " icebergF — icebergs. " The popular opinion 

 here {if the policeman may be taken as its expositor) seems to be 

 that the travelled stones were transported by floating ice. 



Blocks of granite and gneiss are rare in the plain at Interlaken 

 and elsewhere in Switzerland, but they may have existed formerly. 

 They are the best building stone of the country, and their disappear- 

 ance is supposed to be accounted for by the use made of them in the 

 construction of bridges and other substantial works. The Swiss cot- 



o 



tages are of wood with a foundation of stone a foot or two in height, 

 for which any sort of rock suffices. 



A small steamer carries the traveller to Tracht (/), near Brienz 

 (Br in the map), at the east end of the lake. A sharp ridge of lime- 

 imrflua aj'r no ! .oi odj no hoT 



* Fragments of the rocks flanking a glacier valley, detatched by frost or 

 avalanches of snow, fall down and collect on the two sides of the glacier, and 

 are carried slowly downward with the ice. These aro called " lateral mo- 

 raines." In a compound glacier formed by the union of two tributary glaciers, 

 the two inner lateral moraines unite and constitute a third longitudinal row of 

 fragments jvstingon the middle, which is called a "medial moraine." One formed 

 of three or four tributary glaciers has two or three medial moraines. .And if such 

 a glacier has its breadth much contracted in passing through a narrow gorge, 

 the lateral and medial moraines are generally blended, and spread over the 

 whole surface. These fragments, arriving at the lower end of the glacier, fall 

 over and collect in front of it, and are called its " terminal moraine." When 

 a glacier recedes it generally has several terminal moraines, one behind another, 

 in the form of ridges of blocks with clay and saud. 



