'2M 



Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the 



o o. In this dismal and desolate region, with much snow still on the 

 ground (24th July), we had comfortable meals, served up by the 

 landlord's daughters, three respectable young women, with the ap- 

 pearance and manners of ladies. Our fellow-lodgers numbered about 

 forty, and though the building seems low and small, and is as rude 

 as the scene around it, the whole were supplied with beds. It is 

 wonderful how much is done for the traveller's comfort in Switzer- 

 land. As a specimen of the climate, Mr Martins informs us that in 

 the six months from November 1845 to April 1846, no less than 

 fifty feet of snow (fifty-three feet English), equivalent to fifty-five 

 inches of water, fell at the Grimsel. 



The head of the valley of ITasli is about three miles west of the 

 hotel. Here I found the mighty agent whose operations I had traced 

 over a line of forty miles, still at work, though sadly shrunk from 

 what must have been his pristine dimensions. The large glacier of 

 the Unter-Aar was before us, and the figure below is a front view of 

 its lower end, taken from- the left side, and foreshortened in the hori- 

 zontal direction. 



gji oi t ioiofirg 

 eii to $ntoa 

 eilJ ta noia \ 

 eSeioisrg exfa 



eil rfoiilw I 

 aevooTg bix 



t bn£ f vrivik>ob aiti wvuqu ' *hJL)"lJ o - ifc 



L \ oj & men 

 ; ? V>ni£iorn Iflioihsqua " oil* gmi9* i9bnoq'i£rfO tadw 

 odJ lo tagrnsvofS^^eao'igoiq wola 9fli ^d ^leiBrnhlu 



w e bn9 i9woi 

 IIbo qi& f too1 



JQiq bfI9 19W0i 



bI§ edT 

 ro Ji wofed 

 ni dooi edi 



fins aodota 



G G, the two walls or sides of the valley, formed of grey granite 

 which rise abruptly to a height of 1000 or 1500 feet, at an angle 

 of 50° or 60°. 



d d\ The top, as seen from below, covered with blocks and frag- 

 ments of various sizes. The same materials strew the whole front 

 down to b b, except the space marked i i, where the ice is seen in 

 very distinct strata, averaging, probably, about two yards in thick- 

 ness. It has been shewn by Professor Forbes that what seem 

 " strata" in a glacier, are curved laminae of a conoidal form gene- 

 rated by the unequal motion- of the ice — the middle moving faster 

 than the sides, and the top faster than the bottom. The left or north 

 side of the glacier d', is higher than the right d, and fully 300 feet 

 above the gravelly bed of the streams at the foot of the glacier. Its 

 breadth from G to G in M. Desor's plan (1842) is about 1600 feet, 

 or nearly one third of a mile; but the glacier being formed by the 

 junction of two others (those of the Finster and Lauter Aar), is five 

 miles long if measured back to the point where they unite, and at the 

 higher end has a breadth of 4000 feet. The glacier of the Finster 

 Aar was sounded by M. Desor to the depth of 761 feet, without 

 being sure that he had reached tho bottom. The part of the frontal 



