GLACIERS. 
137 
"made the stratification for a time more apparent ; but 
near its base its substance was so incorporated with 
detritus and pasty silt, that it was hard to distinguish 
it from soil. 
The shape of the mass which protruded into the 
cove was that of a horse-shoe, its curve pointing to the 
west upon the waters of the bay. Its northern side 
was flanked by the walls of the valley ; but its entire 
southern sweep was completely clear and unobstruct- 
ed. On this I made the observations which I have 
just detailed. 
It is with mortification that I confess that I had not 
then made myself familiar with the views detailed by 
Professor Forbes in his work on the Pennine Alps ; 
for it has since occurred to me that this so-called dome 
was of a true scallop-shell shape, and might, perhaps, 
have illustrated the conoidal structure, which forms so 
beautiful a feature of the viscous theory. But I have 
thought it best to adhere to my original remarks, lest 
I should impair the value of my facts by connecting 
them with views not directly imparted by the occa- 
sion. 
Four of these bands I succeeded, with some trouble, 
in measuring. They ranged from sixteen to nineteen 
inches in width. The height of the glacier where it 
entered the sea was eighty-four feet. Sixty paces back 
from its face, measured rudely by stepping a corre- 
sponding line of ground, its height was but seventy ; 
and it there spread itself out so as to cover a greater 
area, and its sides were less precipitous. Its protrusion 
into the sea beyond the water-line was but eight feet, 
passing over a bottom of rounded pebbles, none of 
which presented facettes of attrition. The depth of 
the portion thus immersed could be sounded with a 
