mass, and on reaching the valley, it is repelled by the de- 
scending glaciers of Mont Rose, and from these opposing 
forces results an oblique moraine, at the base of the grand 
glacier of Gornerhorn. Each mountain mass contributes its 
glaciers, which are to be distinguished by means of the 
moraines, or masses of broken rock, which are carried along 
the surface, and are not imbedded in the ice, but carried on 
its surface, and disposed with mathematical precision accord- 
ing to the resolution of forces acting upon it. As they descend 
the valley, they become gradually intermixed ; and in this we 
may trace at least one of the means by which the materials of 
distant mountains may be intimately blended together, and 
finally, by a further process of disintegration and combination, 
form the fertile soil of the lower valleys. The moraines, 
which in the more level portion of the glacier preserve each 
a separate course, are, by the steepness of the declivities, the 
ruggedness of the surface, and the vast number of crevices, 
mingled together. It may easily be supposed that the gradual 
descent of these enormous glaciers must have a great effect 
in abrading and polishing the surfaces of the rocks on which 
they impinge. The surface of Auf Flatten is polished to a 
considerable height, whence Agassiz concludes, and appa- 
rently with much reason, that the glaciers formerly were of 
much greater extent than they now are. 
In the continuation of this same valley, some of the most 
curious phenomena of the glaciers are found. The crevices 
change their direction as the glacier turns round an angle of 
the valley, and from being transverse they become longi- 
tudinal. The moraines from Gornerhorn, Mont Rose, and 
other mountains, are in a great measure intermixed, but 
Agassiz states that they may be distinctly traced by the 
different colour of the rocks from whence they have been 
derived. 
At the inferior extremity of the glacier of Zermatt is a 
