-Sept, i, 1885.] The Australasian. Scientific Magazine. 55 
which descends towards the glaciers of Zmutt, the inclination is moderate, 
and it can be traversed with great facility. There are several little points 
on this side, and the highest of them is usually covered by a small cone of 
snow. The whole of the summit is covered with disintegrated fragments, 
and the living rock is not anywhere visible. It was observed by De 
Saussure that the beds of the Matterhorn rise towards the N.E., at an 
angle of 45°. This is scarcely exact, although correct on the whole. They 
dip towards the south and west ; but the inclination towards the west is 
three times as great as it is to the south. In consequence of these dips, 
the plain surface of the beds presents a surface sloping downwards on the 
western and southern sides of the mountain, and the fractured edges 
overhang each other. It is mainly from this cause that so much diffi- 
culty has been experienced in all previous endeavours to ascend the 
mountain ; and it was from observing this fact that I formed the resolu- 
tion to attempt the ascent by the north-western face ; for although it 
appeared smooth and unbroken, yet I argued that the fractures would fall 
in exactly the reverse manner to that which I have described, and this 
would render the ascent easy, even although the hold they might afford should 
be but small. The theory was correct, and the whole of the north-eastern 
face was found to be, in fact, a long stair-case, with the steps shelving 
inwards. It is also in consequence of these steps, that stones do not tall 
to any distance on the north-eastern side ; for it is evident that if any 
disintegrated fragments do break away, they must sooner or later be 
arrested on a ledge, and, indeed, I did not see any fall during the two 
days which I passed on the mountain. On the other side, on the contrary, 
the Matterhorn rains down showers, nay, torrents and avalanches of stones, 
both by day and night. Thus these dips become on one side a source of 
safety, but on all others a source of great danger. I was enabled by a 
knowledge of these facts to account for the enormous moraine of the 
Zmutt glacier, which has attracted the attention and the curiosity of 
all observers ; for the Zmutt and its tributary, the Tiefenmatter, sweep 
round the two faces of the Matterhorn, on which I would have expected the 
greatest masses of rock would have fallen. I found, moreover, that the 
Furgee glacier, which is below the north-east face, has scarcely any moraine. 
The consideration of these facts also suggests naturally that the primal form 
of the Matterhorn on its north-east side can be seen, but that great changes 
have taken place on the other ; I am sure, indeed, of this, for I saw the 
fallen fragments below. I can go a step further. The fallen masses are 
chiefly of the red rocks, and they must have either come from the upper or 
the lower of the three divisions. On the side of the Zmutt and the 
Tiefenmatter glaciers, however, the lower division is almost entirely 
covered by snow and glaciers. I am therefore forced to the conclusion that 
they come from the upper; and it is doing no violence to the imagination 
to suppose that at some early period the now isolated obelisk of the 
Matterhorn was only the termination and the culminating point of the 
ridge, of which the Best d’Erin and the mountains to the south of it formed 
also a part. 
