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Art. XII. — Account of a Subterranean Glacier at Fondeurle^ 
containing regular crystals cf Ice 
The only subterranean glaciers which are generally known 
to exist in temperate regions, are those of Beaume in France, 
Tselitz in the Carpathian Mountains, and Fondeurle in the 
south of France. The two first of these have been slightly no- 
ticed ; but, in so far as we can learn, the subterranean glacier 
of Fondeurle has not yet been described in our language. 
The Fair of Fondeurle is the name given to a very extensive 
meadow, about twelve miles to the north of Die, in the depart- 
ment of the Drome, in the great calcareous sub-alpine range in 
the south-east of France. This meadow is situated above the 
limit of the wood, which here terminates at the height of 
514)7 feet above the level of the sea, and is bounded on the 
north and east by a high calcareous crest, while in the south it 
joins the Col de Quint at Fondeurle. In the month of June 
the Fair of Fondeurle is held upon this plain, and all the cattle 
dealers of the neighbouring mountains, in spite of the difficulty 
of access, bring hither their flocks, which have sometimes a- 
mounted to 1000 mules, 4000 cows and oxen, from 15,00Q to 
20,000 sheep, and from 1000 to 1200 goats. 
The soil of Fondeurle is horizontal and smooth. It has the 
appearance of an ancient lake, which has been filled up by the 
detritus of the mountains ; and upon careful examination it ap- 
pears to cover an immense cavern, in which the brook that tra- 
verses the meadow from the east to the south is lost. If, instead 
of descending the Col de Quint, we turn to the left of the Fair, 
we discover numerous and extensive caverns, several of which 
have been destroyed, and whose ruins produce the most curious 
and extraordinary effects. 'Iffie whole surface of the mountain, 
indeed, from the Fair of Fondeurle to the Wood of Vascieux 
to the east, presents the same appearance : and we witness only 
calcareous strata torn down and distorted, heaps of stones, clefts, 
® This account of the Glacier of Fondeurle was given by M. Hericart de Thury, 
in a MS. Mineralogical Tour in the South of France. An extract from this MS. 
was first published in the Journal des Min&s^ vol. xxxiii. p. 157. 
