IOO 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
CHAPTER IV. 
SNOW AND ICE. SNOWFIELDS AND GLACIERS. 
“ Chaque annee je me livre a de nouvelles reclierches , et en 
me procurant im genre de jouissance peu connu du reste des 
hommes, cel ni de visiter la nature dans quelques-uns de ses 
plus liauts sanctuaires, je vais lui demander l’initiation dans 
quelques-uns de ses mysteres, croyant qu’elle n’y admet que 
ceux qui sacrifient tout pour elle et qui rendent des liommages 
continuels.” — Dolomieu, Journal des Mines , 1798. 
The height of the snow-line in the Alps differs 
according to localities and circumstances, but may 
be taken as being from 2500 to 2800 metres above 
the sea-level. 
The snowfields are very extensive, the expanse 
of firn being necessarily greater than that of the 
glacier proceeding from it. 
The annual fall of snow gives rise to a kind of 
stratification, which however gradually disappears. 
The action of the wind tends, on the whole, to level 
the surface, leaving however many gentle undulations, 
and heaping up the snow in crests and ridges. On 
the creste of the mountains it often forms cornices, 
which sometimes project several feet. I shall never 
