THE FORMATION OF GLACIERS. 
227 
*ind chasms of the rock, where they gather in 
dense quantities. Even in the sternest scenery 
of the Alps some sign of vegetation lingers ; and 
I remember to have found a tuft of lichen grow- 
ing on the only rock which pierced through the 
ice on the summit of the Jungfrau. It was a 
species then unknown to botanists, since described 
under the name of Umbelicarus Higinis. The ab- 
solute solitude, the intense stillness of the upper 
Alps is most impressive ; no cattle, no pasturage, 
no bird, nor any sound of life, — and, indeed, 
even if there were, the rarity of the air in these 
high regions is such that sound is hardly trans- 
missible. The deep repose, the purity of aspect 
of every object, the snow, broken only by ridges of 
angular rocks, produce an effect no less beautiful 
than solemn. Sometimes, in the midst of the 
wide expanse, one comes upon a patch of the 
so-called red snow of the Alps. At a distance, 
one would say that such a spot marked some 
terrible scene of blood, but, as you come nearer, 
the hues are so tender and delicate, as they fade 
from deep red to rose, and so die into the pure 
colorless snow around, that the first impression 
is completely dispelled. This red snow is an 
organic growth, a plant springing up in such 
abundance that it colors extensive surfaces, just 
as the microscopic plants dye our pools with 
green in the spring. It is an Alga ( Protocoites 
