§ 50. The Eggischhorn, the Märgelin See and its Icebergs. 346. I am, however, unwilling that you should quit Switzerland without seeing such icebergs as it can show, and indeed there are other still nobler glaciers than the Mer de Glace with which you ought to be acquainted. In tracing the Rhone to its source, you have already ascended the valley of the Rhone. Let us visit it again together; halt at the little town of Viesch, and go from it straight up to the excellent hostelry on the slope of the Æggischhorn. This we shall make our head-quarters while we explore that monarch of European ice-streams, -the great Aletsch glacier. 347. Including the longest of its branches, this noble ice-river is about twenty miles long, while at the middle of its trunk it measures nearly a mile and a quarter from side to side. The grandest mountains of the Bernese Oberland, the Jungfrau, the Monch, the Trugberg, the Aletschhorn, the Breithorn, the Gletscherhorn, and many another noble peak and ridge, are the collectors of its névés. From three great valleys formed in the heart of the mountains these névés are poured, uniting together to form the trunk of the Aletsch at a place named by a witty mountaineer, the 'Place de la Concorde of Nature.' If the phrase be meant to convey the ideas of tranquil grandeur, beauty of form, and purity of hue, it is well bestowed. 348. Our hotel is not upon the peak of the Æggischhorn, but a brisk morning walk soon places us upon the top. Thence we see the glacier like a broad river stretching upwards to the roots of the Jungfrau, and downwards past the Bel Alp towards its end. Prolonging the vision downwards, we strike the noblest mountain group in all the Alps,-the Dom and its attendant peaks, the Matterhorn and the Weisshorn. The scene indeed is one of impressive grandeur, a multitude of peaks and crests here unnamed contributing to its glory. 349. But low down to our right, and surrounded by the sheltering mountains, is an object the beauty of which startles those who are unprepared for it. Yonder we see the naked side of the glacier, exposing glistening ice-cliffs sixty or seventy feet high. It would seem as if the Aletsch here were engaged in the vain attempt to thrust an arm through a lateral valley. It once did so; but the arm is now incessantly broken off close to the body of the glacier, a great space formerly covered by the ice being occupied by its water of liquefaction. A lake of the loveliest blue is thus formed, which reaches quite to the base of the ice-cliffs, saps them, as the Arctic waves sap the Greenland glaciers, and receives from them the broken masses which it has undermined. As we look down upon the lake, small icebergs sail over the tranquil surface, each resembling a snowy swan accompanied by its shadow. 350. This is the beautiful little lake of Märgelin, or, as the Swiss here call it, the Märgelin See. You see that splash, and immediately afterwards hear the sound of the plunging ice. The glacier has broken before our eyes, and dropped an iceberg into the lake. All over the lake the water is set in commotion, thus illustrating on a small scale the swamping waves produced by the descent of vast islands of ice from the Arctic glaciers. Look to the end of the lake. It is cumbered with the remnants of icebergs now aground, which have been in part wafted thither by the wind, but in part slowly borne by the water which moves gently in this direction. 351. Imagine us below upon the margin of the lake, as I happened to be on one occasion. There is one large and lonely iceberg about the middle. Suddenly a sound like that of a cataract is heard; we look towards the iceberg and see water teeming from its sides. Whence comes the water? the berg has become topheavy through the melting underneath; it is in the act of performing a somersault, and in rolling over carries with it a vast quantity of water, which rushes like a waterfall down its sides. And notice that the iceberg, which a moment ago was snowy-white, now exhibits the delicate blue colour characteristic of compact ice. It will soon, however, be rendered white again by the action. of the sun. The vaster icebergs of the Northern seas sometimes roll over in the same fashion. A week may be spent with delight and profit at the Æggischhorn. § 51. The Bel Alp. 352. From the Æggischhorn I might lead you along the mountain ridge by the Betten See, the fish of which we have already tasted, to the Rieder Alp, and thence across the Aletsch to the Bel Alp. This is a fine mountain ramble, but you and I prefer making the glacier our highway downwards. Easy at some places, it is by no means child's play at others to unravel its crevasses. But the steady constancy and close observation which we have hitherto found availing in difficult places do not forsake us here. We clear the fissures; and, after four hours of exhilarating work, we find ourselves upon the slope leading up to the Bel Alp hotel. 353. This is one of the finest halting-places in the Alps. Stretching before us up to the Eggischhorn and Märgelin See is the long last reach of the Aletsch, with its great medial moraine running along its back. At hand is the wild gorge of the Massa, in which the snout of the glacier lies couched like the head of a serpent. The beautiful system of the Oberaletsch glaciers is within easy reach. Above us is a peak called the Sparrenhorn, accessible to the most moderate climber, and on the summit of which little more than an hour's exertion will place you and me. Below us now is the Oberaletsch glacier, exhibiting the most perfect of medial moraines. Near us is the great mass of the Aletschhorn, clasped by its névés, and culminating in brown |