SKETCH-PLAN, SHOWING THE MORAINES, a, b, c, d, e, OF THE MER DE GLACE,

§ 16. Branches and Medial Moraines of the Mer de Glace from the Cleft Station.

129. We shall grapple with this question immediately. Meanwhile look at that ice-valley in front of us, stretching up between Mont Tacul and the Aiguille de Léchaud, to the base of the great ridge called the Grande Jorasse. This is called the Glacier de Léchaud. It receives at its head the snows of the Jorasse and of Mont Mallet, and joins the Glacier du Géant at the promontory of the Tacul. The glaciers seem welded together where they join, but they continue distinct. Between them. you clearly trace a stripe of débris (c on the annexed sketch-plan); you trace a similar though smaller stripe (a on the sketch), from the junction of the Glacier du Géant with the Glacier des Périades at the foot of the Aiguille Noire, which you also follow along the Mer de Glace.

130. We also see another glacier, or a portion of it, to the left, falling apparently in broken fragments through a narrow gorge (Cascade du Talèfre on the sketch) and joining the Léchaud, and from their point of junction also a stripe of débris (d) runs downwards along the Mer de Glace. Beyond this again we notice another stripe (e), which seems to begin at the bottom of the ice-fall, rising as it were from the body of the glacier. Beyond all of these we can notice the lateral moraine of the Mer de Glace.

131. These stripes are the medial moraines of the Mer de Glace. We shall learn more about them im

mediately.

132. And now, having informed our minds by these observations, let our eyes wander over the whole glorious scene, the splintered peaks and the hacked and jagged crests, the far-stretching snow-fields, the smaller glaciers which nestle on the heights, the deep blue heaven and the sailing clouds. Is it not worth some labour to gain command of such a scene? But the delight it imparts is heightened by the fact that we did not come expressly to see it; we came to instruct ourselves about the glacier, and this high enjoyment is an incident of our labour. You will find it thus through life; without honest labour there can be no deep joy.

§ 17. The Talèfre and the Jardin. Work among the

Crevasses.

133. And now let us descend to the Mer de Glace, for I want to take you across the glacier to that broken ice-fall the origin of which we have not yet seen. We aim at the farther side of the glacier, and to reach it we must cross those dark stripes of débris which we observed from the heights. Looked at from above, these moraines seemed flat, but now we find them to be ridges of stones and rubbish, from twenty to thirty feet high.

134. We quit the ice at a place called the Couvercle, and wind round this promontory, ascending all the time. We squeeze ourselves through the Egralets, a kind of natural staircase in the rock, and soon afterwards obtain a full view of the ice-fall, the origin of which we wish to find. The ice upon the fall is much broken; we have pinnacles and towers, some erect, some leaning, and some, if we are fortunate, falling like those upon the Glacier des Bois; and we have chasms from which issues a delicate blue light. With the ice-fall to our right we continue to ascend, until at length we command a view of a huge glacier basin, almost level, and on the middle of which stands a solitary island, entirely surrounded by ice. We stand at the edge of the Glacier du Talèfre, and connect it with the ice-fall we have passed. The glacier is bounded by rocky ridges, hacked and torn at the top into teeth and edges, and buttressed by snow fluted by the descending stones.

135. We cross the basin to the central island, and find grass and flowers at the place where we enter upon it. This is the celebrated Jardin, of which you have often heard. The upper part of the Jardin is bare rock. Close at hand is one of the noblest peaks in this portion of the Alps, the Aiguille Verte. It is between thirteen and fourteen thousand feet high, and down its sides, after freshly-fallen snow, avalanches incessantly thunder. From one of its projections a streak of moraine starts down the Talèfre; from the Jardin also a similar streak

of moraine issues. Both continue side by side to the top of the ice-fall, where they are engulphed in the chasms. But at the bottom of the fall they reappear, as if newly emerging from the body of the glacier, and afterwards they continue along the Mer de Glace.

136. Walk with me now alongside the moraine from the Jardin down towards the ice-fall. For a time our work is easy, such fissures as appear offering no impediment to our march. But the crevasses become gradually wider and wilder, following each other at length so rapidly as to leave merely walls of ice between them. Here perfect steadiness of foot is necessary—a slip would be death. We look towards the fall, and observe the confusion of walls and blocks and chasms below us increasing. At length prudence and reason cry Halt! We may swerve to the right or to the left, and making our way along erests of ice, with chasms on both hands, reach either the right lateral moraine or the left lateral moraine of the glacier.

§ 18. First Questions regarding Glacier Motion. Drifting of Bodies buried in a Crevasse.

137. But what are these lateral moraines? As you and I go from day to day along the glaciers, their origin is gradually made plain. We see at intervals the stones and rubbish descending from the mountain sides and arrested by the ice. All along the fringe of the glacier the stones and rubbish fall, and it soon