II ROR IRIN NWS op " AAV AA NAS LVAV LOA VAV AO LWLY ORV ASOLO IKK VOI I II IN SIS COME) KCK CG REG CE CGR QE) | nie Wi WAV AVA AVAVAY TAS AD NS ACP VAY RCE FHI: WAAAY! AVA AVAWAVAWAVAY avi a & ie. eae Ss a See. OR, ogo NNO NC/NB/NO NON OB NI/NONO/NONO NINO INGO O/8/NO 7S O70). 2 ]NOINGNGT A. OIRO INO 0 ‘Sala SRT A RUA ANY A AVA AWAY, WAN NWANW/i WANA: WAY AYA. \) NAN (a (SINIISINISISISINING ( ! | } VG i | Jue OBERLAND ANI Irs (GLACIERS. (er L LONDON, KLERSBUBY, STEAM PRESS, BUC THE GRESHAM LL OF THE OBER GRINDELWALD GLACIER Frontispiece Che Oberland and its Glaciers: EXPLORED AND ILLUSTRATED WITH [GH = he AND CAMERA, BY Bee ow CG HOG Wisse SEG. Editor of the “ Alpine Journal.” [ie we NitY—@IGHt J-HODOGRaArHIG |LEmanrmant onic } i } INS NE BY ERNEST EDWARDS, B.A. AND A Map oF THE DBERLAND Pondon : ALFRED W. BENNETT, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT. 1866. PR eer AC I Booxs on Alpine travel and photographs of Alpine scenery have of late become so familiar to the public, that no suggestion for adding to the number of either would ever have been seriously entertained, had it not been for a belief that a new and useful combination of the two might be made. The writer has often found that people who have never scen a glacier, howeyer keenly they may be interested in glacier theory for its own sake, and in mountain adventure on behalf of their friends, are unable to obtain any clear idea of what a glacier really is, except from elaborate vivd voce explanation of Alpine pictures. Professor Tyndall’s ‘‘ Glaciers of the Alps,” the most lucid in style of all works on glacier theory, was written mainly to enunciate an entirely new doctrine, and therefore contains much of argument and controversy, which are unnecessary for a sufficient understanding of the subject by those who are content to take one set of opimions on trust, without entering deeply into the controversy. Moreover no book on glacier theory yet published contains any large number of illustrations : they all aim chiefly at supporting by argument the views lV PREFACE. entertained by the author, not at presenting the phenomena of glaciers before the eyes of the reader. This bemg the case, the writer of the present work has thoueht that he might serve a humble, but useful purpose, by obtaining a set of photographs which should show as completely as possible the nature of glaciers and their various appendages, and by writing such an account of them as should supplement the effect of the pictures, and enable them to speak for themselves. Being himself an implicit believer in Professor Tyndall’s theory of glacier motion, which every- thing he has observed during five years’ acquaintance with the Alps has tended to confirm and illustrate, the writer has dealt with the subject as if Tyndall’s theory were undisputed, merely making such mention of previous opinions as seemed necessary for a proper under- standing of the subject. In adopting this course, the writer trusts that he will not be considered as disrespectful towards those eminent men who haye adopted other views: his anxious desire has been to avoid controversy, and while frankly stating his own convictions, to abstain from advancing any arguments or opinions which are not either universally adopted, or derived from the distinguished man whom he is proud to acknowledge as his master in all Alpine lore. In addition to the chapters relating entirely to the formation and functions of glaciers, matter has been introduced of two different kinds, which it is hoped may interest two different classes of readers. [For the experienced Alpine climber there are narratives of two or three ascents of some difficulty and considerable PREFACE. AY interest. For the less ambitious traveller there are accounts of a few expeditions of slichter calibre, which do not seem to be well known, and some hints which may perhaps be of service in enabling them to see sights and enjoy pleasures usually regarded as the exclusive property of mountaineers. There is a lex non scripta on such matters, more or less completely understood by the initiated, but entirely concealed from the general public, if one may judge from the unfounded ideas usually current ; if a sinele party of inexperienced travellers is saved from discomfort and failure, by following the advice offered in these pages, one of the purposes with which they were written will have been fulfilled. Before offering to such public acceptance as it may deserve this attempt to illustrate some of the grandest and most interesting of natural phenomena, the writer has one task to perform, which is at once a duty and a pleasure. He has received from Professor Tyndall not only his chief instruction in glacier theory through the admirable book already mentioned, but also many valuable hints for carrying out his purpose to the best effect ; and he desires here to acknowledge with hearty gratitude not merely the important assistance he has thence derived, but also the kind personal interest taken by Professor Tyndall in this humble follower of his “ Glaciers of the Alps.” Lei Or SeONdT EAN Ws: CHAPTER I. Wine SIP AN le I Travelling companions—The party assembled—Plan of the expedition—The route followed oe ihe a be oot ave 506 nee ae I CHAPTER II. WHAT IS A GLACIERP The snow line—Resemblance of a glacier to a river—Formation of neve—Super- ficial melting —Pressure—Early glacier theories—The viscous theory—The pressure theory—Regelation—Rate of motion of glaciers—Crevasses—An ice-fall—Re-union—Junction of glaciers—Séracs—Marginal and longitudinal ereyasses CHAPTER III. THE VUIN GE BAUS The Jungfrau as seen from the Wengern Alp—Previous attempts—Packing up— Ascent towards the Jungfrau Joch—An ice-slope in the dark—Bivouac on the Schneehorn rocks—The Silber Liicke—The north-western ar¢cte—The A furious gale on the summit—Down the south side Wengern Jungfrau -—Over the Ménch Joch—Caught in a thunder-storm—A rainy night on the hill-side TABLE OF CONTENTS. Pach CHAPTER Iy. GLACIER PHENOMENA Medial and lateral moraines—Dirt cones—Glacicr tables—Water holes—Moulins —Their formation and succession—Secondary glaciers—Glucieis remaniés— Appearance of the veined structure—Its cause and diveetion—Corresponding lines on the surface 54. CHAPTER Y. Wine JENS IMME IE Ir. Special beauties of the Eismeer—The glacier issuing from it—Explorations across the lower portion—Days spent on the ice—An aerial mirage—aA pienic beside the glacier—Mountain walking—The lady’s golden rule—Over-fatigue 77 CHAPTER VI. De ee EAU Ee ReAVAGR LOR Girie Sunset at Grindelwald—Charms of the Wetterhorn—Nature of the aseent—A new t walk to the Gleckstein—The cave way up—Quitting Grindelwald—A hi s—On the Lauteraar Joch—A ditheult and its comforts—The upper snow-field descent—Almer’s generalship—Down to the Grimsel 95 CHAPTER VII. THE AAR PAVILION. A promising messenger—Halt at the Pavilion—Its accommodation and contents— Amateur cookery—Return to the Abschwung—A gigantic glacier table— View of the Finsteraarhorn—Fresh arrivals—An eyening party at the TI4 Payilion—An ice fountain—Alpine bivouacs ... TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. THE PANORAMIC SUMMITS. Succession of mountain views—The Schilthorn—The Lauberhorn—The Faulhorn —The Sidelhorn—Across the watershed—The Aiggischhorn and Mirjelen See—The Sparrenhorn—The Torrenthorn—Detailed view of the Oberland mountains—Other panoramic summits CHAPTER IX. Tine Nie Sa rOiRINe The last new peak—Starting in the dark—Level basin of the Ober Aletsch glacier —The great curtain from the Beichgrat to the Nesthorn—aA steep ascent— Along the ridge to a sham peak—Vent, vidi, vici—Diyersions on the summit —Magnificence of the view—Fixing the flag—Mountain music—A prosperous descent CHAPTER X. Wislis Eiki Ai Te AN O) WP Si INE CHa is hens sl 6)16) }B) - ‘The Bell Alp inn—View over the Pennine range—Sunrise and sunset—Collecting the flocks the Great Aletsch glacier—Direct route from Lax to the Bell Alp via the A colloquy on the housetop—The gorge of the Massa—Foot of Martinsberg Alp—Exeursion up the Ober Aletsch glacier—Four cross roads —tThe Beicherat CHAPTER XI. THE PLEASURES AND DANGERS OF THE ALPS. Unintelligent travelling—Special features of the two Grindelwald glaciers—The Aar glacier The Rhone glacier—The Great and Ober Aletsch glaciers— How glaciers terminate—Mountain scenery—The dangers of the high Alps, properly and improperly so called—Reasonable precautions—The climbing spirit PAGE 163 x TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER XII. THE G@SCHINEN SEE AND STEINBERG ALP. The Cischinen See—Dispersion of the party—Christian’s dog ‘'schingel—Over the Tschingel Pass—The Steinberg Alp—The Schmadribach—Dinocle— “Come down, O maid, from yonder mountain height ” hei 4s ele) CHAPTER XIII. TEE UNC OMNIS Ol Ra iG SAIC Eines: Benefits of the Alps—Action of primeval glaciers—Ancient striations opposite the Grimsel—Fresh striations beside the Unter Grindelwald glacier—Erosion— Surface streams—A typical instance—The three great natural agents—Their working among the Alps—Manifestations of Divine power—Forbes’ compari- son of a glacier to human life ... oo ae fi le oo . 216 NOTES BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER is) ~ LIS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS. UPPER ICK-FALL OF THE OBER GRINDELWALD GLACIER see sir eee eee Frontispiece PEAKS ON A CLOUDY DAY... eon see avis tee ae sata ave Litle-paye ON THE UNTER GRINDELWALD GLACIER eas: see 55 ane see Lo face page wn GLACIER MOTION—ICE AND ROCK re aia oan ae wen aes eee 2 THE RHONE GLACIER ... toe ane tee tee Poi) ive ce eee wee 23 WAVED SURFACE OF THE AAR GLACIER ,.. ICE-NEEDLES—UNTER GRINDELWALD GLACIER eee see os ene eee ae 27 THE JUNGFRAU JocH apie sat aor Bb0 ae Bae pan och S00 37 MEDIAL MORAINE ON THE OBER ALETSCH GLACIER wee see rig wes see 57 A DIRT-CONE son Bab ace noe ao ond not gan fa6 ies 59 A GLACIER TABLE Bf ot fan oan toe Bo re aoe A AN ACTIVE MOULIN a a0 ere oe éo6 aes AN EXTINCT MOULIN ... coo sei as wee abG 306 eos 4 GLACIER REMANID fs a a ee oy ba es te a 70 THE VIESCHERHORNER FROM THE EISMEER PATH ... see ave one eee ee 7° oO J FINAL FALL OF THE UNTER GRINDELWALD GLACIER ase eee ase vee ave XH LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PHM LAUCTERAAR JOCH FROM THE ABSCHWUNG \ GLACIER FOUNTAIN YHE OBER ALELTSCH GLACIER FROM THE SPARRENHORN YH IBERLAND MOUNTAINS FROM THE TORRENTHORS YHE NESTHORN FROM THE OBER ALETSCIL GLACIER FHE GORGE IF THE MASSA aoe see aoe JON-PEAK—OBER ALETSCIL GLACIER Pill QSCHINEN SEK AND BLUMLIS ALP STRIATIONS OPPOSITE THE GRIMSEL STRIATIONS BESIDE THE UNTER GRINDELWALD GLACIER GLACIER STREAM ON THE EISMEER PRRMINAL CAVE OF THE UNTER GRINDELWALD GLACIER MAP OF THE BERNESE OBERLAND PAGE CO) to re) to ie) “I ty Os an To face page OBERLAND. 4 4 RNESE al utgel ue ae Ze CHAPTER I. THE START. Ye are bound for the mountains— With you let me go, Where the cold distant barrier, The vast range of snow, Through the loose clouds lifts dimly Its white peaks in air— How deep is the Ah! would I were there—M. Arnoup. stillness ; T is a popular fiction that nothing is so difficult to find as a good travelling companion, and that unless the utmost care be taker beforehand in this respect, every tour is sure to be a failure. Allthe good qualities which the Baron of Triermain expected in his bride would not be too numerous for the exacting gentlemen who state their views on this subject in print. Possibly they might dispense with some of the personal charms which Sir Roland required, and which being a hero of romance he found in King Arthur’s daughter, on condition of the paragon whom they honour with their company being acquainted with all the languages of Hurope, and two infallible preservatives against the attack of fieas, that terror of all ‘ B 2 TRAVELLING COMPANIONS. stay-at-home tourists. On the other hand practical experience seems re mortals, possessed of a common love for their objects of travel, will suit one another very fairly as compagnons de to show that aver: voyage, even if they meet casually as total strangers in a railway carriage or at a mountain inn. Té must be admitted that the facility with which persons, united by so faint a tie, can obtain release from the bonds of companionship tends to make the yoke sit lightly on their shoulders ; and few would be willing to start deliberately for a long tour with a comrade not known to be in some respects congenial, however ready they might be to join some chance associate after starting alone. To choose one’s companion beforehand, and arrange in concert the plan of the journey, is the safest and pleasantest way of domg business: but if this is for any reason impossible, no traveller need fear long remaining solitary against his will, or failing to find agreeable company on his age way. A comrade picked wp by chance may possibly prove a rare re the lots drawn out of 13) prize, or a decided failure; but on the ave da the wheel of fortune will prove something better than blanks. It is otherwise where a large party intends travelling together for any length of time. The amount of trouble and arrangement requisite for every single movement is sufficient soon to convert their progress into a mere scramble, unless it is fully understood that some one consideration shall be paramount, or some one person be invested with the task of directing the whole. It is useless to lay down an elaborate scheme by common consent; for the chances of travel, bad ys or miscalculation of distances, weather or fatigue, incidental del: will infallibly reduce this to a chaos, and the whole work has to be reconstructed continually, with perpetual risk of disagreement. But if there be a central point of some kind, whether person or thing, some authority recognised as superior, the party becomes an organized THE CAMERA. 3 whole at once; while a large number has the further advantage that they can always agree to differ for a short space. If there are three eligible routes between two given places, it is hard indeed if one out of a party of nie or ten cannot find a second person to share his preference in favour of any one of them, and separating from the remainder for a day or so, rejoin them, to their mutual benefit in the way of comparing notes. Ag, in working some mathematical problem, one at first assumes the nN moving body to be a particle without weight or size, and having calculated its course, applies the corrections required to suit the condition of the body actually moving, so we assume at the outset that each member of the travelling party is an atom self-contained and independent. Should the company comprise ladies, who will naturally belong in some way or other to the different gentlemen, the conditions of motion of the whole will be so materially complicated, that we may decline to work out the problem, but confidently leave it to solve itself ambulando. At the end of August, 1865, there congregated at Grindelwald a party whose heterogeneous materials were united by a central element into a manageable and concordant whole, and whose movements were conducted on the principle of occasional divergence and reunion already referred to. The centre around which all else revolved was a photographic camera, and it was understood at starting that all other considerations must yield to the imperative requirements of business. The camera and its necessary attendants im fact constituted head- quarters, and moyed in accordance with a previously decided plan of operations ; and the mancuvres of all other components of the party were reculated accordingly. The photographer himself may appropriately be designated by the Fenian title of Head Centre, since he supplied the brains to our a THE PARTY ASSEMBLED material centre, the camera, and with the two ladies accompanying him constituted the largest section of the party. Two gentlemen, each with a lady under his charge, described somewhat irregular orbits round our travelling focus; one of whom, in order to temper the extreme confidence of his neighbours, constituted himself croaker in ordinary a most enviable post, since it ensured him the gratification of being successful either in his prophecy or in his undertakings. Two other gentlemen, qualified to advertise themselves as ‘without encumbrances,’ completed the number, one of whom was director- general of the movements of the camera, and consequently manager of the entire party, and the other his counsellor and occasional substitute in the task of superintending operations. A despotism, tempered by the necessity not only of providing for all its subjects, but of explaining everything to their satisfaction, is by no means a sinecure ; and the burdens entailed by it on the victim who found himself in effect courier to a party of nine persons, would not have sat so lightly upon him, had he not fortunately secured one of the best guides in Switzerland, Christian Almer of Grindelwald, who combines with first-rate mountaineering skill the most perfect readiness to undergo any trouble for the convenience of his Herrschaft. Almer being accompanied by his son Ulrich (a boy of sixteen, whose chief duties were to carry the legs of the camera everywhere, and to keep its master supplied with water), and the other guide of the party bearing the very similar name of Von Almen, all three were called habitually by their Christian names, to avoid confusion. Instead however of dwelling any further on the individual members of the party, we may introduce them to the reader in bodily presence, assembled on the edge of the Unter Grindelwald glacier. The only absentees are the photographer himself, who found it impossible to be in two places at once, and Fritz yon Almen, who IN PROPRIIS PERSONIS. 3) with great skill shifted his position at the critical moment behind one of the others, so that a leg only is visible. Tn honour of the assembling of the entire party, the skies poured a libation which lasted for several days, broken only by an interval ON THE UNTER GRINDELWALD GLACIER. during which G—— and Christian Almer detached themselves to ascend the Jungfrau, and the remainder made a somewhat unsuccess- ful pilgrimage to Miiren. The bad weather was not without the advantage of enabling everyone to grow accustomed to the ways of everyone else, but was trying to the patience of those who remembered that while the photographic art is long, the lite of an Alpine summer is short. The Adler Hotel at Grindelwald is an 6 THE ADLER HOTEL. admirable one in all respects but one—it scarcely possesses a book, a very serious exception in wet weather. One day somebody announced that she had ferreted out an odd yolume of a work entitled ‘ Christian’s Mistake ;” but it was so obvious that Christian, at least our Christian, was incapable of such a thing, that we voted the discovery a delusion. There were cards however for the evenings; and there was lmeheon, a most useful institution under the circumstances, especially at the Adler, where bread, butter and honey are all perfect: and gradually the last days of August rolled away, until the first dawn of September ushered in a cloudless month. Just about the time at which in England the first unfortunate partridges were falling victims, our camera began to bag its game at the foot of the Grindelwald glacier; and the work was continued with uninterrupted success, until the last days of the month brought us with happy coincidence to the close of our task, and to the end of our stock of plates. The scheme with which we started was a simple one, and, thanks to the perfect weather, was carried out with tolerable completeness. We were to travel round the Oberland, commencing from Tauter- brunnen and Grindelwald, and thence working to the head of the Valais, were to make our way along its northern slopes, returning into Berne by the Gemmi. As many days as might prove necessary were to be spent in photographing on the various glaciers; and the experience of several previous seasons was brought to bear in determining before- hand the localities to be the most carefully explored, and the objects to be kept specially im view in each expedition. Further, the centle- men were to seize such opportunities as might offer themselves for climbing high peaks, or crossing glacier passes; and all, ladies included, were to ascend as many of the minor mountains as might prove convenient. We thus hoped not merely to make a tour complete THE ROUTE. 7 in itself, though of no great duration, but also, by confining our attention to one district, to obtain a full and tolerably minute acquaintance with it, none of our time being wasted in long migrations from one centre of interest to another. The map will show the routes actually followed, the continuous lack line indicating the movements of the camera, and the dotted ine the excursions of different sections of the party on their own account. It is founded on the excellent government map of Switzerland, with one or two small corrections supplied from our own actual observations. The mountain chains and glaciers are shown with some minuteness, but the minor ridges enclosing the lateral valleys &c. are merely indicated, with no pretensions to detailed accuracy. The nomenclature is that which has been recently adopted by the Swiss government, on the recommendation of a committee of the Swiss Alpine Club, specially appointed to examine and correct the nomenclature of the Oberland. In the forthcoming new edition of the sheet contaiming the lower half of the Oberland the names will appear as im this one, but no map contaming these undoubted improvements has as yet been published. The glaciers of the Oberland are very varied in their character, and the surrounding mountains so magnificent that there could be no fear of our losing interest in the scenery, while devoting our thoughts primarily to the diverse features of the glaciers themselves. Not only does the Oberland contain every type and size of glacier, from the Great Aletsch, unequalled in the whole range of the Alps, down to the tiny Maing glacier, which lies like a mere patch on the side of the Torrenthorn; but every phenomenon which has been observed, whether in the actual formation of the ice-streams, or in their effects and operations, is to be seen in perfection somewhere among the Oberland glaciers. Stronely persuaded of this, which turned out to 8 SCHEME PROPOSED. be a well-grounded anticipation, we determined to seek out in the Oberland, and as far as possible on certain selected glaciers, especially that of the Aar, the Ober Aletsch, and the two descending into the valley of Grindelwald, such a series of pictures as would give a tolerably clear and connected view of the origin and course of glaciers in general, and of the remarkable objects to be observed upon them. The shortness of September days, and the difficulty of conveying the necessary quantity of water above the snow line, prevented our exploring at all fully the phenomena of the everlasting snow fields, or carrying the camera, as we had once hoped to do, to the summit of some important peak. But the glaciers, properly so called, were nore within reach of our resources; and if we have failed to bring > way sufficient and satisfactory pictures of all that calls for special > ttention upon them, the fault lies with our own want of skill, or with the imperfections from which the photographic art is no more free than its compeers. The further objects of our tour were also carried out with tolerable success; and the necessities of our main purpose led us to make many excursions in a novel manner, which may perhaps prove worthy of imitation. But before proceeding to describe any of these we must, in order that their meaning and interest may be more fully appreciated, attempt to give some sort of answer to the preliminary question, ‘What is a glacier ?” CHAPTER II. WHAT IS A GLACIER ? Ice upon ice, the well-adjusted parts Were soon conjoined, nor other cement asked Than water interfused to make them one.—Cowprrr. O popular phrase is more essentially false than ‘‘the regions of eternal frost,” a term of tenemployed as a poetical synonyme for the higher portions of the Alps, where snow lies all the year through. Thesun’srays have power to melt the snow there, as at lower elevations, and do in fact melt a very appreciable proportion of that which falls on the topmost pinnacles. The less the distance above the level of the sea, the higher on the average will be the temperature, and the greater therefore the fusion of the snow that falls in the winter; and a gradually increasing proportion of it will be found to disappear as we come lower down the mountain c 10 THE SNOW LINE. side, until at length a line is reached where the amount that falls annually is just melted annually, below which the earth is during some portion of the-year bare of snow. ‘This level, which is called the ‘snow line,” will of course vary from place to place, and from year to year, according to accidental circumstances, such as the direction in which the mountain slopes, exposing it more or less to the sun’s influence, and the fluctuations of the weather. But on the average the snow line may be drawn in the Alps at about 8,500 feet; and of the snow that falls above this elevation only part will be directly melted by the sun. What then becomes of the snow which falls in these high regions? For as the mountains do not in fact grow in heicht, nor the hollows netween the peaks become more filled up, the surplus snow must be removed by some continuous natural agency. The avalanches which e of the mountains, where fall in spring bring down a little to the ba it is melted together with the native snows, so to speak, of the valleys ; though, im consequence of the force with which it is compacted together in the fall, beds of avalanche snow are often found to withstand the reat nearly a whole summer. But the relicf gained in this way is slight compared with the immense masses of snow deposited far from any precipice; and incomparably the most important agents in freeing the mountains from their burden of snow are the glaciers. The outward analogy between a glacicr and a river is so marked, and the phenomena attending the motion of a glacier down a valley are really so similar to those of a river flowing along its channel, that it is scarcely possible to speak of a glacier without using terms which apply originally to the flow of a liquid stream. A glacier 7s in truth a river of ice, having its source in some field of everlasting snow, and its termination deep down in some valley, far below the snow line, where in melting it becomes in its turn the source of some river of A RIVER OF ICE. 11 waters. The motion of the ice has been carefully measured on various glaciers, and at different times of the year, and not only does the rate of motion vary in different glaciers in proportion* to the inclinations of their beds—just as a mountain torrent differs in speed from a river whose sluggish current is barely perceptible—but different parts of the same glacier move at various rates, the centre more quickly than the sides, and the surface more quickly than the bottom, laws which are also found to hold good with regard to running water. Moreover “the point of swiftest motion’? on a line drawn across the glacier ‘‘follows the same law as that observed in the flow of rivers, shifting from one side of the centre to the other as the flexure of the valley changes.’’+ It may also be noted that it is usual in describing the neigh- bourhood of a glacier, to speak of its right or left bank, precisely as in the case of a river, meaning thereby the bounding ridge on the right or left-hand of an observer looking down the glacier. The reader who has never seen a glacier will find illustrations of its river-like flow in the foregrounds of the first pictures in Chapters VY. and VIII. An illustration is given on the next page of a phenomenon not unfre- quently found at the edge of a glacier, which shows the motion of the ice so clearly, that the eye of imagination can almost see it move. The ice which forms the upper and left-hand portion of the picture was once in contact with the rock, and in its advance still retains the form to which it was moulded by that contact ; the concave outline of the ice * It is hardly necessary to add that this is only one among seyeral causes which combine to determine the rate of motion of each glacier. + Tyndall’s ‘‘ Glaciers of the Alps,” p. 423. 12 A GLACIBR CAVERN. GLACIER MOTION—ICE AND ROOK, precisely coinciding with the convex shape of the rock, some slight allowance being made for subsequent superficial melting of the ice. The fact that a clacier does really move like a river, and that the analogy which suggests itself to every observer on first beholding a glacier is not merely fanciful but true and close, has been established SNOW CHANGING TO ICE. 13 beyond the possibility of doubt by the successive labours of scientific men, all of whom agree in their opinions so far, however they may differ in respect of other topics arising out of the theory of glaciers. But the further questions immediately suggest themselves : first, how does the snow which falls high among the mountains become converted into ice; and secondly, what is the force capable of making solid ice thus flow in streams down the valleys? The same agency will be found to have mainly conduced to the attainment of both results, but in a somewhat different manner; and it becomes con- sequently necessary to discuss each question separately. How then does the powdery snow, which once fell on the mountain top, become transformed into hard and perfectly solid ice,* such as it appears to be at the foot of the glacier? Snow is, as everyone knows, nothing more or less than frozen water, that is to say ice, but in an outwardly different form. A flake of snow consists in fact of minute particles of ice, so loosely jomed together that a ereat proportion of air is enclosed in their interstices, which causes the snow, in its own ice-particles necessarily transparent, to appear white and opaque. This white appearance results from an established law of light; and a more familiar illustration of the same law may be found in rock-salt, or carbonate of soda, which in the lump is transparent, but when reduced to powder is white. Similarly a lump of ice, if scraped, becomes an opaque powder, closely resembling fine snow. The change in colour which snow undergoes in becoming ice, is precisely the converse of the change undergone by the salt on being scraped into powder; and hence we may naturally infer the nature of the actual change in the substance. All the air which originally * See the ice in the photograph on the opposite page, which was taken very near the foot of the Unter Grindelwald glacier. 14 SUPERFICIAL MELTING. was mixed with the particles of ice to compose snow is expelled, and there being nothing left but the ice, the mass is of course transparent. Two agencies operate to remove the air from amid the snow, one of which, the earliest to act on it, and the least powerful m its effects, has been already mentioned in another connection. The sun, as has been said, melts during the summer the surface of the snow, and the water thus formed penetrates downwards into the mass, warming the snow as it passes through it, but at the same time losing part of its own volume, which is frozen on to the tiny grains of snow, thus increas- ing their size, and uniting several of them into one larger grain. As this process is continued day by day and year by year, the lower layers of the snow lose more and more air, and the whole mass becomes less in bulk, but much more dense, the upper surface having in fact by the process described been transferred downwards, and made to fill up the interstices in the lower parts. In this condition it closely resembles m appearance a mass of small hailstones frozen together, and is usually known by the French term névé, or sometimes by the equivalent German name firn. Though this process of super- ficial melting, and subsequent refreezing of the water so produced, is capable of transforming snow into névé, yet it is ineffective to produce the further change into genuine ice. A good instance of the utmost change which can be wrought by this means alone may be found in the small Maing glacier, on the north side of the Torrenthorn, which appears m the foreground of the view from that mountain given in Chapter VIII. Its upper portion, which is plainly exposed to very little influence of any other sort, is névé of an unusually solid kind, and has lost, as completely as the surface of most glaciers very far from their origin, the brilliant white colour which belongs to snow, and which gradually dies out as the substance crows less and less like what it originally was. PRESSURE. 15 But there is another and far more important agent at work, namely Pressure, which materially helps in converting snow into névé, and does the whole of the work necessary for further changing névé into the true ice of the glacier. The superincumbent mass by its weight keeps up a constant pressure on the lower layers of snow, squeezing the air out of them at the same time that the water from above is trickling through, and depositing fresh ice over the surface of the grains already formed. And the pressure is applied not only vertically by the weight of the mass above, but laterally from the sides of the valley through which the glacier flows, and from the snows which, accumulating behind, force the glacier down, as we shall see presently is the case. This process, continued throughout the whole length of a glacier, finally expels all the air, and brings she ice to a state of perfect transparency. The sight however of the lower end of a glacier is apt to disappoint the traveller, unless he approaches near enough to examine the ice closely, or penetrates into one of the caves which usually are found at the foot of a glacier, and form the source out of which rushes the nascent river. The upper surface of the ice has necessarily been exposed to comparatively little pressure, and is constantly being disintegrated by the sun, besides being strewn with dirt, through the operation of causes not yet referred to. Thus it is impossible for any pictures of the end of a glacier to convey an idea of the perfect clearness and exquisite beauty of the ice. It has already been observed incidentally that pressure is the agent which drives glaciers down the valleys; and though much contro- versy has arisen as to the causes which govern the motion of a glacier when formed, yet it will be allowed by all alike that pressure, in the weight of accumulating snows, forces out the lower portions of the mass, and compels them to find place for themselves in 16 WHY A GLACIER TERMINATES. whatever direction they can escape, which will obviously be where valleys open downwards from the great reservoirs of néyé. Streams of ice thus started flow down valleys of every imaginable shape and size, and of constantly varying width and inclination, accommodating themselves accurately to every change in the form of their bed, and always preserving their continuity. Below the snow line, where the sun during some portion of the year has power to melt their true surface, no longer hidden beneath a cloak of fresh fallen snow, they begin to diminish in thickne and this wasting away proceeds with increasing rapidity as the glacier descends further, until at length a point is reached where the amount of ice pushed down from behind is not more than the sun can melt, and there the glacier terminates. The glacier as a whole, it has been said, preserves its continuity throughout ; that is to say, it is never found actually riven into two separate parts. But its substance nevertheless is seen to be cleft and broken at different parts of its course by fissures of very various size, shape and direction, which are termed crevasses ; and it 1s mainly upon the observation of the manner in which these crevasses are formed, and of the relation they bear to the changing conditions of the glacier’s bed, that the theories have been founded which have successively professed to explain the causes of glacier motion. Before therefore entering into any description of the various kinds of crevasses, which mainly contribute to the beauty of the glaciers they intersect, it will be desirable briefly to state the chief theories that have been adopted, and especially that of Professor Tyndall, which in the eyes of the great majority of scientific men has distinctly superseded all others. The earliest attempts at forming a glacier theory were made in the last century, and before Englishmen had begun to interest them- selyes in the matter. The first of these, suggested by Scheuchzer THE VISCOUS THHORY. 17 so long ago as 1705, but generally associated with the name of Charpentier, was that the freezing and consequent expansion of water within the glacier furnished the foree which urged the glacier downwards; but even if this were sufficient to account for the phenomena, subsequent experiments have supplied proofs that such freezing does not take place to any great extent. Another theory, bearing the honoured name of De Saussure, was that the glacier simply slid oyer its bed, a proposition which is true up to a certain point, but only removes the difficulty a step further off. The first Englishman who deyoted any time and thought to the study of glaciers was Professor J. D. Forbes, then an ornament of the Edinburgh University, but now Principal of St. Andrew’s. He was the first to make trustworthy and systematic measure- ments of the motion of glaciers, and to prove beyond question that the ice-stream does really move in very close analogy to a river. rom this demonstrated similarity, which has scarcely been disputed simce, and the facts of which have been followed out still more minutely by subsequent observers, Professor Forbes founded his celebrated theory, that a glacier is an imperfect fluid, or viscous body, and that its motion is caused by the laws which govern all such bodies. A more admirable illustration of the nature of glacier motion could not be found than this comparison with a stream of honey, lava, or tar; but it is so obvious that ice in nall portions is not only not viscous, but is a remarkably brittle solid, that the analogy between the substances breaks down, what- ever the resemblance that undoubtedly exists between their modes of motion. This theory was the subject of much controversy, and many able areuments were set up for and against it ; but on the whole the balance of opinion seemed to tend in favour of Professor Forbes’ theory, in spite of the difficulty admitted by himself, that viscosity D 18 THE PRESSURE TITEORY. could not be traced in the icy fragments of a glacier, any more than in ordinary lake ice. In 1856 Professor Tyndall was induced by other considerations to turn his attention to the Alps and their glaciers, and in the course of a few seasons not only made himself practically acquainted with all 7 | { the phenomena of glaciers, and became one of the boldest and most kalful chimbers in Eneland, but also executed a series of measure- nm ments, which added much to the foundation laid by Forbes. Out of these observations, with the aid of experiments at home, he slaborated a theory of glacier motion, simple, complete, and not o only consistent with all observed facts, but capable of explaining m ha Ba them satisfactorily. This theory he gave to the world in “ Glaciers of the Alps,” one of the most delightful books that ever appeared on a scientific subject, which has practically become the ] laciers since the text-book for all who have taken up the study of ¢ date of its publication. Tyndall’s theory may be summed up in the single word Pressure. He shows conclusively that ice, though it is incapable of yielding in any perceptible degree to tension or strain, yields to pressure in a most marvellous manner, and can in fact be moulded by means of pressure skilfully applied into any conceivable shape. It must not be supposed, however, that the ice does not break under pressure; on ] posed vever, that tl loes not break under pressur he contrary, it is broken in every direction, but re-unites itself by t] trary, it is brol y direction, but re-unites itself by virtue of the remarkable principle discovered by Faraday, and now t f the remarkable primciple discovered by Faraday, and now termed Revelation. This property of ice, which is in fact if not in theory familiarly known to every one, is that when two pieces of ice with moistened surfaces come in contact, they become united by the freezing of the thin film of water between them, though no such result follows the contact of two pieces of dry ice. Every snowball depends for its REGELATION, 19 formation on regelation, the moist particles of snow freezing solidly together in consequence of being pressed into contact: andif the pressure applied be tolerably severe, so as to squeeze out most of the air and bring the particles into very close contact, the snowball becomes semi-transparent, and in fact imperfect ice. On the same principle depends the fact that in general the nearer the temperature approaches to the freezing-point during a snow-storm the larger will be the flakes, and the lower the temperature the smaller they will be. The flakes are of course formed above the earth, where we cannot observe the temperature, and other agencies, such as wind, doubtless tend to prevent or assist their formation : but on the average the law indicated holds good, and depends on the fact that at the freezing-point each flakelet will be just beginning to melt, will therefore have moistened surfaces, and will consequently adhere by regelation to any other that comes in contact with it. Anotherand somewhat destructive instance of the working of regelation may perhaps be remembered by some readers. During the first heavy snow-storm of last winter, the telegraph wires in many places about London were torn down by the weight of the snow which became attached to them. Throughout the fall the temperature of the air was never much below the freezing-point, and was sometimes above it: thus the conditions were most favourable for the building up of masses of snow by regelation, and the snow grew round the telegraph wires until im some places they were coated as thick as a man’s wvist, and in other places they broke beneath the load. The origin of regelation itself—that is to say, the physical cause which produces the observed phenomena—cannot be said to haye been yet satisfactorily decided, two rival theories being supported by high scientific authority. Professor James Thomson refers regelation to the mutual pressure of the two pieces of ice; Faraday, the original 20 HOW REGELATION WORKS. discoverer, toa mutual action between the ice and the film of water, inducing the crystallization of the latter. Experiments have been made which would almost seem to demonstrate the insutfi- a qency of Thomson's theory; on the other hand Faraday’ explanation, if correct, still requires to be carried a step further. indubitable, But whatever the cause of regelation may be, the fact is and a knowledge of it is essential to a clear understanding of glacier motion. Moisture being necessary to regelation, bemg in fact the cement with which the pieces of ice are united, it is only when the iceis ata temperature of 32°, or just beginning to melt, that regelation can take place, unless the surfaces of ice be extrancously moistened. At that temperature also ice can be crushed with facility by the application of a moderate pressure, whereas when colder it is much harder. Such experiments as have been made tend to show that the interior of a elacier is always at or near the freezing-point, at least in summer: and this belief is supported by other considerations, drawn from the observed facility with which the glacier as a whole yields to pressure, and from the known powers of ice in respect of conducting and absorbing heat. Thus the ice of a elacier is brought by the operation g g j I of totally independent causes into the precise condition most favourable for its being moulded under the influence of pressure and regelation. There is no waste of those forces in overcoming resistance, arising from the ice not being in the fittest state for their application. The rate at which a glacier moves is determined by the simultaneous working of a variety of causes, more or less independent of each other, such as the shape of the valley, its inclination, the amount of névé exerting a pressure from behind, and the changes of the seasons and weather, all of which vary infinitely in themselves. Thus it is impossible to obtain any definite law, whereby we can discover the RATE OF MOTION. mall rate of motion through knowledge of the various conditions affecting the glacier. Actual observations have however determined the rates at which numerous glaciers move in summer, and one or two such measurements have been made in winter; and though the results are, as might be expected, by no means uniform, yet it may safely be said that very few glaciers move faster than 700 feet per annum, while many advance much more slowly. The winter rate is on the average half that in summer, though the observations made in winter have been too few to determine whether the glacier ever moves at any much slower pace. It will naturally ye asked why the motion varies with the seasons—why, since the pressure from behind must always be kept wp, the glacier does not move uniformly. The explanation is to be found in the very fact which accounts for the fullest and most complete motion. In summer he ice, as has been already mentioned, is throughout at a temperature of 82°, in which condition the ice is most readily crushed and regela- tion can work most effectually. In winter the surface and the mass of the glacier, to a depth necessarily unknown, are frozen to a much lower temperature; the ice is consequently harder, and does not yield so readily to the pressure exerted upon it. Moreover the under surface of the ice is melted in summer by its contact with the warm earth, and the streams of water thus formed act like grease to diminish the friction and facilitate the sliding of the glacier oyer its bed: in winter on the contrary no such melting takes place, and the amount of friction is far greater, whereby the rate of motion is con- siderably diminished. It will now be easy to trace the course of a glacier, the manner in which the crevasses, of various kinds, are formed and obliterated, and the processes by which the internal texture of the ice is modified. We have already seen that in its descent from the snow reservoirs high 22, CREYVASSES. radually hat this change is due to pressure from various directions. Concerning the among the mountains, the substance of a glacier becomes ¢ 4 L denser, and is transformed from névé into actual ice, and mode of this transformation something more must be said in the 3) sequel: but since the phenomena of crevasses are the same at all stages, and no definite poimt can be fixed at which the névé may be said to become ice, it will be desirable, in order to avoid confusion, to make use of one term only, while speaking of the substance of the , glacier, merely premising that what is said of ice is equally true of 1évé, unless special exception is made. The conception of a river of ice, which has been set before the ing the best idea of the nature of glacier motion, will te} ‘eader as @iy robably have suggested a steady and equable flow down a channel of tolerably uniform inclination ; and hitherto there has been no occasion to Sst any diver gence from this pattern, to which in = s conform. But now we must begin to consider the fact many glac effects which will be produced by variations in the width, steepness and direction of the valley formime the glacier’s bed. To fix our thoughts, let us imagine a glacier starting out of a huge reservoir of néyé, driven down by the pressure of the mass behind it, and flowing in the only channel which affords it room to escape. What will happen when the glacier, after flowing gently down for some distance from its parent basin, reaches the brow of a steep declivity, due to a ereat and sudden change in the inclination of the valley which contains it? The front portion of the ice, beimg thrust over the edge, and being unable to resist the strain caused by its own almost unsupported it, breaks across the brow. But in consequence of the upper part of the ice moving more quickly than that near its bed, the crack will not penetrate through the entire mass. As the top of the slice thus partially detached is tilted forwards, the bottom of it will be §o end aonf og, NBIOV1O SNOHY SHL AN ICE-FALL. 23 pressed more violently than ever against the ice behind; and so the slice, never totally divided from the remainder, is gradually pushed down the slope. Very soon another portion of the surface reaches the brow, is similarly broken and driven downwards, and so on in endless succession. Human eye has of course never seen the beginning of such an infinite series of ice-waves, but the only difference between the first wave and any subsequent one arises from the latter en- countering at the bottom of the descent the resistance of its pre- decessors, which having reached a more gentle slope are again moving forward as above the steep fall. There is nothing more wonderfully beautiful in the whole range of glacier phenomena than the sight of one of these ice-falls, as they are most appropriately termed. The number of them is of course extremely great, the same glacier often possessing two or three; but scarcely one in the wide extent of the Alps is superior in grandeur to that of the Ober Grindelwald glacier, which forms our frontispiece. This marvellous cascade of ice is about 400 yards m width at the top, and not much short of 2,500 feet in vertical height, and is framed in black precipitous rocks, with the dark stern peak of the Schreckhorn frowning overhead on the right. At the bottom of the same picture the glacier is seen again flowing fe a) onwards in comparatively smooth and unbroken condition: and tl same thing may be observed with even more distinctness in the accompanying view of the Rhone glacier, where the ice-fall though less steep is almost equally broken, and the surface below it more nearly level. How has the glacier, after being riven in every direction at the fall, and poured in a cascade of icy fragments down a descent of 2,500 t which has effected this magical result is merely the resistance of the i=) feet, again become compacted into a homogeneous whole? The age 24. BELOW AN ICE-FALL. mass below the ice-fall, which having a comparatively gentle slope to descend refuses to give way, except to severe pressure from behind. Supposing a square-cut slice of the glacier to reach the bottom of the fall, its upper edge will first come into contact with the ice in front, and will by the pressure from behind be reunited to it through regelation. As the slice works its way down entirely on to the gentler incline, it brmegs its lower parts also into contact, and in the effort to find room for its If the whole becomes reunited to the mass in front. The same process is repeated with every successive slice of the elacier, into whatever shape it may be split by the accidental shape of the ice-fall; and so the glacier goes on its way below the fall as if nothing had happened. At eyery change in the angle of inclination of its bed, one of these two processes is repeated; when it becomes steeper, the glacier is visibly broken across, as every successive wave reaches the angle; and when it becomes less steep, the crevasses previously existing are wholly or partially obliterated by the resulting pressure. It is from observation of these effects, produced by very he inclination, that Professor Tyndall deduces his slight changes in t conclusion that a glacier, like its component ice, is incapable of bearing any perceptible strain, and is therefore not in any sense a viscous body. A specially good instance of these successive changes, slight in themselves, but producing marked results, is to be found on the lower part of the Unter Grindelwald glacier, between the Eismeer and the final fall. It is not to be supposed that when the glacier reaches a gentler slope, after passing down a fall, the crevasses formed in the fall are always, or even usually, obliterated. Sometimes eyery trace of them is destroyed, and the surface becomes really smooth and uniform: sometimes a fresh change of inclination occurs so speedily that it is bo Or WAVES OF ICE. hard to tell whether the crevasses there appearmg are new, or the old ones which have never entirely closed. In general however the successive waves of the ice-fall are very clearly visible for a long distance below its termination; and the sun gradually wastes thei angular outlines until they assume a rounded shape very similar to that of ocean waves, as may be seen in the accompanying illustration, which represents a portion of the surface of the Aar glacier, the wave forms being the result of the grand ice-fall under the Finsteraarhorn. WAVED SURFACE OF THE AAR GLACIER. Further on, let us suppose two valleys, each containing its glacier, to meet at an angle, and form one larger valley. The two glaciers of E 26 JUNCTION OF TWO GLACIERS. course are brought into contact, and obedient to the law which welds into one two mas ses of ice duly pressed together, flow onwards in an united stream. And though their line of junction may often be traced down the entire length of the wnited elacier by means of the moraines (a phenomenon to be explained hereafter), yet no division can be discovered in the ice, which becomes truly one stream. An instance of such a junction may be seen in the illustration facie p. 109, where the glacier descending straight towards the spectator joins with another flowing from his left hand, and the two flow thence in a com- mon stream. the commencement of the line of junction being marked in the picture by the black lme of moraine across the foreeround. Sometimes, as may be seen in the illustration at p. 78, two glaciers meet in this manner at the top of an ice-fall, and pour over the brow together, in which case every trace of their ever haying hada separate existence is usually obliterated by the time they reach more level sround. In the same picture may also be seen another instance of the manner in which two glaciers unite.