Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-11-16
WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER l6 1853.

From the bosom of it rises the Finster Aar-
horn, a lone pyramid that seems now to touch
the blue sky: so cold and stern it stands there,
its head forever covered with snow and its foot
in this everlasting ocean of ice. The Schreck
| horn is the other peak that stands yet further
| of, but the clouds are now so dense around its
summit that cannot see its hoary head.
! 1t is not in my power in this wilderness,
without books and without time,) to go into the
science Of this scene. may as well confess
that had not just conception, till this day, Of
the nature of glacier. Reading of field, or
a sea, or an ocean Of ice, does not give us the
true idea of the thing; and shall certainly
not help the reader greatly by anything l can
say on the subject. But here we are now $500
| feet above the level of the sea, and for three
| quarters of the year the snow is falling on all
| these mountains not an April snow, that
melts as it falls, but dry powder, into which
| man without snow shoes would sink out of
| sight, as in the water. On the loftiest of these
mountains the surface of the snow melts little
every day, and the deeper you descend into the
snow, the melting is going on also But at
night it freezes, as by day for little while it
thaws, and this process is continued until the
snow is gradually converted into ice.
The high valleys are filed with these ever
| increasing deposits Of snow, which are thus
constantly undergoing this change, and as the
| fresh deposit far exceeds what is carried off by
melting, the enormous mass is rather increased
than diminished by the lapse of time. 1t be-
comes fixed fact; yet not fixed, for the most
remarkable and, to my mind the sublimest fact
in this relation, is that these glaciers are actu
ally moving steadily, year by year. The pro-
iecting mass in the lowest valley as where we
were standing few hours ago, is melting away,
and sending out the river that leaves its bosom
on its mission into world far below. Under
meath the glacier, where it presses on the earth,
| which has heart Of fire. the work Of dissolu-
| ton is rapidly going on, while the sun of the
upper surface melts the ice and streams flow
along and cut deep crevices into which the in
cautious traveller may fall never to rise again
till the last day. Some of these glaciers may
be traversed underneath, by following the
| streams Hugi wandered mile in this way
| underneath magnificent domes, through which
the sunlight was streaming, and among crystal
columns which had been left standing as if to
support the superintendent mass. The water,
as in rocky caverns, trickles through and freezes
in beautiful stalactytes, to adorn these palaces
unseen except by the eye to which darkness and
| light are both alike. As this decay of the gla.
cier takes place, and it is always more rapid
near the lower border of it than above, the pres
/ SURE VI IUc upper NudsScS uIlHSb IuC WuOlc
mountain slowly along, with steadiness Of
march that cannot be perceived by the eye, but
which is marked with precision, and chronicled
| from year to year.
| The place where great rocks are reposing on
the surface near to the edge of the mountain
| against which the glacier presses has been
carefully noted, and the next year and for
many subsequent years the onward progress of
| the boulder has been noted. Blocks Of granite
1 have been inserted in the bosom Of the glacier,
and their position defined by their relation to
the points of land in sight; and years after
wards they are away on their journey, and by
and by they have disappeared altogether as the
glacier moves on and heaves and breaks anC
closes again. More wonderful, still, it is re
corded that "mass Of granite, of 26, 200 cubic
feet, originally buried under the snow, was
raised to the surface and even elevated above
it upon two pillars Of ice, so that small army
might have found shelter under it, The men
of science who have pursued Investigations
here under circumstances quite as fearful and
forbidding as the navigators around the north
| pole, have rude hut in which they make
themselves as comfortable as the nature of the
case will admit; but this house, though founded
on rock, is not stationary. It moves on with
the mighty field of ice, about three hundred
| feet in year, or nearly one foot every day;
| not so rapidly in winter as in summer, for the
rate of progress depends on the melting, which
is arrested for brief period during the terrible
winters of this Alpine region. Other glaciers
move with greater rapidity than this. The
Made Gace, at Mont Blanc, is believed to
move at the rate of four or five hundred feet
every year, and it is said that the glacier is
| gradually wasting away.
The surface of this frozen yea is exceedingly
i H. -, 81 sh..
| ground below and the progress of the ice.
When stream has cut away great seam,
where the descent Of the moving mass will be
| swift when it does move, the shock will throw
up the ice in ridges, in pyramids, in various
fantastic shapes, piling rocks on rocks of ice,
as if some great explosion underneath had up
heaved the surface, and the fragments had
come down in wild confusion, like the ruins of
crystal city. Then the sun gradually melts
those towers, and they assume strange shapes
of wild and dazzling beauty, unreal palaces,
glittering minarets, silvered domes and shining
Observation-Disclosures of nature we call them,
but they are too beautiful for chance word, and
/ do not know to what eyes these forms of
glory may give pleasure, nor why it is that God
displays so much of his select skill and most
stupendous power where few behold il of the
race to which we belong, Doubtless our own
great cataract thundered and eaped in the
wilderness thousands of years, with no human
ear or eye to receive its majesty and beauty
but it did not roar in vain, God has other and
nobler worshippers than man, and while we are
cropping like moles beneath the surface, and
striving in our blindness to discover the mys-
teries Of Gods works, there are minds to which
these wonders are revelations of their Makers
glory and goodness, and they understand, ad.
mire, and adore.
Such were my reflections as looked out IL
this glacier. But was able to perceive that
here was a world Of solid water, gradually en-
larging and then melting away, to send down
rivers into the plains below, and this with the
other glaciers Of the Alps, is thus supplying all
the rivers in Europe, which might otherwise
be dry. Yet as other rivers in other lands are
constantly supplied without this provision, we
must suppose that some other design in Provi
dence is hid, which science may or may not
discover, but whether it does or not, we are
certain that they are not without a purpose