The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-04-06
Snow Banners of the California Alps.

streaming snow banners was the most sub
lime storm phenomenon / ever witnessed
IN the Alps, far surprising in plain, down
right grandeur all the most imposing eff
fects of clouds, floods, and avalanehes.
The snow out Of which these banners arC
formed is heaped most bountifully upon
the Alps, winter after winter, sometimes
to depth of twenty or thirty feet; but il
does not come from the sky in the form oil
big feathery fakes, such as one sees in
calmer and more temperate regions, seldom
even in the form of complete crystals
For many of these starry blossoms fall be.
fore they are ripe, while most of those that
do attain perfect development as six-petal-
ed flowers CLINT against one another in
their fall, and are broken into irregular
fragments.
This dry, mealy, fragmentary snow is
still farther prepared for the formation of
banners by the action of the wind. For,
instead of at once finding rest, like that
which falls into the tranquil depths of the
forest zones, it is rolled over and over,
beaten against bare, jagged rocks, and
1HhAN4 Al RAAS 0h0 AOlAOhcr AAAE
the pot.holes of river, until finally the
keen crystal angles of the fragments are
worn off, and the whole is reduced to dust.
Wherever strong storm winds find this
light, well-ground snow dust in a loose
condition upon exposed slopes where
there is a free upward sweep, it is tossed
back into the sky, and borne onward from
peak 10 peak in the form Of banners or
cloud-shaped drifts, according to the We
locity of the winds and conformation of
the slopes upon which they are DETECTED.
While thus flying through the dry,
frosty air, a small portion makes good its
escape, and remains in the sky as vapor,
for evaporation never wholly ceases even
in the most rigorous weather. But by far
the greater part, after being driven into
the sky again and again, is at length locked
fast in firm, bossy drifts or in the wombs
of glaciers, some of it to remain silent and
rigid for many years ere it is finally melted
into music, and sent allowing and singing
down the mountain side to the sea.
Yet, Notwithstanding the abundance of
winter snow dust in the Alps, and the fire.
quency of comparatively high winds, and
the length of time that the dust remains
loose and fully exposed to their action, the
production of well-formed banners is, for
causes we shall hereafter see, of quite rare
occurrence. Indeed, during FIVE winters
spent in the Sierra, l have observed only
one display of this kind that seemed in
every way perfect. This was in 1873,
when the snow-laden Alps were swept
lengthwise by powerful norther. hap
pened to be wintering in Yosemite Valley
at the time, that sublime Sierra strong
hold, in which one may witness the crea-
ton Of those forms of storm grandeur that
are termed wonderful, almost every day
storms Of Sunshine, storms of snow, foods,
avalanchcs, changing waterfalls, changing
clouds. Yet even here the grand gala day
of the north wind seemed surprisingly
glorious.
was awakened in the early morning BY
the rocking of my cabin and the beating Of
pine burrs on the roof. Detached tor
rents aud avalanches from the main wind
food overhead were rushing wildly adown
the narrow side ofthe canons and over the
rugged edges of the walls with loud resound-
ing roar, arousing the giant pines to mag
nifcent activity, and making the entire
granite valley throb and tremble like an
instrument that has been played.
But afar on the lofty Alps the storm
was expressing itself in still grander char
acters, which was soon to see in all
their glory.
had long been anxious to study some
points in the structure of the ice cone that
is formed every winter at the foot OF the
main Yosemite Falls, but the binding
spray by which it is invested had prevent
ed me from making a sufficiently near ap-
proach. This morning, however, the en-
tire body of the fall was torn into gauzy
strips, and blown horizontally along the
face of the cliff, leaving the cone entirely
dry. And while making my way to the
top of an overlooking ledge to seize SO
favorable an opportunity Of examining the
interior structure of the cone, the peaks
of the Merced group showed themselves
over the shoulders of the South Dome,
each waving a resplendent banner against
the blue sky, as regular in form and as
firm in texture as If woven of fine silk.
So perfectly glorious a phenomenon Of
course overbore all other considerations,
and | at once began to force my way out
of the valley to some dome or ridge sufi-
ciently lofty to command q general view
of the main Alpine SUBMITS, feeling as
sured should find them hammered still
more gloriously. Nor was l in the least
disappointed.
The side canon BY which / assembled
was choked with snow that had been shot
down in avalanches from the shelving walls
on either side, rendering the climbing ex-
ceedingly difficult. But, inspired by the
grand vision atop, the most tedious scram-
bling brought no fatigue, and in four or
five hours l stood beyond the walls, upon
a ridge eight thousand feet high.
And there, in bold relief, like clear
painting on the sky, appeared one of the
most imposing spectacles the eye Of man
ever beheld, Alps innumerable, black and
jagged, rising sharply into the azure, their
DaSeS set IN sOIlu Wnlte, their SIDES streak
ed with snow, like an ocean rock with
foam; and from every summit, all free and
unconfused, streaming banner, from two
to six thousand feet in length, slender at
the point Of attachment, then widening
gradually as it extended from the peak,
until about thousand or fifteen hundred
feet in breadth. The colossal cluster of
peaks called "The Crown of the Sierra"
and the majestic ranks marshalled along
the axis to the north aad south, Mounts
Ritter, Lyell, Mcclure, the Matterhorn,
with their nameless compeers, each with
its own refulgent banner waving with a
clearly visible motion in the suuglow, with
not a single lightning-bolt to mar the su-
blime simplicity of the wind tones, not
single cloud in the sky to mar the simple
grandeur of the banners.-Harper's Nag
dziae.
TUE HOTTEST SPoT on EARTH.-One
of the hottest regions of the earth is along
the Persian Gulf, where little or no rain
falls. At Bahrin the arid shore has no
fresh water, yet comparatively numerous
population eOntrive to live there, thanks