The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-12-16
THE SWISS GLACIERS.

~ u
says she THE SWISS GLACIERS.
stopped
ay sha There are more than four hundred
as pant. stream glacier" in Switzerland and
I'll what Ne adjoining Tyrol, which have made
hose countries famous. No scene is
g. he bore striking or beautiful than these
/ Herb seat ice-rivers, placed often amid fer
- Ee and wooded valleys, where there
dmoth- ae growing grain fields, fruit trees in
loom. smiling meadows and human
d as he 8sbtations.
n hsmi q l@nv ages ago, greater part of the
But mace of the earth was covered with q
abrupt 8Hof Snow and ice, just as Greenland
Hnd certain parts of Switzerland are to-
J she. Hg. All the minor ridges and valleys
guess Greenland are constantly concealed
s. Just Under huge layers of ice and snow. The
me to broad wastes of Greenland ice 90 on
lat was eHpping forward and down to the sea,
title. i where, breaking loose in mountainous
says masses, they sail away as icebergs-the
OF bis @error and dread of the northern Allan
on the c seas. Not many months ago, great
. few Steamship, the Arizona" ran into an
= what iceberg and broke away portion of
her bow. Indeed in many cases, ves-
,ggs," aes have been utterly wrecked by 1ce-
'thers Hbergs. These floating mountains of ice
we'd sGe often of enormous size. Some of
make Them have been grounded in Baffin's
him Bay where the water is 1,500 feet deep.
sting sAnother, seen by French explorer in
20 the the South Sea, presented a mass of ice
nearly equal to the greatest of the Swiss
'sand glaciers, it being thirteen miles long
. and with walls 100 feet above the water.
Herb As ice floats with but sone-ninth of its
efore bulk raised above the surface of the
hings sea, the term floating. mountain does
In,
l42 the steamer acadia - passed one
p, 50 4 IN the Atlantic ocean that was 400 to
yueS W feet above water, and therefore, on
SneQ moderate calculation, some 5000 feet
below the surface-a total height equal
and that OF the highest peak of the Green
3lountains. s,'. 4i-D 81
Eyes Gaciers are produced by the gradual
|. !. " changing into ice of the peculiar granu-
ny assnow that fallsin thes high sAlpine
region, above the snow limit of Is, 900
..t 'Io feet The height at which vegetation
ra aI ceases in Switzerland is about 5000
nv. feet, though Professor Agassiz found
W. talt OF llchen growing on the only rock
l.ls thatpierced through the icy summit of
,ras ,ne yungfrau ymountains nearly $4,000
rs,s "as feet above the sea. The snow. as it
ae1 shoyers down, is as perfectly dry as SO
WI WI much fine flour, and the ice formed from
E'0u fis very different from our pond or
nver ice, or sea ice, called ice-foe. The
ND snow not only falls in winter but from
ifs. ume to time throughout the seasons.
eap melting during the day it is at night
'sn rozen into kind of pudding-stone ice, I
anu rough cakes, which gradually or sud-
leL aenly slip below to form the first por-
zen non OF the glacier. AS they collect in
eP very loose order they move slowly down,
'nu melting and freezing together, until
s aey become changed into mass of
~ ~ c,ear blue ice at the lowest point of the
on giacier 1t is curious to examine one,
M STARTING upward from where the ice is
- ashsparent and blue, and find it gradu-
~ ally becoming less compact, less clear.
n0 more light and granular, until at the
highest point, where it is snow, it is as
}! hght and shifting as down.
81 Very large quantities of rock and
4 broken material from the tops of the
. APPS are carried down by the glaciers,
d eliher quite into the low valleys or to
ne Lodges along the way. These accu-
ID mutations on the side of glacier ap-
- pcaf, IKE the embankments of a canal
%. vrnVer, as it built to prevent the glacier |
n nom spreading. In the lower portion |
e switzerland, called the Jura, are to |
II maoundsbloeks of stone, some of them |
q large as cottages, transported there |
q eA"eioiS AEoIn distance OF flfty miles. |
s me rocks, broken material and dust are |
~ tnlckly spread over the tops of most |
!. Ne-rvers that their true character is
o ooheealed, and at little distance, or
i esenin walking over them, not strip |
nj ice can be seen for some distance. |
sfns surface Of others. however, are clear
. ,h ake the Rhone glacier. and dazzling to
"e eyes In a strong sunlight.
InEange sights appear in plenty as
!ou wander over one of these huge ice
msers Large slabs of stone, supported
~ ,egs Of ice, are frequently to be met
sM,t Man, the leg of ice having been saved
nom melting sby the stone. (These
( SuNKs OF ice make very convenient ta-
Sss, too, on which to spread out a
sacn.) Whenever glaciers course
sa over a precipices or sharp de-
mn Mne, the surface is split up into innu-
m;as ,s,aole huge sice-needles and ice-pyra-
MUS MUS, some standing at an angle. ap-
rg rmanng just ready to topple over and
] asn any one rash enough to approach
aon. Occasionally, at sharp decline,
e ICE river will break in two, the for
asa part shooting ahead and the rear
ma.lon r. gradually, or as quickly, closing
me gap. A hamlet in the St Mich
sa as valley has been, on several occa-
's' partially destroyed by the falling