In this way the poor man was brought to the little tavern, where he sat in gloomy silence while the rest of the party essayed the glacier.
I may add here that he made the descent safely. There is another path, a mile or two longer, but entirely safe. He didn’t mind the mile or two.
SOMETHING ABOUT GLACIERS.
The Glacier des Bossons, while not so imposing as the Mer de Glace, has a great many wonderful points. Here at the beginning of this dangerous ledge is one of the best places to study it. The surface, rough and jagged, with sharp peaks and crags from three to twenty feet high, is partially covered with slate, rocks and debris, while beneath this, bright and sparkling, is the pure, solid ice, with its greenish-blue tint. Just opposite us, resting on the ice, is an immense bowlder that must weigh at least twenty tons, while all about are smaller stones, varying in weight from one hundred pounds to four or five tons. These immense stones became detached from the mountain, ages ago, by the continued pressure of the solid ice, expanded by the heat and contracted again by the cold, and have gradually been carried down the mountain on the bosom of this imperceptibly moving field of ice.
ROCKS POLISHED BY OLD GLACIERS.