For the ordinary hard-working man there is no change, no rest so truly beneficial as a trip amongst the mountains and snowfields of Europe. He need not be a climber; that is, a climber like Tyndall or Whymper, those giants of the Alpine Club. But a stroll up to the Bel Alp, the Æggishhorn, the Riffel, the Montanvert, or the Grimsel, will give the average pedestrian some of the finest glacier scenery in Europe, and which may, we believe, compare with any in the world for beauty. These glaciers—ice-rivers—we will now consider briefly. We may take the Mer de Glace as an example (see the illustration, [p. 596]). That gives us a very fair idea of the ice-river, but the cut below is a good specimen of a glacier.
Suppose we start up from Chamouni, or come across from Argentières, we shall reach the Montanvert by ascending through the wood, or by the “Chapeau,” across the ice-sea. As we take the former course, we walk alongside a white-flowing and rapid river, the Arve, which unites with the Rhone below Geneva. This river divides, and if we keep alongside one (the right or south branch), we shall reach the moraine and the icy grotto, from which the water issues. It is in this way many large rivers are born. The Rhine, the Rhone, the Aar, the Ticino, have all of them their sources in the ice. The Visp and the Sass waters are other almost equally well-known examples.
Fig. 694.—Source of the Rhine.
There used to be a grotto or cavern, into which the tourist could enter at the source of the Arveiron, and here the beautiful blue of the ice could be studied. From this place the Chapeau is reached, up a stony path amid the trees, and from the top outside the hut we can see the Mer de Glace all broken and contorted. The frequently occurring roar of a falling rock which heat has deprived of its icy support, or the cracking and tumbling of ice-blocks, may be seen and heard in the forenoon. But the grandeur and majesty of the ice and snow-clad mountains is best enjoyed by moonlight.
Fig. 695.—Glacier table.
On the ice we shall see huge stones and gravel and grit, which have been carried down by the ever-moving glacier, which is denuded in its course, and worn down upon the surface as it slides, scraping and grinding the valley through which it flows. By passing along a path now made easy by irons, but formerly without supports or guards, the surface of the glacier will be reached, and a man with a hatchet will cut steps for the timid traveller. We are now upon the deep ice-river, which has its springs in the snowy regions of the Col de Géant, in the snow which is continually falling upon the heights, and draining away to water again to form a river.
Thus the circle of events is completed,—snow, névé, ice (glacier), water, which last is again absorbed into the atmosphere, and again descends as rain or snow. And this is always going on by the action of the sun. It may here fairly be asked how snow becomes ice. Why does not the snow turn into ice at once, and form a glacier at the top of the mountain as well as at the bottom? We will endeavour to make this clear. Snow is composed of crystals, which assume certain definite forms, and when first the flakes fall they are soft and powdery. By degrees they melt a little, and when unconsolidated form what is termed névé, the border line between ice and snow. This semi-icy snow descends under pressure, and, as it increases, the glacier is formed by huge blocks and masses being pressed together on the steep slopes of the mountains. Thus the glacier descends, rounding off rocks, and scouring as it goes, moving at a certain estimated rate daily,—about twenty inches on the average,—carrying stones and débris which form the moraine, and finally when the high temperature in the valley melts the ice, it issues forth as a river into the plain, or bounds down the mountain side in a cascade. An excursion—and one by no means dangerous if a guide be taken—to the Jardin, near Chamouni, will reveal many interesting features of glacier formation, and of the glaciers themselves.
Physical Geography is therefore very much indebted to the action of water as a fluid or as a solid. In the former condition it erodes the rocks, carries down the stones and gravel and sand, forms deltas at the mouths of rivers, and elevates plains by overflowing its banks and depositing sediment. Water gives beautiful scenery, and the ever-changing features of the landscape are due to it. From the time the spring emerges to the time when it has developed into a river, bearing fine ships upon its restless waters, the universal fluid is always at its work of destruction and benefit combined. From the limpid stream we pass to the salt ocean, the reservoir of all the waters of the globe.