The Forms of Water in Clouds & Rivers, Ice & Glaciers

Æggischhorn, it broke forth on the Æggischhorn side, and formed a torrent between the glacier and the slope of the mountain. In some places this river was more than sixty yards wide, at others it was contracted to less than one-fifth of this width. Broken cascades of great height were formed here and there by successive ledges of ice, the torrent leaping with indescribable fury from ledge to ledge, and sending a smoke of spray into the air. At one place the bottom of the torrent was deep soft sand, which, after the water had passed, could be seen to to have been tortured into

huge funnels by the whirling eddies overhead.

Soon after we reached the Bel Alp, on the occasion just referred to, the front of the torrent appeared at the opposite side of the valley carrying everything movable before it, and immediately afterwards swept through the hollow that we had traversed a little earlier in the day. When at the end of the glacier I was struck by the force and volume of the Massa, and the grandeur of its vault, but I could not then account for the huge blocks of ice which it incessantly carried down. Doubtless the eruption above had been partial before the grand rush set in. The Rhone was considerably swollen, crops were damaged or ruined, and the driver of the diligence was sorely perplexed to find

himself in three feet of water, without any apparent reason, on the public highway. Two or three days subsequently I learned at the Æggischhorn that an engineer had been sent up to report on the possibility of opening a channel, so as to prevent any future accumulation of water in the Märgelin See. If this be done a useful end will be gained, by the abolition, however, of one of the most beautiful objects in Switzerland.

September 1872.

J. TYNDALL.

CONTENTS.

Cloud-banner of the Aiguille du Dru

Frontispiece

PAGE

§ 1, 2. Clouds, Rains, and Rivers

3. The Waves of Light

4. The Waves of Heat which produce the Vapour of our Atmosphere