We descended for about an hour from the “Majenwand,” when we found ourselves down in the valley and stopped at a little inn, only at a few minutes' distance from the foot of the icy cupola. After we had here refreshed ourselves with tea and wine, as well as rested for some time, we proceeded to the Gletscher. The sun shone with full power, and every object was bright in its beams. My friend and I wandered for a full hour at the foot of the ice-cupola, through a regular park of sun-flowers and other flowers, which grew here above two ells high, in indescribable luxuriance, between the ice-vault and the mountain walls. The air was as warm as summer, and this ramble between icy-cold winter and blooming summer was wonderful, was enchantingly beautiful!
The snow-clad mountains, the watchers by the cradle of the Rhone, stood in eternal rest; nor in the frozen force between them could any unrest be observed,[1] but in the icy cupola the birth-struggle of the river was in progress. Within was a deafening thunder and commotion, a rushing sound of released waters, and here and there little cascades were seen to pour glittering from the icy walls. For in many places of the cupola there were deep chinks in the ice. These walls were of a clear, blue color, but the
- ↑ The Swiss naturalists, Agassiz, Desor, and others, have, after long and patient investigation, discovered that the quiet or immovability of these glaciers, is merely apparent; that under the pressure of the snow-masses which annually accumulate upon their heights, they slide incessantly and softly downwards. In this way coming under the influence of the sun and the temperature of the earth, their ice is melted and the rivers are released.—Author's Note.
