than one or two examples to show that such generalisations cannot be sustained. Innumerable illustrations might be quoted.
In the chain of Mont Blanc one may compare the moraines of the Miage with those of the Glacier d'Argentière. The latter glacier drains a basin equal to or exceeding that of the former; but its moraines are small compared with those of the former. More notable still is the disparity of the moraines of the Gorner glacier (that which receives so many branches from the neighbourhood of Monte Rosa[1]), and of the Z'Muttgletscher. The area drained by the Gorner greatly exceeds the basin of the Z'Mutt, yet the moraines of the Z'Mutt are incomparably larger than those of the Gorner. No one is likely to say that the Z'Mutt and Miage glaciers have existed for a far greater length of time than the other pair; an explanation must be sought amongst the causes to which reference has been made.
More striking still is it to see the great interior Mer de Glace of Greenland almost without moraines. This vast ice-plateau, although smaller than it was in former times, is still so extensive that the whole of the glaciers of the Alps might be merged into it without its bulk being perceptibly increased. If the size of moraines bore any sort of relation to the size of glaciers, the moraines of Greenland should be far greater than those of the Alps.
This interior ice-reservoir of Greenland, enormous as it is, must be considered as but the remnant of a mass which was incalculably greater, and which is unparalleled at the present time outside the Antarctic Circle. With the exception of localities where the rocks are easy of disintegration, and the traces of glacier-action have been to a great extent destroyed, the whole country bears the marks of the grinding and polishing of ice; and, judging by the flatness of the curves of the roches moutonnées, and by the perfection of the polish which still remains upon the rocks after they have sustained
- ↑ The Unter Theodul, Klein Mattcrhorn, Breithorn, Schwarze, Zwiilinge, Grenz, and Monte Rosa glaciers, are all feeders of the Gorner. The Z'Mutt receives the Tiefenmatten, Stock, and Schönbühl glaciers only.
