Agassiz, Louis, 1842, 'The glacial theory and its recent progress.'

              Pesearches on Existing Glaciers. 247
step 1 made, .and I was impatient at seeing Agassiz taking the lead. On no other occasion had I ever felt the slightest jealousy, because I should have had the conviction, that, by means of a little effort, I could have made up to him; but now, on the contrary, I was obliged to confess my weakness, and was therefore deeply mortified.
" AVe could have concluded from the aspect of the gla¬ cier, as seen from a distance, that no stream escaped from it, or at least that it was not visible externally, owing to the thickness of the snow. We encountered the last traces of water near the hut of the shepherd, in front of the gorge of the Oberaar, at a place where the snow was moist. Its temperature was at zero, and it proceeded, according to all appearance, from those springs which flow in summer on the polished flanks of the valley, and give rise to small marshes which here occupy the left flank. The cascade of the Triib- tensee and the torrent of the Oberaar had disappeared, and their bed was only indicated by immense stalactites of ice, suspended on the rock. But what interested us most, was the outline and the form of the glacier itself If the glacier had continued to move and to increase during the w-inter, it ought to have left traces of that movement; and as the snow- accumulated at its extremity had fallen some months before, it would have been gathered together in a forward di¬ rection, or at least some swelling would have been perceptible, immediately in front of the terminal edge. In place of that, the snow presented a regular talus, such as is formed by the snow where it has been driven by the wind against the flanks of valleys.
" It was seven o'clock when we reached the edge of the gla¬ cier, and we had thus taken two hours to accomplish what in summer never occupied more than 40 minutes. I was dreadfully fatigued, and I had had so many and such repeated falls, that my knees were quite galled. I declared to Agassiz that I should proceed no further. If the plain had seemed so difiicult, what would it not be when we should arrive upon the glacier S But notwithstanding my remonstrances, Agassiz was determined to persist; and he represented to me, that the crust could not fail to be softened when the sun had acted