;l r Il i
by the glaciers, are not much larger than
we find them at present? If the stones
near the village of Tines were deposited
there by the Glacier de Bois, a heap of
these stones must undoubtedly have once
extended from near Tines to the present
termination of the glacier, for the glaciers
recede or advance very slowly, and almost
imperceptibly, and they are continually
depositing stones from the surface. Now,
what has removed the stones which once
formed a continued moraine to Tines ?
We must resort to the known action of
water for an explanation, and we are compelled
to admit, that the vast inundations,
from the rapid melting of the snow, which
are frequently sweeping through the valley
of Chamouny, are adequate to the removal
of a great part of the débris brought down
by the glaciers. Or should we say that
the Glacier de Bois did not recede gradually,
but was suddenly melted by some
extraordinary cause, this cause would, at
the same time, have thawed all the ice in
the valley, and such an immense inundation
would have taken place, as must have
driven before it the accumulated débris of
preceding ages.
In the sand brought down by the glacier
de Bois, and spread in the valley by the
river Arveiron, particles of gold have been
found, but not in sufficient quantity to
repay the expence of washing and extracting
them, and the search was abandoned.
The spires or pinnacles called aiguilles,
which rise to such an amazing height above
the valley of Chamouny, are composed of
nearly vertical plates or beds of granite;
and it is most probable that they derive
their present form from this structure.
That these beds have been raised by some
violent convulsion into their vertical position,
may, I think, be demonstrated, as I
shall endeavour to show in the following
chapter. The same force by which the
beds were upheaved would, it may be
easily conceived, break their edges or summits
into irregular forms; and the moisture
of the atmosphere, which subsequently
penetrated between the perpendicular fissures,
would split and disintegrate the
masses on their sides, without diminishing
much of their height. Perhaps in this
manner we may satisfactorily account for
the existence of these narrow perpendicular
ridges and pinnacles, or aiguilles, that
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kill
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