This pit, a will
be seen by the section of the cave given on p. 174,[71] terminates the
glaciere; and the rock-wall at the farther edge falls away into a sort
of open fissure, down which magnificent cascades of ice stream
emulously, clothing that side of the pit, which would otherwise be solid
rock. We cut a few steps about the upper edge of this _moulin_, to make
all safe, and proceeded to let down a lighted candle, which descended
safely for 36 feet, showing nothing but ice on all sides; it then came
in contact with one of the falls of water, and the light was of course
extinguished. We next tied a stone to the string, and found that after
40 feet it struck on ice and turned inwards, under our feet, stopping
finally at the end of 51 feet; but whether it was really the bottom of
the pit that stopped it, or only some ledge or accidental impediment, we
could not determine. The diameter of this pit might be 3 yards, but we
took no measure of it.
At the extreme right of the cave we found another pit, a yard and a
half across, two-thirds of the circumference of which was formed by
the plateau of ice on which we stood, and the remaining third by a
fluting in the wall of rock.
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