Rosset told me that he had noticed, the
year before, a strong source of water springing out of the side of a
rock, at some little distance from the glaciere; but he could not reach
it then, and could not find it now. This may possibly be the drainage of
the glaciere in its summer state.
The thermometer stood at 34 deg. in the middle of the cave; and though the
others felt the cold very much, I was myself surprised to find so low a
register, for the atmosphere seemed to be comparatively warm, judging
from what I had experienced in other glacieres. The only current of air
we could detect was exceedingly slight, and came from the deeper of the
two pits in the ice. It was so slight, that the flame of the candle
burned apparently quite steadily when we were engaged in determining the
depth and shape of the pit.
The sun had by this time produced such an effect upon the slope of snow
outside the glaciere, that we found the ascent sufficiently difficult,
especially as our hands were full of various instruments. The
schoolmaster was not content to choose the straight line up, and in
attempting to perform a zigzag, he came to a part of the slope where the
snow lay about 2 inches thick on solid ice, and the result was an
unscholastic descent in inverted order of precedence.
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