Note 30 — XXVI. A DAY AMONG THE SÉRACS OF THE GLACIER DU GÉANT FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.

Standing here alone, on another occasion, I heard the roar of what appeared to be a descending avalanche, but the duration of the sound surprised me. I looked through my opera glass in the direction from which the sound proceeded, and saw issuing from the end of one of the secondary glaciers on the side of Mont Tacul a torrent of what appeared to me to be stones and mud. I could see the rocks and débris jumping down the declivities, and forming singular cascades. The noise continued for a quarter of an hour, when the descending torrent diminished until the ordinary stream, due to the melting of the glacier, alone remained. A sub-glacial lake had evidently burst its bounds, and carried the débris along with it in its rush downwards.