The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XII, No. 2 [‎283v] (69/154)

156 AN EXPLORATION IN 1897 OF SOME OF THE GLACIERS OF SPITSBERGEN.
and eskers ; for on the retreat of the ice now occupying Highway valley, this
material will be deposited on the floor of the valley, forming a ridge of gravel con
taining glaciated and water-worn fragments running at right angles to the final
drainage-line of the district. , , , .
If we examine photographs taken from Mount Nielson, and looking south-east
across the island, it will be seen how little was known of the interior previous to
our visit; for instead of the “High inland ice” which appears written across the
chart at this place, we find, as shown by the photographs, ranges of mountains
stretching across the island to hiorth fiord (I’igs. 4 and 5).
1 cannot resume my seat without attempting to bring home to you something
of the beauty and delicacy of the colouring, which is such a characteristic feature
of midnight scenery on the coast (Figs. 6 and 7). The photograph (Fig. 6) was
taken about 1 a.m., while cruising along the shore of King’s bay, threading our
wa y in the whale-boats through the countless icebergs broken off from the front of
the King’s glacier.
Prof. Bonney : I am not going to say a word about Spitsbergen, because I am
one of those most unfortunate people who have not seen it. I shall only venture a
remark or two on a comparison which my friend Sir Martin Conway made between
Spitsbergen and the Alps. I very much doubt whether it is possible to explain
the general structure of the higher valleys in the Alps as he has done by reference
to Spitsbergen. It seems to me that you cannot make any comparison between a
district comparatively narrow in regard to its height with one like Spitsbergen,
which is carved out of a kind of plateau. And, in addition to that, I may say
that the present Alpine valleys seem to me to follow the ordinary lines of denu
dation, and resemble valleys that have been excavated by water in most parts of the
world. But the fact is that so much sculpture work has been done on the Alps since
the time they first began to rise that it is almost impossible to conjecture what
their original structure was. I think that slight resemblance which he detects in
one or two places to a plateau country, is the effect of the two disturbances the cen
tral Alps underwent while they were assuming their present form. In that district
the great disturbances of the second elevation were concentrated on the northern
side, and this no doubt had the effect of throwing that range rather abnormally
high, giving a sort of trough between it and an outer range, which may at one
time have been the actual crest of the ridge. But I do not think it possible
that we can regard the lower Aletsch glacier as made by a small glacier
•eating back into the main upland valley which once, he presumed, drained towards
the Rhone. Because of this—the structure of the Alpine valleys is certainly pre
glacial ; that you can see in every part. You may notice it in the Pontresina
district, and in the Yal Bedretto. You can see in those very hard rocks that the
glaciers have been down in that narrow Y-shaped valley almost in the water’s edge.
Well, in addition to that, when you come to look at the cirques in the limestone
districts, one cannot see how those can have been eaten hack very appreciably if
their beds were filled with neve, and further, it is evident from the way they are
•connected with the valleys, that if the valleys themselves were occupied down to
their present beds by ice, so too the beds of the cirques must be occupied. But
it may he said, perhaps, there were glaciers before the days of the great ice-
age. No doubh hut still, were they glaciers of much importance ? When the Alps
were first upheaved, the temperature of Switzerland must have been at least 16°
higher than it is at present. The effect of that would be to change the position
of the snow-line, and, assuming the Alps to be at their present elevation, if
the mean temperature were 16° higher than it is at present, you would practically
have no glaciers at all, because the snow-line would be about 13,000 feet. With