etimes many feet above the general level of
the glacier, being mounted on a sort of pedestal of ice. The reason of
this was, that when the block was very large, so large that the beams of
the sun shining upon it all day would not warm it through, then the ice
beneath it would be protected by its coolness, while the surface of the
glacier around would be gradually melted and wasted away by the beams of
the sun or by the warm rains which might occasionally fall upon it.
Thus, in process of time, the great bowlder block rises, as it were,
many feet into the air, and remains there perched on the top of a little
hillock of ice, like a mass of monumental marble on a pedestal.[14]

In excursions on the glaciers the guides take a rope with them, and
sometimes a light ladder. The rope is for various purposes. If a
traveller were to fall into any deep pit, or crevasse, or to slip down
some steep slope or precipice, so that he could not get up again, the
guides might let the rope down to him, and then when he had fastened it
around his waist they could draw him up, when, without some such means
of rescuing him, he would be wholly lost. In the same manner, when a
party are walking along any very steep and slippery place, where if any
one were to fall he would slide down into some dreadful abyss, it is
customary for them to walk in a line with the rope in their hands, each
one taking hold of it. Thus, if any one should slip a little, he could
recover himself by means of the rope, when, without such a support, he
would perhaps have fallen and been dashed to pieces. Sometimes, when the
place is very dangerous indeed, so that several guides are required to
each traveller, they tie the rope round the traveller's waist, so that
he can have his hands free and yet avail himself of the support of the
rope in passing along.

The ladder is used for scaling low precipices, either of rock or ice,
which sometimes come in the way, and which could not be surmounted
without such aid. In long and dangerous excursions, especially among the
higher Alps, one of the guides always carries a ladder; and there are
frequent occasions where it would not be possible to go on without using
it.

[Illustration: ASCENT OF MONT BLANC.]

A hatchet, too, is of great advantage in climbing among the immense
masses of ice which are found at great elevations, since, by means of
such an implement, steps may be cut in the ice which will enable the
explorer to climb up