The water which comes from the melting snow down which we had passed in reaching the glaciere, had cut itself deep channels in the floor, and through these it coursed rapidly till it precipitated itself into a large pit or _moulin_ in the ice, at the lowest point.

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.