a flask of _vin
ordinaire_ in the other, descanted on the world of ice. He had a
willing audience, for they were all too busy with food to use their
tongues in speech, except in making an occasional brief demand or
comment.

"Glorious!" exclaimed the Professor.

"Which, the view or the victuals?" asked Lewis. "Both," cried the
Professor, helping himself to another half-dozen sandwiches.

"Thank you--no more at present," said Nita to the disappointed Slingsby,
who placed the rejected limb of a fowl on his own plate with a deep
sigh.

"Professor," said Nita, half-turning her back on the afflicted artist,
"how, when, and where be all this ice formed?"

"A comprehensive question!" cried the Professor. "Thank you--yes, a
wing and a leg; also, if you can spare it, a piece of the--ah! so, you
are right. The whole fowl is best. I can then help myself. Miss Gray,
shall I assist you to a--no? Well, as I was about to remark, in reply
to your comprehensive question, Mademoiselle, this basin, in which our
Jardin lies, may be styled a mighty collector of the material which
forms that great tributary of the Mer de Glace, named the Glacier du
Talefre. This material is called neve."

"An' what's nevy?" asked Captain Wopper, as well as a full mouth would
allow him.

"Neve," replied the Professor, "is snow altered by partial melting, and
freezing, and compression--snow in the process of being squeezed into
ice. You must know that there is a line on all high mountains which is
called the snow-line. Above this line, the snow that falls each year
_never_ disappears; below it the snow, and ice too, undergoes the
melting process continually. The portion below the snow-line is always
being diminished; that above it is always augmenting; thus the loss of
the one is counterbalanced by the gain of the other; and thus the
continuity of glaciers is maintained. That part of a glacier which lies
above the snow-line is styled neve; it is the fountain-head and source
of supply to the glacier proper, which is the part that lies below the
snow-line. Sometimes, for a series of years, perhaps, the supply from
above is greater than the diminution below, the result being that the
snout of a glacier advances into its valley, ploughs up the land, and
sometimes overturns the cottages. [See Note 1.] On the other hand the
reverse process goes on, it may be for years, and a glacier recedes
somewhat, leaving a whole valley of _debris_, or term