THE ALPS

The Alps begin beyond the Var, near the Mediterranean; ascend North to Valais; to the East they form a buttress to Helvetia, stretch circularly in the Illyrian Provinces, and advance to the Adriatic near Trieste and Fiume.
Mont Blanc, West of Valais, is the prop of the chain, and also the most elevated Summit, being 14,800 ft above the sea level.
From its chain extend colossal needles, semi-circularly, like an immense Coliseum; to the West the Col du Geant, Mount Cenis, Rock Nelson, and Mount Viso.
East, are the Peaks of Argenterie and Midi, Great St.Bernard, Simplon, Mount Arvin, St,Gothard, the Pic de Tempeles, the Septimer in the Grison, the Ortelor in Tyrol, and the Terklow in Carniola.
The top of the Alps are covered with snows, and immense glaciers spread in intervals, sometimes continued from one Valley to another, on the declivity of the Summits, as in that of Gries, which separates tha Valais from PiedMont.
But on the glaciers of Grindelwald and Bois, in the Valley of Chamouni, from an insulated Summit, the eye plunges on a Sea of Ice, when arise crystalline blocks, transparent walls, prismatic needles confused intertwined, and resembling a storm arrested in fury.
The depth of the Glacier of Bois is 100 ft; bordered by a kind of parapet called Moraire, a heap of sand and fragments which fallen, and advance sometimes towards the middle of the Basin, by the annual retreat of the ice.
The Origin of these Glaciers is this: the Snow that covers the Summits of the Mountains, when detached, and drawn by the Avalanches, or Falling to the Bottom of the Valley, it accumulates. During the Summer the surface thaws; the cold returns and converts the whole into ice. Some increase, as that of Grindelwald, which has advanced beyond a bridge formerly frequented; but others decrease, yearly, as that of the Rhone.
These Glaciers feed numerous Rivers, whose course is determined by the divers branches from the mass; as the Apennines South, the Cevennes West; the Vosges North, and the Norie Alps East.
A Branch stretches North of Mont Blanc, by the Jura Mountains, connected with the Vosges, and terminated by Mont Tennere, near Mentz.
In the Alps, most rocks shoot several hundred feet above the Mountain, like Obelisks, and are called "Needles." In the Pyrenees, vast masses of rocks present abrupt slopes and steep though accessible fronts, resembling large Pyramids, and are called "Peaks." In the Vosges they are called "Balloons," because of their round sloping forms, without the rugged aspect of the other Chains.