They occur in large irregular patches in the summit and middle regions, and though they have been subjected to the action of the weather with its corroding storms for thousands of years, their mechanical excellence is such that they still reflect the sunbeams like glass, and attract the attention of every observer.

The attention of the mountaineer is seldom arrested by moraines, however regular and high they may be, or by canons, however deep, or by rocks, however noble in form and sculpture; but he stoops and rubs his hands admiringly on the shining surfaces and trios hard to account for their mysterious smoothness.

He has seen the snow descending in avalanches, but concludes this cannot be the work of snow, for he finds it where no avalanches occur.

Nor can water have done it, for he sees this smoothness glowing on the sides and tops of the highest domes.

Only the winds of all the agents he knows seem capable of flowing in the directions indicated by the scoring.