Glacières; or, Freezing Caverns

The Seelücken on the Oetscher is situated at an altitude of 1470 meters. It opens nearly due south. The ice floor is about 20 meters below the entrance and is about 38 meters long and 24 meters wide; at the rear, it rises for some 15 meters as an ice wall at an angle of about 60°, and then forms a second ice floor about 45 meters long by 19 meters wide. The front part of the ice is sometimes, about July, covered with water. The cave continues further back, in two branches, and Professors Cranmer and Sieger consider that it is a large windhole, in which draughts are infrequent, on account of its length and because the openings are near the same level. There are also several up and down curves and in these cold air remains and acts something like a cork in stopping draughts.

On the 13th of September there were no draughts, and the temperatures between 11 A. M. and 12 M. were:—

On the 31st of October, 1897, there was a draught, which followed the curves of the cavern, and which flowed out at the southern end. The temperatures were:—

Cave on the Kühfotzen near Warscheneck. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 25.)—A small cave containing ice.

Eiskeller on the Rax. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 25; Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., page 61.)—Altitude about 1660 meters. A doline with a small cave at the bottom, in which melting snow was found on the 19th of September, 1896.

The Tablerloch. (Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., pages 19-60.)—On the Dürren-Wand in the mountains south of Vienna, 2 hours distant from Miesenbach R. R. station. Altitude about 1000 meters. Entrance 7 meters wide, 3.5 meters high. Slope 30° from entrance. Lowest point 22 meters below entrance. Extreme length of cave 50 meters, width 23 meters, height 15 meters. Professor Cranmer found fresh ice beginning to form on the 12th of November, 1893; on the 1st of December, 1894; and on the 20th of October, 1895. He found it melting away on the 3d of June, 1894; on the 1st of June, 1895; and on the 31st of May, 1896. The rates at which the ice formed or melted, however, were not always the same in different parts of the cave. The greatest amount of ice observed seems to have been in March and April. In the summer months no perceptible movements of air seem to have been noticed. This was also sometimes the case in the winter months, during which, however, movements of air were at other times plainly perceptible.

The Gipsloch. (Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., page 60.)—A small cave on the Hohen-Wand near Wiener-Neustadt. It is rather a cold cave than a glacière.

The Windloch. (Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., page 61.)—On the Hohen-Wand near Wiener Neustadt. Small cave. Snow found in it on June the 2d, 1895.

Eisloch in the Brandstein on the Hochschwab. (Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., page 64.)—Altitude about 1600 meters. A moderately large cave. On the 21st of August, 1895, there was an ice floor 10 meters long and 5 meters broad. Temperature in rear of cave, -0.2°.

Caves on the Beilstein. (Krauss, Höhlenkunde, 1894, pages 207-219; Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., page 63.)—These lie about 4 hours on foot from Gams in Steiermark, at an altitude of 1260 meters, in a place where the mountain is much broken up by fissures and snow basins. The large cave has two openings, from which steep snow slopes descend. The cave is 60 meters long, 15 meters to 18 meters broad, and about 7 meters high. Clefts in the rock in two places lead to two lower, small ice chambers. In the neighborhood of the large cave are two small ones. Prof. Cranmer found fresh ice in the Beilsteinhöhle on the 20th of August, 1895. Two days before, fresh snow had fallen on the neighboring mountain peaks.

Eishöhle on the Brandstein. (Cranmer, Eishöhlen, etc., page 62.)—A small cleft cave near the Langriedleralm near Gams in Steiermark. On the 20th of August, 1895, it contained some ice.

The Frauenmauerhöhle.—Described in Part I., page 37.

The Bärenloch near Eisenerz. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 28.)—In the neighborhood of the Frauenmauerhöhle. Altitude 1600 meters. A steep snow slope leads to an ice floor 13 meters long.

The Katerloch. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 29.)—On the Göserwand near Dürnthal, Glemeinde Gschaid in Steiermark. A large cave, some 190 meters long and 80 meters wide. A thin ice crust has been found on parts of the walls in the rear.

Caves in the Stein Alps. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 29.)—The plateau of Velica Planina lies, at an altitude of 1600 meters, 9 kilometers north of Stein in the Duchy of Krain. There are three caves containing ice on the plateau. The first is a big one and is called V. Kofcih. The second is called Mala Veternica. The third and biggest is called Velika Veternica; its length is about 100 meters and its breadth 30 meters.

Glacière Caves on the Nanos Mountain. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 34.)—In the southwestern Krain, 5 kilometers from Präwald. There are four caves containing ice reported on the Nanos mountain. Two of them are big. The altitude of one of these is 1300 meters, of the other 1350 meters.

Brlowa Jama. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 36.)—Seven kilometers from Adelsberg. Small glacière cave.

Kosova Jama. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 38.)—Near Divacca. Forty meters long, 20 meters broad.

Glacière near Adelsberg. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 36.)—Small cave. One hour from Adelsberg.

Kacna Jama. (J. Marinitsch, La Kacna Jama, Mémoires de la Société de Spéléologie, vol. I., page 83.)—A great pit near the railroad station of Divacca. Herr Marinitsch observed the following temperatures on January 2d, 1896:—

Sanct Canzian, Karst. (E. A. Martel, Les Abimes, page 564, note.)—During the winter of 1889-1890, Herr Marinitsch found stalactites of ice as far as the seventeenth cascade of the Recca; 1000 meters from the third entrance of the river. The temperature of the Recca was then at 0°; during the summer, the temperature of the water rises to 27° (?).

The Grosses Eisloch of Paradana. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 36.)—On the high plateau of the forest of Tarnowa, east of Görz. A large pit cave, 30 meters to 40 meters deep. Professor Fugger says of it: “The flora in the basin-like depression has the character of high mountain vegetation, with every step it resembles more this flora as it exists in the neighborhood of glaciers, until finally in the deepest point of the basin all vegetation stops.”

The Kleines Eisloch of Paradana. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 37.)—A small pit glacière, 500 meters distant from the Grosses Eisloch of Paradana.

Suchy Brezen. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 37.)—A small pit glacière, situated about midway between the Grosses and Kleines Eisloch of Paradana.

Prevalo Cave. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 37.)—In the Buchenhochwald, south of Karnica. Small glacière.

Cave of Dol. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 38.)—On a mountain near Haidenschaft. Small glacière.

Glacière near Matena in Bezirke Radmansdorf. (Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., page 68.)—On a wooded height. The ice commences to melt in the early summer.

Glacière on the Schutzengelberge near the Golac. (Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., page 64.)—A small glacière.

Glacière Cave near Lazhna-gora or Latzenberg. (Valvasor, Die Ehre des Herzogthumes Crain, vol. I., pages 242, 243; Hacquet, Oryctographia Carniolica, 1778, III., page 159.)—In the neighborhood of Vishnagora in the Krain. The entrance is under a church. It is a large cave, 40 meters long and 20 meters high, where the ice all melts by the end of the summer. Valvasor gives the following account of this cave in 1689, which seems the first printed notice of a glacière in German:—

“Near to Lazchenberg up by the church of St. Nicholas, where a Thabor stands, one finds a big hole, which sinks into the stony rocks. Through this one descends deep with torches: there opens then underneath as big a cavity as the biggest church could be, and the same is extremely high, in the form of a cupola. One sees there different teeth, formed and hardened from the water turned to stone. Further down one arrives to a deep gully: into which, however, I have not been. On the other side one must again ascend, and then one comes again to a cupola: in which cupola ice stands up like an organ from the earth.

“There also one sees icicles of pure ice of different sizes and heights, of which many are one or two klafters high and as thick as a man; but many only two or three spans high or higher, and as thick as an arm, and some also thinner. This ice is formed from the drops of falling water; and indeed in summer; for in winter there is no ice therein. Over such ice one must then ascend, as there are then said to be separate holes and grottoes. But no one has been any further.”

Glacière on the Dini Verh. (Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., page 67.)—Near Tomischle in the Krain. Small glacière.

Eiskeller near Rosseck. (Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., page 64.)—On the Pograca Mountain in the Krain, northeast of the Hornwald, near the Meierhof Rosseck. Small glacière cave.

Gorge near Rosseck. (Valvasor, Die Ehre des Herzogthumes Crain, vol. I., page 243 and page 517 ; Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., page 64.)—Behind the ruined castle of Rosseck, on the Pograca Mountain in the Krain, is a gorge, at whose bottom are four little holes containing ice most of the year.

Valvasor wrote of this cave in 1689: “Near Rosseck immediately back of the castle there opens a mighty cavern entirely in stony rock, and yawns in the shape of a cauldron down into the earth. Above as wide as a good rifle shot, but below quite narrow. And there underneath there are many holes where the ice remains through the whole summer. From such ice have Duke Frederick Graf and Duke von Gallenberg daily made use in summer to cool their wine. Six years ago I descended there in the month of August, and found ice enough in all the holes.”

In the same volume Freiherr Valvasor elaborates his remarks about this cave and that at Latzenberg, repeating in the main the observations in the paragraph just given. He says: “There hang also long icicles which are quite pleasant to look at. * * * This ice breaks all too easily and quickly. * * * Contrarywise, however, this ice lasts much longer in the sun and the heat than other ice. * * * Some might think it would eventually turn into stone: this, however, does not happen: for it remains only in summer and disappears in winter: as I can say for certain, as I have been in myself in the winter as well as in the summer time. * * * For as in the summer the floor is quite covered with ice: it makes walking so dangerous and bad that one cannot take a step without climbing irons; but in the winter time one goes safely and well. * * *”

Freiherr Valvasor was evidently an accurate observer, and, if for his word “winter” we substitute “autumn,” his account will be much more nearly correct than might have been expected two centuries ago.

The Kuntschner Eishöhle. (Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., pages 65, 66.)—This is known also as the Töplitzer, Unterwarmberger or Ainödter Grotto. It lies 2 kilometers from Kuntschen, and 12 kilometers from Töplitz near Neustädtel, in the Krain. Altitude about 630 meters. Petruzzi says: “Of all so far noticed ice grottoes it is the most wonderful and splendid.” In August and September, 1849, the temperatures near the ice were about two degrees above freezing. On the 16th of August, there were many long ice stalagmites and stalactites; on the 29th of September they had diminished materially. Petruzzi says also: “One leaves the abundant vegetation of the Alpine summer flora, and through bushes and dwarf underbrush, through bare and half moss covered rocks and débris, through rotten and twisted tree stems, one comes to the hall of eternal winter, where the microscopic mosses of the north surround the thousand year old stalactites, hanging from the dripping vault, with an always passing, always freshly forming, tender sulphur colored down.” Dr. Schwalbe has also examined this cave.

The Friedrichsteiner or Gottscheer Eishöhle.—Described in Part I., page 51.

The Handler Eisloch.—7 kilometers south of Gottschee and about twenty minutes from the village of Handlern, near Rieg. Altitude 596 meters. Small cave. Professor Hans Satter of Gottschee told me he doubted whether ice ever formed there now.

The Suchenreuther Eisloch.—Described in Part I., page 55.

Ledenica na Veliki Gori. (Petruzzi in Haidinger’s Berichte, etc., vol. VII., page 67.)—In the Krain, 11 kilometers from Reifnitz, on the Balastena Mountain. Altitude 1253 meters. Much ice was found there on the 10th of July, 1834.

Mrzla Jama. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 34.)—On the Innerkrainer Schneeberg, 13 kilometers from Laas.

Glacière Caves on the Kapella. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 39.)—On a pass in the neighborhood of Piacenza. Altitude 800 meters.

Glacière Cave in West Bosnia. (Fugger, Eishöhlen. page 39.)—West of Kljuc, county Petrovac, district Smoljama, near village Trvanj. Called Trvanj, also Ledenica. Altitude about 1000 meters, length 170 meters, breadth from 4 meters to 30 meters.

Rtanj, Servia. (A. Boué, La Turquie d’Europe, 1840, vol. I., page 132; Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, pages 72-74.)—This glacière is on the south side of Siljak, near the village Muzinac. A passage 60 meters long leads to a hall about 10 meters in height. Dr. Boué found snow here in August, the thermometer standing below freezing point. The people in the neighborhood told Dr. Boué that the snow is formed in June and disappears in September and that it is sometimes carried to Nisch. He also heard of similar cavities on the Bannat Mountain. Dr. Cvijic observed in the hall a temperature of +0.4° C.

Ledena Pec, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, pages 68, 69.)—On the Ledini Verh or Glacial Peak, at an altitude of 800 meters; distant one hour and a half from the village of Souvold. Length of passage 108 meters; at entrance about 6 meters, at end about 15 meters in height. On the 10th of May, 1893, there was plenty of ice and snow. Temperature of outside air +19° C.; inside air at rear +0.5° C. Probably permanent glacière.

Dobra Ledenica, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 70.)—West of Ledeno Brdo. Probably periodic glacière. On July 25th, 1890, the temperature of the outside air was +26° C.; of the inside air +3.5°C. Ledenica is the name for a glacière in Servia.

Ledenica in the Mala Brezovica, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 70.)—Length 43 meters. A large, permanent glacière. On July 28th, 1890, the outside air was +23°: inside air +2°.

Ledenica Treme in the Souva Planina, Servia. (Cvijic, Dr. A., Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 71.)—Altitude 1600 meters to 1700 meters. A rather large, probably permanent glacière. Plenty of ice in it on April 21st, 1894.

Zla Ledenica, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 72.)—On the Kucaj. A permanent glacière, 7 meters or 8 meters deep. On July 25th, 1890, outside air +25°; inside air at snow +6°.

Glacière on the Devica, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 74.)—Under the peak Lazurevica. Altitude 1000 meters. A narrow passage leads to a hall 17 meters long by 12 meters wide and 20 meters high. On June 30th, 1893, there was plenty of snow in the passage and ice in the hall.

Glacière Vlaska Pecura, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 74.)—On the Devica, under the Golemi Vech. A small periodic glacière.

Glacière in the Zdrebica, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 74.)—On the southeast side of the Souva Planina, near the village Veliki Krtchimir. A small periodic glacière. On April 20th, 1874, plenty of snow and ice.

Glacière Stoykova, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, pages 75, 76.)—On the Kucaj. A large pit cave with a total depth of 23 meters. Probably a permanent glacière. On July 21st, 1890, plenty of ice and snow. Outside air +21°; inside air in hall +0.5°.

Glacière on the Topiznica Mountain, Servia. (Dr. A. Cvijic, Spélunca, vol. II., 1896, page 76.)—Altitude 1100 meters. A large pit cave with an extreme depth of 27 meters. In August, 1893, there was plenty of snow and ice, and the inside temperature was +1°.

Glacière Cave near Borszék. (Bielz, Siebenbürgen, 1885, page 334.)—About an hour distant from the baths, in broken limestone. It seems to be a rock fissure, at the end of which ice is found till towards the middle of July.

Glacière Cave near Sonkolyos in the Korös Valley. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 51.)—Small cave.

Glacière near Zapodia. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 50.)—Near Petrosc in the Bihar Mountains. Altitude 1140 meters; length 20 meters, width 7 meters.

Pescerca la Jesere. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 50.)—Between Vervul la Belegiana and the Batrina in the Bihar Mountains. Small freezing cave.

Glacière Cave near Verespatak, in Transylvania. (Bielz, Siebenbürgen, page 52.)—Small cave.

Gietariu near Funacza. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 50.)—In the Bihar Mountains. Small glacière cave.

Cave of Skerizora. (Karl F. Peters, Sitzungsbericht der K. K. Akademie der Wissenchaften, Wien, vol. XLIII., 1861, page 437; Bielz, Siebenbürgen, 1885, page 37.)—This is one of the greatest glacière caves known. It lies in the Bihar Mountains, three hours from the village of Ober-Girda, which can be reached from Gyula Fehérvar, via Topánfalva. It is a pit cave, in limestone, at an altitude of 1127 meters. The pit is about 57 meters broad, and 45 meters deep, with exceedingly steep walls. The entrance is in the northeast wall and is about 10 meters high. This leads into a nearly circular hall 47 meters in diameter and about 20 meters high. The floor is ice. In the southeast corner is a hole over 75 meters deep. In the northwest wall is an opening 14 meters wide, which forms the beginning of a sort of gallery 54 meters long and which at its further end is 24 meters wide and 8 meters high. This is also covered with a flooring of ice, which in some places can only be descended by step cutting. This passage is also richly adorned with ice stalactites and stalagmites. At its end is another also nearly circular hall, 21 meters in diameter and about 22 meters high. This is called the ‘Beszerika’ or church. In one place there is a magnificent collection of ice stalagmites called the “Altar.” Peters found in dirt on the sides of the cave remains of bats not very different from those now living in the vicinity. He thinks the bats may have come there before the cave became a glacière; or else that they may even now sometimes get into the first hall and there perish from cold. This makes it uncertain, therefore, whether the remains can be considered as of the past or the present.

Eishöhle bei Roth.—Described in Part I., page 35.

Mines on the Eisenberg. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 59.)—These lie near Blankenburg in the Thüringer Wald and have been known to contain ice.

The Ziegenloch or Grosses Kalte Loch, and the Kleines Kalte Loch. (Behrens, Hercynia Curiosa, pages 68, 70.)—These lie near Questenberg in the Southern Harz Mountains, at an altitude of about 300 meters. The Grosses Loch is described as a sort of small pit some 8 meters deep, in one side of which opens a small fissure some 10 meters long. Ice has been found in this in April; Schwalbe found none there in July. The Kleines Loch was another small cold cave near the Ziegenloch, but it has been filled up. Behrens says that the dampness at the cave at Questenberg is precipitated as snow.

Holes with Ice near Sanct Blasien. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 109.)—In the Black Forest, among boulders at an altitude of 820 meters.

Holes with Ice near Hochenschwand. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 109.)—In the Black Forest, among boulders at an altitude of 820 meters.

Eisstollen and Eiskeller at the Dornburg. Described in Part I., page 59. (Poggendorff’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Ergänzungsband, 1842, pages 517-519.)—Ice appears to have been discovered at the Dornburg in June, 1839. It was found from a depth of 60 centimeters down to 8 meters. The width of the ice-bearing talus was from 12 meters to 15 meters; and it is said that it becomes wider in winter and narrower in summer.

Beschertgluck Mine, Freiberg District. (Prestwich, Collected papers, etc., page 206.)—Mr. Prestwich quotes Daubuisson as having seen the shaft of the mine lined with ice to a depth of 80 toises (144 meters?).

Ice in the Zinc Mines on the Sauberg. (Reich, Beobachtungen über die Temperatur des Gesteines, 1834, pages 175 and 205.)—These are near Ehrenfriedersdorf in Saxony and formerly contained ice in winter. They are reported now to be destroyed.

The Garische Stollen. (Lohman, Das Höhleneis, etc., page 3.)—Near Ehrenfriedersdorf in the Freiwald. Lohman found much ice in this in January, less in March, and scarcely any in May.

The Ritterhöhle. (Lohman, Das Höhleneis, page 5.)—Near Ehrenfriedersdorf in the Freiwald. Small ice deposit. The rock is granite.

The Stulpnerhöhle. (Lohman, Das Höhleneis, page 6.)—Near the Ritterhöhle. Small ice deposit in granite rock.

Eisloch and Eishöhle near Geyer in Saxony. (Lohman, Das Höhleneis, page 7.)—These are in a place called die Binge. Both are small.

The Alte Thiele. (Lohman, Das Höhleneis, page 8.)—Near Buchholz in Saxony. Small ice deposit.

Mine Pits in the Saxon Erzgebirge. (Reich, Beobachtungen über die Temperatur des Gesteines, 1834.)—Extremely low temperatures have been found in several of these pits:—

In the Churprinz Friedrich August Erbstollen near Freiberg.

In the Heinrichs-Sohle in the Stockwerk near Altenberg.

In the Henneberg Stollen, on the Ingelbach, near Johanngeorgenstadt.

In the Weiss-Adler-Stollen, on the left declivity of the valley of the Schwarzwasser, above the Antonshütte.

Holes Holding Ice on the Saalberg. (Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1850, LXXXI., page 579.)—These lie between Saalberg and the Burgk. Ice is found here on the surface from June to the middle of August. From the observations of Professor Hartenstein, Fugger deduces that this place must be the lower end of one or more windholes.

Millstone Quarry of Niedermendig. (M. A. Pictet, Mémoires de la Société d’Histoire Naturelle de Genève, 1821, vol. I., page 151.)—On the Niederrhein. There are many connecting pits and galleries here, in which ice has been found in the hottest days of summer as well as in March. The abandoned shafts are utilized as beer cellars.

Eisgrube on the Umpfen. (Voigt, Mineralogische Reisen durch das Herzogthum Weimar, 1785, vol. II., page 123.)—In the Rhöngebirge, twenty minutes from Kaltennordheim, are some irregular masses of columnar basalt, at an altitude of about 500 meters, among which abundant ice has been found up to late in the summer.

Cave near Muggendorf, Franconia.—The landlord of the Kurhaus Hotel at Muggendorf, told me that there was a small cave in the vicinity where there was ice in the winter and spring, but that it all melted away before August.

Cave on the Dürrberg. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 59.)—Near Zwickau in Bohemia. Small cave which sometimes contains ice.

The Schneebinge. (Lohman, Das Höhleneis, page 11.)—Near Platten in Bohemia. A small ice deposit in an old mine.

Ice among Basaltic Rocks on the Pleschiwitz. (Pleischl, in Poggendorff’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, vol. LIV., 1841, pages 292-299.)—Above Kameik near Leitmeritz in Bohemia. Professor Pleischl, in May, 1834, found ice under the rocks a little distance from the surface. The surface of the rocks was then warm. On the 21st of January, 1838, Professor Pleischl found snow on the outside of the rocks, but no ice underneath. He was assured by the people of the district that the hotter the summer, the more ice is found.

Glacière on the Zinkenstein. (Pleischl, in Poggendorff’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, vol. LIV., 1841, page 299).—The Zinkenstein is one of the highest points of the Vierzehnberge, in the Leitmeritz Kreis. There is a deep cleft in basalt, where ice has been found in summer.

Eislöcher on the Steinberg. (Pleischl, in Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie, vol. LIV., 1841, page 299.)—In the Herrschaft Konoged. Small basalt talus where ice is found in the hottest weather.

Windholes in Bohemia. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 109.)—In the neighborhood of Leitmeritz. These are in basaltic rock. Ice sometimes forms at the lower extremity. The most notable are—

On the Steinberg near Mertendorf on the Triebschbach;

On the Kelchberg near Triebsch;

On the Kreuzberg near Leitmeritz;

On the Rodersberg near Schlackenwerth;

In the Grossen Loch near Tschersink.

Ice in a Pit near Neusohl. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 109.)

The Frainer Eisleithen. Described in Part I., page 33. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 163.) Professor Fugger quotes the following observations by Forester Wachtl at Frain:—

Démenyfálva Jegbarlang. Described in Part I., page 24.

Dóbsina Jegbarlang. Described in Part I., page 13. (Pelech; The Valley of Stracena and the Dobschau Ice Cavern; Schwalbe, Über Eishöhlen und Eislöcher, page 31.)—Pelech gives the following measurements: The Grosser Saal is 120 meters long, 35 meters to 60 meters wide, and 10 meters to 11 meters high, with a surface area of 4644 square meters. The ice mass is estimated as 125,000 cubic meters in volume. The length of the Korridor is 200 meters; the left wing being 80 meters, and the right wing 120 meters long. The cave was first entered on July 15th, 1870, by Herr Eugene Ruffiny, of Dóbsina, and some friends. He had happened to fire a gun in front of it, and hearing a continuous muffled rolling echo within, determined to explore it.

Dr. Schwalbe quotes the following series of observations in Dóbsina during the year 1881:

The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, March, 1st, 1899, printed the following note about Dóbsina: “In this cave, some sixteen years ago, a couple named Kolcsey elected to pass the week immediately following their marriage. They took with them a plentiful supply of rugs, blankets and warm clothing, but notwithstanding all precautions, their experience was not of a sufficiently pleasant nature to tempt imitators.”

Lednica of Szilize. (M. Bel, Philosophical Transactions, London, 1739, vol. XLI., page 41 et seq.; Townson, Travels in Hungary, 1797; Terlanday, Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1893, page 283.)—It lies 1.5 kilometers from the village of Szilize, near Rosenau, in Gomör County, in the Carpathians, at an altitude of 460 meters. A pit about 35 meters deep, 75 meters long, and 48 meters wide opens in the ground, and at the southern end, in the perpendicular wall, is the cave. The entrance is 22 meters wide, 15 meters high, and faces north. A slope 4 meters long sinks with an angle of 35° to the floor of the cave, which is nearly circular in form, with a diameter of about 10 meters. On the east side of the cave there seems to be a hole in the ice some 10 meters deep.

In 1739, there was published in London a curious letter in Latin from Matthias Bel, a Hungarian savant, about the cavern of Szilize. He says: "The nature of the cave has this of remarkable, that, when outside the winter freezes strongest, inside the air is balmy: but it is cold, even icy, when the sun shines warmest. As soon as the snow melts and spring begins, the inner roof of the cave, where the midday sun strikes the outside, begins to sweat clear water, which drops down here and there; through the power of the inner cold it turns to transparent ice and forms icicles, which in thickness equal large barrels and take wonderful shapes. What as water drops from the icicles to the sandy floor, freezes up, even quicker, than one would think.

“The icy nature of the cave lasts through the whole summer, and what is most remarkable, it increases with the increasing heat of the sun. In the beginning of the spring the soft winter’s warmth begins to give way soon thereafter, and when spring is more advanced, the cold sets in, and in such a manner, that the warmer does the (outside) air grow, the more does the cave cool off. And when the summer has begun and the dog days glow, everything within goes into icy winter. Then do the drops of water pouring from the roof of the cave change into ice, and with such rapidity that where to-day delicate icicles are visible, to-morrow masses and lumps, which fall to the ground, appear. Here and there, where the water drips down the walls of the cave, one sees wonderful incrustations, like an artificial carpeting. The rest of the water remains hanging on the ice, according to the warmth of the day. For when for a longer time it is warmer, the ice of the stalactites, of the walls and of the floor increases; but when the ruling heat, as sometimes happens, is diminished through north winds or rainstorm, the waters freeze more slowly, the ice drips more fully and begins to form little brooklets. When however the temperature gets warmer, the icy nature of the cave begins once more. Some have observed, that the nature of the grotto receives the changes of temperature ahead, like a barometer. For, when a warmer temperature sets in outside, the waters change into ice, several hours before the heat sets in, while the opposite takes place, when by day the temperature is colder; for then even by the warmest sky the ice begins to melt noticeably.

“When the dog days have passed and the summer has already changed into fall, the cave with its own nature follows the conditions of the external air. In the early months and while the nights are growing colder, the ice diminishes visibly; then when the air cools off more and more and when the brooks and side are rigid with frost, it begins to melt as though there was a fire built underneath, until, when winter reigns, it is entirely dry in the cave, without a sign of ice being left behind. Then gentle warmth spreads into the entire cave, and this icy grave becomes a safety resort for insects and other small animals, which bear the winter with difficulty. But besides swarms of flies and gnats, troops of bats and scores of owls, hares and foxes take up their abode here, until with the beginning of spring, the cave once more assumes its icy appearance.”

These assertions of Bel are the most inaccurate ones made about glacières. Yet, strange to say, they have colored the literature of the subject down to our own times; and have been repeated many times, sometimes with, sometimes without, the hares and foxes; the latest repetition seeming to occur in 1883.

Cave near the Village of Borzova, Torna County, Carpathians. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 52.)—Reported to contain ice, but nothing certainly known.

CRIMEA.

Ledianaia Yama. (Montpeyreux, Voyage autour du Caucase V., page 440; Hablizl, Description physique de la Tauride, 1783, pages 43-45.)—On the Karabi-Yaïla, 32 kilometers southwest of Karasubazar. Altitude about 1800 meters. A fairly large pit glacière cave. The name means an abyss of ice.

Glacière Cave on the Yaïla of Oulouzène at Kazauté. (Montpeyreux, Voyage autour du Caucase, II., page 380.)—A small pit cave.

CAUCASUS.

Glacière Cave in the Khotevi Valley. (Montpeyreux, Voyage autour du Caucase, II., page 379.)—In the province of Radscha, near the Monastery Nikortsminda. A large pit cave which must be of the same order as that of Chaux-les-Passavant and from which the inhabitants of Koutaïs get ice.

Glacières near Koutaïs. (E. A. Martel, Les Abimes, page 397.)—“Dr. A. Sakharov, it appears, has recently discovered in the government of Koutaïs caves containing ice.”

Cave of Sabazwinda. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 126.)—Near the town of Zorchinwall, on the river Liachwa, province of Gori, in Georgia, near the Ossete Mountains. Ice has been found in the cave in summer. In December there was none.

URAL.

Glacière Cave near Sukepwa. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 63.)—On the Volga, province of Zlatoust. Small cave on the river bank.

Glacière Cave on the Tirmen Tau. (Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise, etc., vol. II., page 28.)—Near the village of Chaszina, 160 kilometers from Orenburg. Small cave.

Glacière Cave of Kurmanajeva. (Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise, etc., vol. II., page 5.)—Near Kurmanajeva, a village 49 kilometers from Tabinsk, in the Government of Orenburg. A large cave. Lepechin found ice in one part of the cave and deep water in another. There were draughts in some places.

Cave on the Baislan Tasch. (Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise, etc., II., page 40.)—The Baislan Tasch is a mountain on the right bank of the Bielaja River, which flows into the Kama. There is a large cave in the mountain in which ice has been found.

Cave on the Muinak Tasch. (Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise, etc., II., page 38.)—The Muinak Tasch is a mountain on the Bielaja River. There is a large cave in it, in which a little ice has been found.

Cave of Kungur. (Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise, etc., II., page 137; Rosenmüller and Tilesius, I., page 79.)—The Cavern of Kungur is near the town of Kungur in the Government of Perm. There are in it many passages and grottoes connecting with one another, some of which contain ice. It is a fine, large cave, whose greatest length is 400 meters.

Mines of Kirobinskoy. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 65.)—These mines are 53 kilometers southeast of Miask in the Ural; they have been abandoned. One of them contains ice all the year round.

Caves of Illetzkaya-Zatschita. (Murchison, Vernieul and Keyserling, The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains, 1845, vol. I., page 186.)—72 kilometers southeast from Orenburg. The caves are in the Kraoulnaïgora, a gypsum hillock 36 meters high, rising in the midst of an undulating steppe, which lies on a vast bed of rock salt. Only one of the caves contains ice. There are strong draughts in places.

SIBERIA.

Cave near the Fortress Kitschigina. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 66.)—A small cave, 17 kilometers east of Kajilskoi, 192 kilometers from Petropaulowsk, 605 kilometers from Tobolsk. The cave is in an open plain, and sometimes contains ice.

Wrechneja Petschera. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 66.)—Near the village Birjusinska, in the neighborhood of Krasnojarsk, on the right bank of the Yenisei. Large glacière cave.

Glacière Cave of Balagansk. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 66.)—A narrow cleft, 80 meters long; 192 kilometers downstream from Irkutsk on the left bank of the Angora River; at a distance of 2 kilometers from the river.

Glacière Cave on the Onon River. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 66.)—A small cave; 48 kilometers from the Borsja Mountain.

Mines of Siranowsk. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 126.)—In the Altai Mountains, on the Buchtorma River, an affluent of the Irtysch. Magnificent ice formations have been found in these mines.

Mines of Seventui. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 126.)—Near Nertschinsk, on the Amoor River. Two of the levels contain perennial ice and hence are called Ledenoi. These are at a depth of about 60 meters in porous lava. The rest of the mine is in more solid rock.

Glacière Cave near Lurgikan. (Fugger, Eishöhlen, page 67.)—Near the confluence of the Lurgikan and Schilka Rivers, in the province Nertschinsk. From 2 meters to 7 meters wide. Length 280 meters.

Basins or Troughs Retaining Ice. (Dittmar, Ueber die Eismülden im Östlichen Siberien; Middendorff, Zusatz; Bulletin de la classe physico-mathématique de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 1853, vol. XI., pages 305-316.)—These troughs are nearly akin to gorges and gullies, but their water supply seems to come from a cause which is not usually present in gorges. Their principal observer, M. de Dittmar, thought that a cold and snowy winter would add materially to the supply of ice, but he also thought that a necessity to the existence of the ice in these troughs was an abundant water supply from a spring, whose temperature should be so high as not to freeze in winter. The cold is supplied by the winter temperatures. Some of the most important are reported—

In the Turachtach Valley.

Near Kapitanskji Sasiek.

In the valley of the River Belvi.

In the valley of the River Antscha.

In the Kintschen Valley.

In the neighborhood of Kolymsk.

In the Werchojanski Mountains.

In the Stanowáj Mountains.

KONDOOZ.

Cave of Yeermallik. (Burslem, A peep into Toorkisthan, 1846, chaps. X., XI.)—In the valley of the Doaub, northwest of Kabul. The entrance is half way up a hill, and is about 15 meters wide and 15 meters high. This is a large cave, with many ramifications and galleries. In the centre of a hall far within, Captain Burslem found a mass of clear ice, smooth and polished as a mirror, and in the form of a beehive, with its dome-shaped top just touching the long icicles which depended from the jagged surface of the rock. A small aperture led into the interior of this cone, whose walls were about 60 centimeters thick and which was divided into several compartments. Some distance from the entrance of this cave there is a perpendicular drop of 5 meters. A short distance beyond this, in one of the halls, were hundreds of skeletons of men, women and children, in a perfectly undisturbed state, also the prints of a naked human foot and the distinct marks of the pointed heel of an Afghan boot. The moollah, who was acting as guide, said the skeletons were the remains of seven hundred men of the Huzareh tribe who took refuge in the cave with their wives and children during the invasion of Genghis Khan, and who defended themselves so stoutly, that after trying in vain to smoke them out, the invader built them in with huge natural blocks of stone, and left them to die of hunger. Some of the Afghans said that the cave was inhabited by Sheitan, a possibility denied by the moollah who guided Captain Burslem, on the philosophical plea that the cave was too cold for such an inhabitant.

HIMÁLAYA.

Glacière Cave of Amarnath. (Miss Mary Coxe of Philadelphia showed me a copy of a letter of Dr. Wilhelmine Eger describing a visit to this cave.)—It lies three days’ journey from Pailgam in Kashmere, on the borders of Little Tibet. The altitude is evidently high as one crosses snow fields to get to it. A small path zigzagging up a grassy slope leads to the cave and is a stiff climb from the valley. The cave opens on the side of a mountain and has a large, almost square mouth at least as big as the floor area within. The floor of the cave is the continuation of the grass slope and slants upwards and backwards to the back wall, the only case of the kind so far reported. This cave is most curiously connected with religion. Dr. Eger says that there are two small blocks of ice in it which never melt. From time immemorial these blocks of ice have been sacred to the Hindoos who worship them—as re-incarnations—under the names of Shiva and Ganesh. Dr. Eger saw offerings of rice and flowers on them. Thousands of pilgrims come every year at the end of July or beginning of August from all parts of India. Thousands of miles have been traversed and hundreds of lives laid down through this journey. Every year people die either before reaching the cave or after. The trip from Pailgam in Kashmere takes three days up and two days down, if one returns by a shorter route where the way is unsafe because of avalanches. So many have perished there that the pass is called “The Way of Death.” This must be taken by one class of pilgrims, Sardhas or Holy Men, to complete the sacred circuit, but the Hindoos say any one dying on the pass will go straight to heaven.

Icicles Formed by Radiation. (General Sir Richard Strachey, Geographical Journal, 1900, vol. XV., page 168.)—On the Balch pass of the Balch range in Tibet, General Strachey, in 1848, saw icicles of which he says: "On the rocks exposed to the south were very curious incrustations of ice, icicles indeed, but standing out horizontally like fingers towards the wind. I was not able to understand how they were caused, nor can I tell why they were confined to particular spots. The thermometer stood at 41°[F.], and though the dew point at the time would probably have been below 32°[F.], and the cold produced by evaporation sufficient therefore to freeze water, yet it is evident that no condensation could ever take place simultaneously with the evaporation. * * * It has since occurred to me that these icicles were formed by radiation. I found, subsequently, in a somewhat similar position, that a thermometer suspended vertically, and simply exposed to the sky in front of it, was depressed as much as 20° F. below the true temperature of the surrounding air. This result was, of course, due to the radiation through the extremely dry and rarefied atmosphere at the great elevation at which the thermometer was exposed. As radiation takes place freely from a surface of ice, the growth of such icicles as those described might be due to the condensation of vapour brought up by the southerly day winds that so constantly blow over these passes, and its accumulation in the form of ice on the exposed extremity of the icicle, the temperature of which might thus have been greatly reduced."

INDIA.

Ice Formed by Radiation. (T. A. Wise, Nature, vol. V., page 189; R. H. Scott, Elementary Meteorology, Third Ed., pages 61, 62.)—Mr. Bunford Samuel called my attention to the mode of manufacturing ice by radiation in India. It is as follows:—

“A very practical use of nocturnal radiation has been made from time immemorial in India in the preparation of ice, and on such a scale that about 10 tons of ice can be procured in a single night from twenty beds of the dimensions about to be given, when the temperature of the air is 15° or 20° [F.] above the freezing point. * * * The locality referred to is the immediate neighborhood of Calcutta. A rectangular piece of ground is marked out, lying east and west, and measuring 120 by 20 feet. This is excavated to the depth of two feet and filled with rice straw rather loosely laid, to within six inches of the surface of the ground. The ice is formed in shallow dishes of porous earthenware, and the amount of water placed in each is regulated by the amount of ice expected.

“In the cold weather, when the temperature of the air at the ice fields is under 50°, ice is formed in the dishes. The freezing is most active with N. N. W. airs, as these are driest; it ceases entirely with southerly or easterly airs, even though their temperature may be lower than that of the N. N. W. wind.

“No ice is formed if the wind is sufficiently strong to be called a breeze, for the air is not left long enough at rest, above the bed, for its temperature to fall sufficiently, by the action of radiation.

“The rice straw, being kept loose and perfectly dry, cuts off the access of heat from the surface of the ground below it, and, when the sun goes down, the straw being a powerful radiator, the temperature of the air in contact with the dishes is reduced some 20° below that prevailing some two or three feet above them. The rapid evaporation of the water into the dry air above creates also an active demand for heat to be rendered latent in the formation of steam, and the result of all these agencies is the formation of ice, under favorable circumstances, on the extensive scale above mentioned.”

KOREA.

Glacière Cave on the Han Gang.—Messrs. J. Edward Farnum and George L. Farnum, of Philadelphia, inform me that they saw a small cave containing ice on the banks of one of the Korean rivers. It is about 75 kilometers from Seoul, nearly northeast, near the ferry where the old road leading from Seoul towards northern Korea crosses the Han Gang, the river which passes by Seoul. The entrance is small; perhaps 2 meters wide. The cave is not thoroughly explored. Ice lies near the entrance, and as far back as the Messrs. Farnum could see.

JAPAN.

Glacière Lava Cave near Shoji. (Evening Telegraph, Philadelphia, January 2d, 1896.)—The cave is about 12 kilometers from Shoji, and is in lava. First there is a pit in the forest, some 5 meters wide by 15 meters deep. The cave opens into this. It seems to be some 400 meters long and from 2 meters to 12 meters high. There is an ice floor in places, also many ice stalagmites. At the furthest point reached there is a strong air current, which extinguishes torches and so far has prevented further exploration. Ice from the cave has been cut by the country people for sale at Kofu, which is not far distant.

PART IV.

SOME OPINIONS ABOUT GLACIÈRES.

SOME OPINIONS ABOUT GLACIÈRES.