Stereo photography became quite trendy after about 1850 (those people were really quite clever!) - this is the right-hand half of a stereo pair - the Mottets are still bare. This card is labelled "Glacier de Bois" which is the name of the bit of the glacier that came down into the valley.

Where are you finding them Peter? Glacier du Bois is interesting. The village at the end of the gorge is called les Bois. There's also, another village called les Tines which is named after the 'poches d'eau' that sometime burst and cause flooding - like the one that almost wiped out St Gervais a hundred or so years back, and which had to be drained last year - so the Mer de Glace must have done that in the past. There is speculation right now that there is a water pocket at the end of the Mer de Glace which could flood the valley.

Hi Jon - bought them on eBay a few years ago when I was looking for old pictures of the Chamonix valley. I didn't know the origin of Tines. Certainly in those days the locals had no liking for the glaciers which were unpredictable and dangerous, causing loss of livestock (and people). On the other hand, I'm sure it was much more difficult for tax collectors to do their jobs and armies would tend to not bother them, so all in all a positive trade-off.