228 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



descended the steepest side, picking my difficult way 

 down the rocks and sliding down immense snow- 

 banks, until I was past the alpine portion ; then 

 making a turn to a subalpine pasture, where cows and 

 goats are driven to pass the summer, I struck an old 

 path, and ran with all speed to the gorge at the base, 

 where the stream that I had traced from its source as 

 it trickled from a snowbank, and down a succession 

 of little cataracts, was now a foaming and rushing 

 torrent. It was then just twilight, and a quiet walk 

 of an hour brought me back to the hotel at nine 

 o'clock, quite proud of my feat and delighted with the 

 fine view I had obtained. But I have paid well for it. 

 In the morning I could scarcely stir for the aches and 

 pains in my bones, and even now the extensor muscles 

 of my legs are sore to the touch and bear woeful tes- 

 timony to the hard service they have been obliged 

 to perform. " I shall think about it," as Mr. Davis 

 says, before I ascend another mountain. 



And yet I feel myself well repaid for all my 

 fatigue. To say nothing of the prospect opening out 

 wider and grander as I ascended, I had from the sum- 

 mit a magnificent mountain panorama which it was 

 well worth the labor to see ; the summits of more than 

 one peak white and brilliant with perpetual snow and 

 ice. The most stupendous of all is the Thorstein or 

 Dachstein, which closes the view to the south, with its 

 immense glaciers of the most dazzling whiteness, from 

 which numerous steep pinnacles rise like spires, tow- 

 ering high above all surrounding objects, illuminated 

 by the rays of the setting sun long after all other ob- 

 jects are left in the shade. The dark lake of Hall- 

 stadt was distinctly seen, appearing to reach up to its 

 very base. I could not distinguish the village which 



