258 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



vegetation, but almost every step to the end was now 

 on rock or snow, and I walked on to the hospice near 

 the summit in the midst of a snowstorm, one and a 

 half hours ; knowing it could scarcely accumulate 

 sufficiently to obstruct or obscure entirely the path 

 until I could reach the place of shelter, I enjoyed it 

 intensely, but had quite enough when, at one o'clock, I 

 reached the hospice (twenty miles), near the summit 

 of the pass, surrounded with unmelted snow, more 

 than 6,000 English feet above the sea. It is as com- 

 fortable a place as can be expected in such a situation, 

 now kept as a kind of inn during the summer, and in 

 winter left in charge of a single servant, with a store 

 of provisions to last him until spring. The winter 

 before last it was crushed by an avalanche, but the 

 man and his dog escaped, and reached Meyringen in 

 safety. It is now repaired ; the stone walls are ex- 

 tremely thick, the roof protected against the winds, as 

 is usual here, by laying huge stones upon it. Laid 

 aside part of my wet clothes, and lay down before the 

 fire to dry the remainder ; fell asleep ; on waking had 

 just begun to write, but when I had given the head- 

 ing, in came three more travelers : two Germans, whom 

 I had met before at Grindelwald, and a young Eng- 

 lishman ; all thoroughly wet with the storm, which 

 was now more violent. We all had to huddle about 

 the fire, so there was an end of writing. 



Awoke Sunday morning and found myself in mid- 

 winter ; very cold, snowing hard, and the wind howl- 

 ing frightfully around our humble but snug place of 

 refuge. The other travelers determined to prosecute 

 their journey, spite of the Sabbath or the storm, and 

 to go by way of the glacier of the Rhone, the other 

 side of the summit of the pass and about four miles 



