328 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



From this point the ascent was more and 

 more steep and very slow, as every step had 

 to be cut. Their difficulties were increased, 

 also, by a mist which gathered around them, 

 and by the intense cold. Leuthold kept the 

 party near the border of the ridge, because 

 there the ice yielded more readily to the 

 stroke of the axe ; but it put their steadiness 

 of nerve to the greatest test, by keeping the 

 precipice constantly in view, except when hid- 

 den by the fog. Indeed, they could drive 

 their alpenstocks through the overhanging 

 rim of frozen snow, and look sheer down 

 through the hole thus made to the amphithe- 

 atre below. One of the guides left them, un- 

 able longer to endure the sight of these prec- 

 ipices so close at hand. As they neared their 

 goal they feared lest the mist might, at the 

 last, deprive them of the culminating moment 

 for which they had braved such dangers. But 

 suddenly, as if touched by their perseverance, 

 says M. Desor, the veil of fog lifted, and the 

 summit of the Jungfrau, in its final solitude, 

 rose before them. There was still a certain 

 distance to be passed before they actually 

 reached the base of the extreme peak. Here 

 they paused, not without a certain hesitation, 

 for though the summit lay but a few feet 



