202 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. vm. 



a secretary, or even a copyist, preferring to do all his 

 writing, and expressing his fear when he learned that 

 he had nine assistants in his employ, adding humor- 

 ously, " I am sure that there must be some gold some- 

 where in your polished rocks. I should like to know 

 your secret how to work so profitably and so quickly all 

 these mines." Humboldt repeated his friendly advice 

 during the summer of 1842, saying plainly that he, the 

 man of the equinoctial region, was frightened by the 

 Eiszeit and the terrible ice cap. But all this was in 

 vain. Agassiz had an answer for every objection; and 

 all that even his alarmed mother could obtain was a 

 promise that he would not make any more ascents of 

 inaccessible peaks, and be lowered again into hell, 

 "descente aux enfers," as his descent into the glacier 

 well was familiarly called. 



Arrived at the Grimsel, the /th of July, 1842, Agassiz, 

 with his numerous assistants, at once began observations 

 and excursions, first to the Siedelhorn, and after that to 

 the glacier of the Rhone. The troglodytic habitation 

 under the immense block, having become unsafe, it was 

 replaced by a long tent, divided into three compart- 

 ments, used as laboratory and dining-room, sleeping- 

 room, and dormitory for the workmen. The form of 

 the tent - - twenty metres long, four metres broad, and 

 five metres high - - recalled a Noah's ark, and was 

 therefore christened "the Ark," 1 to distinguish it from 

 the " Hotel des Neuchatelois," which was now used as a 

 kitchen. The old cabin of the guides served as a stable 



1 The old name of "Hotel des Neuchatelois," however, continued in 

 use ; and the archaic word " Ark " was dropped before the summer was over. 



