AND THE JURA. 33 



an anticlinal axis in the limestone of which the Jura chain is com- 

 posed ; and on one side the stratum was bent round so as to make a 

 fine natural arch, the north and south direction of the axis coinciding 

 nearly with the vertical wall to the west. The ice was exceedingly 

 well preserved, there being only a small pool of water in one corner ; 

 and the amount was not perceptibly diminished, although it had been 

 pretty freely used for nearly three months. There was quite suffici- 

 ent light from above to show everything within with the utmost clear- 

 ness, so that the disagreeable and smoky necessity of torches was 

 avoided. 



Having indulged our curiosity, and finding the guide of so little 

 use, we started off without him in the direction of our destination, 

 that is, eastward ; and, trusting to compass and map, entered boldly 

 into the labyrinth of a vast and magnificent pine forest, full of un- 

 even and rocky ground, and sheltering in its recesses many wolves 

 and bears, although, as it was summer, we did not much dread com- 

 ing in contact with such animals. However, on we went ; and hav- 

 ing traversed the forest for some distance, observed a large and 

 isolated rock, rising suddenly and boldly before us. By the help of 

 our sticks and some half-grown trees, we managed to reach a flat 

 surface on the top, covered with noble pines and other trees, toge- 

 ther with abundance of brushwood ; and then, proceeding a Tittle 

 way, discovered that we were within a couple of yards of a sudden 

 precipice, which was perpendicular for a hundred and fifty or 

 two hundred feet, and gave a magnificent coup d'ceil of the bound- 

 less forest which stretched out in all directions before us. Here 

 and there jutted out a mountain mass like that on which we 

 stood, whose bare vertical sides refused to be the resting-place of a 

 tree. All else was one dark mass of vegetable life, and the effect 

 was singularly interesting and grand. 



We retraced our steps, descending by the same tree which had 

 helped us to ascend, and which seemed the only approach to this sin- 

 gular plateau ; and after a long and difficult descent, and much walk- 

 ing in the direction our compass pointed out, we found a road, which 

 led across another mountain, and through another forest, until we 

 came out upon the great plain of the valley of Switzerland, not far 

 from the village of Biere, where we dined ; and afterwards confined 

 our journeying towards Lausanne to the high roads, which present 

 little more interest here than in other countries where the pic- 

 turesque and the romantic are not so common. Thus ended my 



VOL. X., NO. XXVIII. 5 



