24 The Life and Writings of Agassiz. 



particulars of this ascent, which was much talked of among 

 the mountaineers; since, by many of them, the Jungfrau 

 was considered inaccessible. Starting from the hamlet of 

 Meril, on the Viesch Glacier, at five o'clock, A.M., M. Agassiz 

 and his companions arrived at two P.M. at the base of the 

 highest summit, the inclination of which, on being measured, 

 was found to be 45 degrees. This declivity, moreover, was 

 covered with hard, slippery ice, in which it was necessary to 

 cut steps ; and this, together with the intense cold, so retard- 

 ed their progress, that at one time they advanced only fifteen 

 steps in a quarter of an hour. The summit formed the ver- 

 tical section of a cone ; and the ice being less hard at the 

 edge of the precipice, they walked, by the advice of their 

 guide, on the very brink of the abyss. " Several times,'' 

 says M. Desor, " on thrusting out my staff rather further 

 than usual, I felt it pass through the roof of snow," — which, 

 as is usually the case, projected like a cornice from the edge 

 of the precipice, — " and then we could look (whenever the 

 fog separated for a moment), perpendicularly through the 

 hole into the vast gulf below." The fog, which had hidden 

 every thing from sight, cleared away when they reached the 

 summit, at about four p.m. " Here, for the first time, we had 

 a view of the valley of Switzerland ; we were on the western 

 edge of the section of the cone, having at our feet the barrier 

 that separates the valley of Lauterbrunnen from that of 

 Grindelwald. . . . The mountain here forms an abrupt 

 angle, a dozen feet below the summit, and we saw, with a 

 soft of affright, that the space which separated us from the 

 highest point was a sharp ridge, about twenty feet long, the 

 sides of which had an inclination of from sixty to seventy 

 degrees. * There is no way of getting there,' said Agassiz ; 

 and we all inclined to the same opinion. Jacob (their prin- 

 cipal guide), on the contrary, said there was no difficulty 

 whatever, and that we should all get over. Laying aside 

 what he carried, he commenced the undertaking by passing 

 the staff over the ridge, so as to bring it under his right arm. 

 and thus climbed along the western slope, burying his feet 

 as much as possible in the snow, in order to obtain foot- 

 hold." In this way he passed over, and after having re- 



