DANGEROUS ASCENT. 57 



mainly on account of the detached masses of 

 rock which a very slight matter would displace, 

 and hurl down the precipitous declivity, to the 

 utter destruction of him who depended upon 

 their support, or who might happen to be in 

 their path below. The latter part of our ascent 

 was, indeed, much against our inclination ; but 

 we found it impossible to descend by the way 

 we had come up, and were compelled to gain 

 a ledge, which promised the only secure resting- 

 place we could find at that height. This we 

 were able to effect by sticking the tomahawks 

 with which we were provided into crevices in 

 the rock, as a support for our feet ; and some 

 of these instruments we were obliged to leave 

 were they driven in, in consequence of the 

 danger that attended their recovery. We follow- 

 ed the ledge we had thus gained to the head of 

 a bank of snow, which filled up a valley to the 

 east of the hill, and found the snow sufficiently 

 soft for our feet to make an impression upon 

 it, or I really believe we should have been 

 obliged to wait until we could have obtained 

 ropes from the ship to facilitate our descent. 

 As it was, this bed of snow was so steep that, 

 had we missed our footing, we must have rolled 

 down, and been precipitated into the sea, as in- 

 variably happened with the birds we shot, unless, 



