AN ASCENT OF THE MATTERHORN 213 



are \}i\Q pierres qui roulent, — '* the stones that roll," 

 the dread of the mountaineer. Most high moun- 

 tains are fashioned by the glaciers themselves ; but 

 the glacier has no hold on the Matterhorn. Gla- 

 ciers make white domes of mountains ; frost makes 

 black pinnacles and spires. 



The guides had now tied us together, and the 

 value of the rope in mountaineering soon became 

 very evident to us. In all difficult or dangerous ex- 

 cursions in the high Alps, the persons making the 

 excursion are tied together by ropes. Usually four 

 or five are joined to one rope, the rope being tied 

 around the waist of each. It is the duty of each 

 one to see that the rope below him is kept drawn 

 tight, so that if any person happens to stumble or 

 slip, the aid of the others will keep him on his 

 feet. In very difficult excursions, like the one here 

 described, usually but one person moves at a time, 

 the other three on the rope each holding his po- 

 sition as well as possible until the fourth one has 

 reached a position of safety. 



The way we went was in most cases like this. 

 First John the Baptist would scramble up some 

 ledge of rocks, clinging by fingers and toes to pro- 

 jecting points, or reaching some higher crag by 

 means of his ice-axe. When he found a suitable 

 foothold he would shout to me, and I would crawl 

 up to his position, while the next man would edge 

 up to where I was, — and so on. When we came 

 to a specially bad place, a niaiivais pas, where the 

 rocks were unusually loose and the hold precari- 

 ous, I would shout up to him before following 

 him, '' Etes-vous bien place?" ("Are you well 



