Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 297 
at our side; and in the distance it gave us pleasure to recog- 
nise, among the peaks which we commanded, the Pic du Sie- 
delhorn, the extreme point of view to which the ambition of 
the tourists who visit the Grimsel ventures to aspire. 
From the Col de  Oberaar we descended to the plateau of 
snow which feeds the glacier of Viesch. It is a vast circus of 
more than half a league in diameter, bounded on the north by 
the immense masses of Finsteraarhorn, and encircled by ten 
large peaks, which all bear among the Valaisans the name of 
Viescherhérner, and the least elevated of which are upwards 
of 11,000 feet high.* It was in the centre of this beautiful 
circus that we halted for dinner, a dinner as frugal as it well 
could be, but which we nevertheless found delicious, thanks to 
the appetite we brought to it. Our first intention was to cross 
the masses which separate the névé of Viesch from that of 
Aletsch ; but thick mists which rose on our right, and our in- 
struments, which seemed to agree with them in presaging rain, 
(Saussure’s hygrometer instantly descended to 76°, and the ther- 
mometer rose to + 53 C., about 42° F.), made us resolve to de- 
scend to the chalets of Meeril, even though by so doing some 
leagues would be added to our journey next day. Some of us 
would have preferred to economize time, and sleep in some sub- 
terranean cavity of the glacier of Aletsch ; but the guides were 
opposed to this, alleging that it was better to rest comfort- 
ably, and regain the lost time by starting on the morrow before 
daybreak. The majority assented to Jacob’s opinion, and M. 
Agassiz and I were of that number, for we had still a very 
lively recollection of the dismal night we spent last year, in 
the midst of mists, on the summit of the Siedelhorn. 
* A strange confusion prevails among the mountaineers in regard torthe 
names they give to the different peaks. Thus the Schreckhorn is called the 
Lauteraarhorn in the valley of Hasli: the Finsteraarhorn itself has not es- 
caped this unfortunate synonomy, being called Schwartzhorn among the 
Haut-Valaisans. But it is in reference to the Viescherhérner that this con- 
fusion reaches its height. Not only the summits here spoken of are all 
Viescherhirner, but the Valaisans likewise designate by this name all the 
peaks of the ridge which extends from the Faulhorn to the Faulberg, between 
the glaciers of Aletsch and Viesch (See the map of the brothers Meyer). 
Lastly, there are also the Viescherhérner of the Grindelwald, likewise called 
Walcherhérner, which separate the glacier of Grindelwald from the narrow 
band of the névé of Viesch. 
