Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 303 
along which ran a narrow and apparently a very incommodi- 
ous footpath. The disappointed air of some of us, and the re- 
signed expression of others, would have made a subject for a 
good picture, if there had been an artist among us not too 
fatigued to undertake it. At last we arrived, about six o’clock 
in the evening, at the cottages of Meeril, where we were to 
pass the night. We were very cordially received by the shep- 
herds, who promised to supply us with the best they could 
afford. 
Ascent of the Jungfrau. 
Of all the mountains of the Bernese Alps, the Jungfrau is 
the one that enjoys the greatest popularity. Strangers arriv- 
ing at Berne are desirous, before every thing else, to see the 
Jungfrau, and, in the country, children learn to know it first. 
This indisputable preference, and perhaps also its poetical 
name, have always made the public feel a particular interest 
in the attempts that have been made to ascend it; very ani- 
mated discussions have likewise taken place whenever the sub- 
ject has been brought forward. Before we thought of ascend- 
ing it ourselves, we had paid but little attention to these con- 
troversies. We merely knew that the ascent of the brothers 
Meyer, of Arau, was very generally disputed among the moun- 
taineers, who regarded none as authentic except that of the 
Grindelwald guides; but when once we had succeeded in our 
enterprise, indifference would have been out of place ; and 
that we might not run the risk of giving a rash judgment, 
which would not fail to be ascribed to a mean jealousy if it 
had been void of foundation, we availed ourselves of every 
opportunity of collecting information respecting the history 
of expeditions to the J ungfrau, both by questioning the moun- 
taineers, and perusing what had been published on the sub- 
ject. 
Perhaps I may be permitted to state briefly in this place 
the result of our investigations on this point. 
MM. Rudolph and Jerome Meyer, of Arau, conceived, in 
1811, the idea of ascending the Jungfrau and others of the 
most elevated summits of the Alps. Leaving Natters, in the 
Valais, in the course of the month of August 1811, they tra- 
