306 Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 
able, these chalets are of immense utility to naturalists. They 
occupy a central point in the midst of the glaciers, whence 
they can turn their researches in any direction, and penetrate 
in a day even to the remotest corners of the Mer de Glace. 
About six months before, M. Escher de la Linth had estab- 
lished his head-quarters here ; and eight days previously, the 
same savant passed the night here with M. Studer. It was 
from this point also that we were to commence our journey to 
the Jungfrau. But an unforeseen circumstance had near- 
ly thwarted our design at the very outset. In order to at- 
tempt such an ascent, a ladder was indispensable; we had 
not brought one with us, because Jacob, who accompanied 
M. Hugi in 1832, had left the one he then used near the great 
fissure. He had not the least doubt that he would find it 
again, nine years afterwards, in the same spot where he left 
it. What, therefore, was his surprise when he learned from 
a shepherd that his ladder had been carried away some years 
before by a peasant of Viesch! He instantly despatched a 
messenger to the village to demand back his ladder, but the 
detainer refused to restore it, alleging that it was now his pro- 
perty, because he had had it repaired. Let any one conceive 
our disappointment when, at midnight, our delegate returned 
empty handed! What were we now to do? Were we to de- 
lay our journey for another day? That would have been to 
sin against our star which visibly protected us, for all the mists 
of the previous evening were dispersed, and there was not a 
cloud in the sky. Should we attempt the ascent without a 
ladder? Jacob assured us that was altogether impossible. Not 
knowing what plan to adopt, we decided on sending off a se- 
cond messenger to this refractory personage, to intimate to 
him that, if he did not instantly restore our property, we would 
fact, because it is, in my opinion, a capital objection to the manner in which 
M. de Charpentier accounts for the progress of his ancient glacier of the 
Rhone; an objection which I shall again refer to in a subsequent article, 
giving an account of the ancient levels of glaciers among the Alps. More- 
over, the valley of Mceril has likewise been at a certain epoch covered up 
by ice, as the polished and furrowed rocks on its sides prove; at this epoch, 
the glacier of Aletsch must have had two outlets, one near Natters, and 
another aboye Viesch. 
