320 Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 
hardness, it admitted of being easily beaten down. A few mi- 
nutes were sufficient to enable him to gain the summit. 
So much assurance and sang-froid gave us courage, and 
when the guide rejoined us, no one any longer thought of 
staying behind. Jacob took Agassiz by the hand and con- 
ducted him, without difficulty, to the summit. It is a kind of 
triangle, about two feet long by a foot and a half broad, which 
has its base turned towards the Swiss plain nearly as repre- 
sented in figure 3 of the engraving, A being the base of the 
triangle, and B the ridge which led to it. As there was room 
for only one person at a timé, we went by turns. Agassiz re- 
mained upon it for nearly five minutes, and when he rejoined 
us, I saw that he was greatly agitated ; in fact, he confessed 
to me that he never experienced so much emotion. It was 
now my turn; I found no difficulty in the transit ; but when I 
was on the summit, I could not prevent myself, any more than 
Agassiz, from giving wayto great emotion at a spectacle of such 
overpowering grandeur. [remained only a few minutes ; long 
enough, however, to remove any fear that the panorama of the 
Jungfrau will ever be effaced from my memory. After exa- 
mining attentively the most prominent points of this unique 
picture, I hastened to rejoin Agassiz, for I feared lest an im- 
pression so powerful should deprive me of my usual confidence; 
I had need of grasping the hand of a friend, and I venture to 
say, that I never felt so happy in my life as when I had seated 
myself by his side on the snow. I believe that both of uswould 
have wept had we dared ; but a man’s tears ought to be modest, 
and we were not alone; and such is the strength of the ha- 
bits which society makes us contract, that, at 12,000 feet, there 
was still a regard to etiquette! Mr Forbes and M. Du Cha- 
telier visited the summit in their turn, and I have reason to 
know that they were not less edified than we. It may be 
safely affirmed that he who could remain indifferent at ipa a 
spectacle is not worthy of contemplating it. 
It is not the vast field which the eyes embrace that consti- 
tutes the charm of these views from elevated mountains. The 
experience of the preceding year on the Col of the Strahleck, 
had taught us that distant views are, in general, very indistinct. 
Here, from the summit of the Jungfrau, the outlines of the ae 
