330 Ascent of the Jungfrau in 1841. 
day. Jacob did not cease, accordingly, to recommend cau- 
tion, repeating with the same calmness as when he ascended, 
Hiibschle, nur immer hiibschle ! (Gently, always gently !) 
At six o’clock we reached the Iepose, thus accomplishing, 
in two hours, a distance which had cost us six in ascending. 
M. de Pury was the first to meet us, and congratulate us on 
the successful issue of our undertaking. Far from being dis- 
tressed at not having formed one of our party, he thanked us, 
on the contrary, for having dissuaded him; for on seeing us 
climb the last ridge, he was the first to acknowledge that his 
shoes were not fit for such an ascent. Thus every one was 
satisfied ; and as we brought from our journey an appetite 
such as may be conceived, we seated ourselves on the snow to 
refresh ourselves with a piece of meat and the remainder of 
our wine. The first glass was offered by Agassiz to our cap- 
tain Jacob; we drank his health by turns, and I believe that 
never was toast more sincere, for it was obvious to us all, that 
without him we would never have reached the summit. 
Six leagues had still to be travelled to regain the cottages ; 
so that it happened, as we had foreseen, that we had to cross 
the part of the glacier most abounding in fissures after night- 
fall. But no one seemed in any way annoyed at this ; more- 
over, the moon would soon be up, and the clouds had almost 
entirely disappeared from the horizon. We traversed with 
accelerated pace the three leagues of neve which succeed the 
plateaux of snow; it was done without any difficulty, for the 
néve there presents a perfectly regular surface, on which one 
walks with as much security and ease as on a turnpike road. 
Searcely had night fallen, when we saw the moon rise oppo- 
site to us. 
We were then at the height of the two cols I have formerly 
mentioned—that of Létsch on the west, and that which leads 
to the nevé of Viesch on the east. The moon was directly 
in the axis of the glacier, so that the whole of this great river 
of ice was uniformly illuminated, and reflected a light which 
must have appeared to us the milder, from having suffered so 
much from that of the sun during the day. The entrance to 
the two cols of Létsch and Viesch formed a most interesting 
contrast with this luminous surface, for as they lie at right 
