.Ascent of ^ItilitJalMf. 259 



The mountain is right before him; the track is visible 

 enough ; he has a map and a guide-book, and boasts of his 

 pocket-compass. With the track on his map, and the track 

 on the mountain, how could he get wrong ? So he throws 

 on his knapsack, seizes his stick, and goes off whistHng or 

 singing, — the host and hostess looking after him as he strides 

 away. For some time he thinks he can defy all the mislead- 

 ing powers of heaven and earth : but, once out of human 

 help, he finds his case not so easy as he thought. Instead 

 of one path, as marked on his map, he finds three ; and 

 perhaps the one he relies on may lapse into swamp. He 

 finds himself on the edge of a precipice, and does not know 

 how far to go back. He finds the bog deepen, and thinks 

 he can scarcely be in the right road. He finds a landslip, 

 which compels him to make a wider circuit, and meantime 

 it is growing dusk. Worst of all a fog may come on at any 

 moment ; and there is an end of all security to one who 

 does not know the little wayside-marks which guide the 

 shepherd in such a case. Tales are current through the 

 region of the death of natives, even in the summer-months, 

 through fog, wet, fatigue, or fall, though the native has a bet- 

 ter chance than the stranger ten times over. And why should 

 the risk be run ? It cannot be to save the fee, in the case 

 of a journey of pleasure. The guide is worth more than 

 his pay for the information he has to give, to say nothing of 

 the comfort of his carrying the knapsack, — as many knap- 

 sacks as there are walkers. If solitude be desired, the medi- 

 tative gentleman will soon find that anxiety about the way, 

 and an internal conflict with appreliensiveness, are sad 

 spoilers of the pleasures of solitude. Better have a real 

 substantial, comfortable, supporting shepherd by his side, 

 giving his mind Hberty for contemplation and enjoyment of 

 the scene, than the spectres of the mountain perplexing him 



s 2 



