OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 439 



seem insuperable. Bit by bit I found myself getting 

 lower, closely examining at every pause the rocks below. 

 The grass-tufts helped me for a time, but at length a 

 rock was reached on which no friendly grass could grow. 

 This slab was succeeded by others equally forbidding. 

 A slip was not admissible here. I looked upwards, 

 thinking of retreat, but the failing day urged me on. 

 From the middle of the smooth surface jutted a ledge 

 about fifteen inches long and about four inches deep. 

 Once upon this ledge I saw that I could work obliquely 

 to the left-hand limit of the face of the rock, and reach 

 the grass-tufts once more. Grasping the top of the 

 rock, I let myself down as far as my stretched arms 

 would permit, and then let go my hold. The boot- 

 nails had next to no power as a brake, the hands had 

 still less, and I came upon the ledge with an energy 

 that shocked me. A streak of grass beside the rock 

 was next attained ; it terminated in a small steep couloir, 

 the portion of which within view was crossed by three 

 transverse ledges. There was no hold on either side of 

 it, but I thought that by friction the motion down the 

 groove could be so regulated as to enable me to come 

 to rest at each successive ledge. Once started, however, 

 my motion was exceedingly rapid. I shot over the first 

 ledge, an uncomfortable jolt marking my passage. 

 Here I tried to clamp myself against the rock, but the 

 second ledge was crossed like the first. The outlook 

 now became alarming, and I made a desperate effort to 

 stop the motion. Braces gave way, clothes were torn, 

 wrists and hands were skinned and bruised, while hips 

 and knees suffered variously. I did, however, stop my- 

 self, and here all serious difficulty ended. I was greatly 

 heated, but a little lower down reached a singular cave 

 in the mountain-side, with water dripping from its roof 

 into a clear well. The ice-cold liquid soon restored me 



