OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 493 



on the steepest Matterhorn slope during the two hottest 

 hours of the day, and the sun had done his work effec- 

 tually. The snow seemed to offer no foothold whatever; 

 with cautious manipulation it regelated, but to so small 

 an extent that the resistance due to regelation was in- 

 sensible to the foot. The layer of snow was about 

 fifteen inches thick. In treading it we came imme- 

 diately upon the rock, which in most cases was too 

 smooth to furnish either prop or purchase. It was on 

 this slope that the Matterhorn catastrophe occurred : it 

 is on this slope that other catastrophes will occur, if 

 this mountain should ever become fashionable. 



Joseph Maquignaz was the leader of our little party, 

 and a cool and competent leader he proved himself to 

 be. He was earnest and silent, save when he answered 

 his brother's anxious and oft-repeated question, ' Es-tu 

 bien place, Joseph ? ' Along with being perfectly cool 

 and brave, he seemed to be perfectly truthful. E> did 

 not pretend to be ' bien place ' when he was not, nor 

 avow a power of holding which he knew he did not 

 possess. Pierre Maquignaz is, I believe, under ordinary 

 circumstances an excellent guide, and he enjoys the 

 reputation of being never tired. But in such circum- 

 stances as we encountered on the Matterhorn he is not 

 the equal of his brother. Joseph, if I may use the term, 

 is a man of high boiling-point ; his constitutional sang- 

 froid resisting panic ebullition. Pierre, on the con- 

 trary, shows a strong tendency to boil over in perilous 

 places. 



Our progress was exceedingly slow but it was steady 

 and continuous. At every step our leader trod the snow 

 cautiously, seeking some rugosity on the rock beneath 

 it. This however was rarely found, and in most cases 

 he had to establish practicable attachments between the 

 snow and the slop* which bore it. No semblance of a 



