200 SCHOOL OF MINES AND MUSEUM CHAP, vi 



wrapped round it. As soon as he knew who I was he 

 hospitably asked me to dine with him, and immediately 

 after proposed that I should join him in an excursion 

 to the Ober Aar glacier, which, after a little hesitation, 

 I acceded to. So we descended nearly to the lower 

 end of the Unter Aar glacier, whence I despatched a 

 note to Louisa, saying I had found an opportunity I 

 had waited for for thirty-eight years, and that I could 

 not be back till to-morrow. We then climbed up by a 

 brook with four men, and long ere sunset reached the 

 Ober Aar glacier. There we had coffee and supper 

 and buffalo-skins, and by and by my messenger 

 returned with a delightful note from Louisa. The 

 men then cut grass and made a bed in the windowless 

 hut. We spread our buffalo-skins upon it, had a glass 

 of hot brandy and water, put a pipe in our cheeks, and 

 speedily fell asleep as jolly as sand-boys. 



* i8M. Awoke early, long before daylight, a little 

 damp and sore in the bones. At half-past three M. 

 Dolfuss roused himself and blew a blast on his horn, 

 whereupon all the men got up and lighted two fires, 

 one in the stove indoors, and the other on a flat stone 

 outside. It was a glorious morning ; I thought I had 

 never seen stars before. Venus seemed to swim in 

 the heavens, a ball of light, and not as if a hole had 

 been punctured in a bluish covering through which 

 the light shone. It was glorious, too, to watch the 

 light gradually growing on the snow r y peaks of Ober- 

 aarhorn and the other peaks that enclosed and nursed 

 the glacier. At a quarter to five we started, and were 

 soon on the ice, five men carrying the burdens. At 

 first we were in groups where the ice was solid and 

 the crevasses distinct. These required some careful 

 dodging, though there never was any real danger. 



