STEEP TRAILS 



cover us. After eating a little hardtack, each 

 of us leveled a spot to lie on among lava-blocks 

 and cinders. The night was cold, and the 

 wind coming down upon us in stormy surges 

 drove gritty ashes and fragments of pumice 

 about our ears while chilling to the bone. Very 

 short and shallow was our sleep that night; 

 but day dawned at last, early rising was easy, 

 and there was nothing about breakfast to 

 cause any delay. About four o^clock we were 

 off, and climbing began in earnest. We fol- 

 lowed up the ridge on which we had spent the 

 night, now along its crest, now on either side, 

 or on the ice leaning against it, until we came 

 to where it becomes massive and precipitous. 

 Then we were compelled to crawl along a 

 seam or narrow shelf, on its face, which we 

 traced to its termination in the base of the 

 great ice-cap. From this point all the climb- 

 ing was over ice, which was here desperately 

 steep but fortunately was at the same time 

 carved into innumerable spikes and pillars 

 which afforded good footholds, and we crawled 

 cautiously on, warm with ambition and exer- 

 cise. 



At length, after gaining the upper extreme 

 of our guiding ridge, we found a good place 

 to rest and prepare ourselves to scale the 

 dangerous upper curves of the dome. The 



266 



