480 OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 



We halted at the base of the Tete du Lion, a bold 

 precipice formed by the sudden cutting down of the 

 ridge which flanks the Val Tournanche to the right. 

 From its base to the Matterhorn stretches the Col du 

 Lion, crossed for the first time in 1860, by Mr. Hawkins, 

 myself, and our two guides. We were now beside a 

 snow-gully which was cut by a deep furrow along its 

 centre, and otherwise scarred by the descent of stones. 

 Here each man arranged his bundle and himself so as to 

 cross the gully in the minimum of time. The passage 

 was safely made, a few flying shingle only coming down 

 upon us. But danger declared itself where it was not 

 expected. Joseph Maquignaz led the way up the rocks. 

 I was next, Pierre Maquignaz next, and last of all the 

 porters. Suddenly a yell issued from the leader : c Cachez- 

 vous ! ' I crouched instinctively against the rock which 

 formed a by no means perfect shelter, when a boulder 

 buzzed past me through the air, smote the rocks below 

 me, and with a savage hum flew down to the lower 

 glacier. Thus warned we swerved to an arete, and 

 when stones fell afterwards they plunged to the right or 

 le^t of us. 



In 1860 the great couloir which stretches from the 

 Col du Lion downwards was filled with a deep neve. 

 But the atmospheric conditions, which have caused 

 the glaciers of Switzerland to shrink so remarkably 

 during the last ten years, 1 have swept away this neve. 

 We had descended it, in 1860, hip-deep in snow, and I 

 was now reminded of its steepness by the inclination of 

 its bed. Maquignaz was incredulous when I pointed 



1 I should estimate the level of the Lower Grindelwald glacier, 

 at the point where it is usually entered upon to reach the Eismeer, 

 to be nearly 100 feet vertically lower in 1867 than it was in 1856. I 

 am glad to find that the question of ' Benchmarks ' to fix such 

 changes of level is now before the Council of the British Association 

 [The shrinking of the glaciers continues 1889.} 



