^T. 28.] JOURNAL. 255 



very confident that the guide paid nothing, and there- 

 fore suspected a connivance between him and the 

 aubergiste to put all on my shoulders, one of the 

 evils of a guide ; they are worse than useless on all the 

 usual routes, indeed anywhere, except in ascending 

 very high mountains and crossing glaciers ; felt a 

 little inclined to punish my guide, and therefore set 

 off at a swinging pace and took him up the Little 

 Scheideck much more rapidly than he ever went be- 

 fore. I buttoned up my coat and pretended not to be 

 making any effort at all, while the poor fellow stripped 

 off first his coat, then his waistcoat, the perspira- 

 tion 'running off his face ; until finally he pronounced 

 it impossible to keep near me, and lagged far behind. 

 At length I took pity on him and walked slower, but 

 we crossed the Scheideck and reached the Wengern 

 Alp, a journey of four hours and a half, in a little less 

 than three. . . . 



From the crest of the Little Scheideck (6,300 feet) 

 I got my first near view of the remainder of the high 

 Bernese Alps, the Monch (12,660 feet), the Jung- 

 frau (12,670 feet) (I have been giving you the height 

 all along in French feet, as they are put down in Kel- 

 ler ; in English feet the numbers will be considerably 

 higher), with the two white peaks, the Silberhorner 

 (silver-peaks), which belong to it. 



Still beyond, though not quite so lofty, were the 

 Grosshorn, the Breithorn, etc. The point where I 

 stood commanded nearly the whole view, from the 

 Engelhorner, Wetterhorn, a glimpse of the Schreck- 

 horn, the Mettenberg, Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau, 

 as I stood just in the mid-distance; an unsurpassed 

 view it is. As I descended the other side to the Wen- 

 gern Alp I lost those more to the east, but came still 

 nearer to the Jungfrau. . . '. 



