364 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



In the following July we find him again 

 upon the glacier. But the campaign of 1843 

 opened sadly for the glacial party. Arriving 

 at Meiringen they heard that Jacob Leuthold 

 was ill and would probably be unable to ac- 

 company them. They went to his house, and 

 found him, indeed, the ghost of his former 

 self, apparently in a rapid decline. Neverthe- 

 less, he welcomed them gladly to his humble 

 home, and would have kept them for some re- 

 freshment. Fearing to fatigue him, however, 

 they stayed but a few moments. As they 

 left, one of the party pointed to the moun- 

 tains, adding a hope that he might soon join 

 them. His eyes filled with tears ; it was his 

 only answer, and he died three days later. He 

 was but thirty-seven years of age, and at that 

 time the most intrepid and the most intelli- 

 gent of the Oberland guides. His death was 

 felt as a personal grief by the band of work- 

 ers whose steps he had for years guided over 

 the most difficult Alpine passes. 



The summer's work continued and com- 

 pleted that of the last season. On leaving 

 the glacier the year before they had marked 

 a net-work of loose boulders, such as travel 

 with the ice, and also a number of fixed points 

 in the valley walls, comparing and registering 





