326 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



inarch should stay behind. No one responded 

 to his suggestion, and they were presently on 

 the road. 



Passing Lake Meril, with its miniature ice- 

 bergs, they reached the glacier of the Aletsch 

 and its snow-fields, where the real difficulties 

 and dangers of the ascent were to begin. In 

 this great semicircular space, inclosed by the 

 Jungfrau, the Monch, and the lesser peaks of 

 this mountain group, lies the Aletsch reser- 

 voir of snow or neVe. As this spot presented 

 a natural pause between the laborious ascent 

 already accomplished and the immense decliv- 

 ities which lay before them yet to be climbed, 

 they named it Le Repos, and halted there for 

 a short rest. Here they left also every need- 

 less incumbrance, taking only a little bread 

 and wine, in case of exhaustion, some meteor- 

 ological instruments, and the inevitable lad- 

 der, axe, and ropes of the Alpine climber. 

 On their left, to the west of the amphitheatre, 

 a vast passage opened between the Jungfrau 

 and the Kranzberg, and in this could be dis- 

 tinguished a series of terraces, one above the 

 other. The story is the usual one, of more 

 or less steep slopes, where they sank in the 

 softer snow or cut their steps in the icy sur- 

 faces ; of open crevasses, crossed by the lad- 



