LIFE IN THE ALPS. 319 



the danger of which varies with the condition of the 

 snow or ice. I had frequently wondered that no accident 

 had ever previously occurred here ; for, to an experienced 

 eye, the possibility of a fatal accident was plain enough. 

 On this slope the six climbers met their doom. They 

 were roped together, and probably only one of them 

 slipped ; but his slip involved the destruction of them all. 

 A few weeks after its occurrence I inspected the scene of 

 the disaster, saw the rocks down which the men had fallen, 

 and the snowfield on which their bodies were found. 



Their reaching the summit without guides proved 

 them to be competent men. But they could hardly 

 have accomplished the ascent without fatigue, and tired 

 men sometimes shrink from the labour of hewing safe 

 steps in obdurate ice. Neglect on this score may have 

 been the cause of the accident. But this is mere sur- 

 mise, the only thing certain being the mournful fact 

 that on the Jungfrau, this year, six men in the very 

 prime of life went simultaneously to destruction. 



On the fine October morning when these lines are 

 written, we find ourselves surrounded everywhere by 

 glittering snow. The riven Aletsch glacier and its 

 flanking mountains are dazzling in their whiteness. 

 After a period of superb weather, streaks and wisps of 

 boding cloud made their appearance a few days ago. 

 They spread, became denser, and finally discharged 

 themselves in a heavy fall of snow. But the sunshine 

 rapidly recovered its ascendency, and the peasants, who 

 had already descended some distance with their cows 

 and sheep, hoped that two days of such warmth would 

 again clear their pastures. 



They were deceived, for through the whole of yester- 

 day the snow fell steadily. It interrupted the transport 

 of our firewood, on mules' backs, from the pine woods 



