OLD ALPIXE JOTTINGS. 457 



shove. At all events the slope was so steep that the 

 guide shot down it with an impetus sufficient to carry 

 him clear over the schrund. We all afterwards shot 

 the chasm in this pleasant way. Jenni was behind. 

 Deviating from our track, he deliberately chose the wid- 

 est part of the chasm, and shot over it, lumbering like 

 behemoth down the snow-slope at the other side. It 

 was an illustration of that practical knowledge which 

 long residence among the mountains can alone impart, 

 and in the possession of which our best English climbers 

 fall far behind their guides. 



The remaining steep slopes were also descended by 

 glissade, and we afterwards marched cheerily over the 

 gentler inclines. We had ascended by the Rosegg 

 glacier, and now we wished to descend upon the Mor- 

 teratsch glacier and make it our highway home. It was 

 while attempting this descent that we were committed 

 to that ride upon the back of an avalanche, a description 

 of which is given in the " Times " newspaper for Octo- 

 ber 1, 1864,* 



In July, 1865, my friend Hirst and myself visited 

 Glarus, intending, if circumstances favoured us. to 

 climb the Todi. Checked by the extravagant demands 

 of the guides, we gave the expedition up. Crossing the 

 Klausen pass to Altdorf, we ascended the Gotthardt 

 Strasse to Wasen, and went thence over the Susten 

 pass to Gadmen, which we reached late at night. We 

 halted for a moment at Stein, but the blossom of 1863 

 was no longer there and we did not tarry. Before quit- 

 ting Gadmen next morning I was accosted by a guide, 

 who asked me whether I knew Professor Tvndall. " He 

 is killed, sir," said the man; "killed upon the Matter- 

 horn." I then listened to a somewhat detailed ac- 

 * See also Alpine Journal, vol. i. p. 437. 



