OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 497 



reached the cabin, and between it and the base of the 

 pyramid we lost our way. It was late when we 

 regained it, and by the time we reached the ridge of 

 the Hornli we were unable to distinguish rock from ice. 

 We should have fared better than we did if we had kept 

 along that ridge and felt our way to the Schwarz-See, 

 whence there would have been no difficulty in reaching 

 Zermatt. But we left the Hornli to our right, and 

 found ourselves incessantly checked in the darkness by 

 ledges and precipices, possible and actual. We were 

 afterwards entangled in the woods of Zmutt, but finally 

 struck the path and followed it to Zermatt, which we 

 reached between one and two o'clock in the morning. 



[In the woods of Zmutt I was beset by overpowering sleepi- 

 ness, which disappeared in the open. Madame Seller divined 

 the meaning of my knocking for admittance to the Monte Rosa 

 Hotel. " It is the Professor," she said, " who has come over the 

 Matterhorn." While food was preparing, Mr. Seller asked me 

 whether, in view of future ascents, it would not be wise to place 

 ropes or chains at the dangerous points. " By doing so," I re- 

 plied, "you will save life, but you will spoil the mountain." I 

 made the acquaintance of Seiler thirty-three years ago. To the 

 sorrow of his friends, his well-known figure will be seen at Zer- 

 matt no more. October, 1891.] 



