HOTEL DES NEUCHATELOIS. 299 



such insects and plants as might be found in 

 these ice-bound regions. The Hospice of the 

 Grimsel was selected as his base of supplies, 

 and as guides Jacob Leuthold and Johann 

 Wahren were chosen. Both of these had ac- 

 companied Hugi in his ascension of the Fin- 

 steraarhorn in 1828, and both were therefore 

 thoroughly familiar with all the dangers of 

 Alpine climbing. The lower Aar glacier was 

 to be the scene of their continuous work, and 

 the centre from which their ascents of the 

 neighboring summits would be made. Here, 

 on the great median moraine, stood a huge 

 boulder of micaceous schist. Its upper sur- 

 face projected so as to form a roof, and by 

 closing it in on one side with a stone wall, 

 leveling the floor by a judicious arrangement 

 of flat slabs, and rigging a blanket in front 

 to serve as a curtain across the entrance, the 

 whole was presently transformed into a rude 

 hut, where six persons could find sleeping- 

 room. A recess, sheltered by the rock out- 

 side, served as kitchen and dining-room ; while 

 an empty space under another large boulder 

 was utilized as a cellar for the keeping of pro- 

 visions. This was the abode so well known 

 afterward as the Hotel des Neuchatelois. Its 

 first occupants were Louis Agassiz, Edouard 



