304 LOUIS AGASSIZ, 



the Jungfrau rose above the long chain of 

 the Vieseherhorner. The first pause of silent 

 wonder and delight, while they released them- 

 selves from their cords and arranged their in- 

 struments, seems to have been succeeded by 

 an outburst of spirits ; for in the journal of 

 the youngest of the party, FranQois de Pour- 

 tales, then a lad of seventeen, we read : " The 

 guides began to wrestle and we to dance, 

 when suddenly we saw a female chamois, fol- 

 lowed by her young, ascending a neighboring 

 slope, and presently four or five more stretched 

 their necks over a rock, as if to see what was 

 going on. Breathless the wrestlers and the 

 dancers paused, fearing to disturb by the 

 slightest movement creatures so shy of human 

 approach. They drew nearer until within easy 

 gunshot distance, and then galloping along the 

 opposite ridge disappeared over the summit." 

 The party passed more than an hour on 

 the top of the Strahleck, making observations 

 and taking measurements. Then having rested 

 and broken their fast with such provisions as 

 they had brought, they prepared for a descent, 

 which proved the more rapid, since much of it 

 was a long slide. Tied together once more, 

 they slid, wherever they found it possible 

 to exchange the painful and difficult walking 



