OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 491 



companions' attention to the apparent footmarks. As 

 we approached the place it became evident that human 

 feet had been there two or three days previously. I think 

 it was Mr. Elliot l who had made this ascent — the first 

 accomplished from Zermatt since the memorable one of 

 1865. On the eastern end of the ridge we halted to 

 take a little food ; not that I seemed to need it. It was 

 the remonstrance of reason rather than the conscious- 

 ness of physical want that caused me to do so. 



Facts of this kind illustrate the amount of force 

 locked up in the muscles which may be drawn upon 

 without renewal. I had quitted London ill, and when 

 the Matterhorn was attacked I was by no means well. In 

 fact, this climb was one of the means adopted to drive 

 the London virus from my blood. The day previous I 

 had taken scarcely any food, and on starting from the 

 cabin half a cup of bad tea, without any solid whatever, 

 constituted my breakfast. Still, during the five hours' 

 climb from the cabin to the top of the Matterhorn, 

 though much below par physically and mentally, I felt 

 neither faint nor hungry. This is an old experience of 

 mine upon the mountains. The Weisshorn, for ex- 

 ample, was climbed on six meat lozenges, though it 

 was a day of nineteen hours. Possibly this power of 

 long-continued physical effort, without eating, may be 

 a result of bad digestion which deals out stingily, and 

 therefore economically, to the muscles the energy of the 

 food previously consumed. 



We took our ounce of nutriment and gulp of wine 

 and stood for a moment silently and earnestly looking 

 down towards Zermatt. There was a certain official for- 

 mality in the manner in which the guides turned to me 

 and asked, ' Etes-vous content aV essay er ? ' A quick re- 

 sponsive ' Oui /' set us immediately in motion. It waa 



1 Lost the following year upon the Schrackhorn. 

 32 



