46 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



hours of this, then much firmer walking for an hour 

 over very hard snow. It was, I suspect, naturally as 

 soft as the snow below, only it was frozen by the 

 intense cold. I never knew what cold could do till I 

 was up there ; my port wine was icy cold, almost 

 frozen ; the flakes of snow blown in my face froze 

 immediately, giving me a good deal of pain, especially 

 my ears (my left ear did not get quite well for some 

 days after). It was not, however, near bad enough to 

 make me think of giving up my object, so we stuck to 

 it, and presently we came to such hard work that, not- 

 withstanding the cold, I was thrown into a violent heat ; 

 the snow had, I fancy, fallen in the night and had not 

 had time to freeze, and in consequence we had in some 

 places regularly to force our way through the snow. 

 The sun rose about this time, and it was a most wonder- 

 ful sight. There we were, the only two human beings 

 within miles round, clinging to the frozen mountain; 

 snow being blown all round us by an icy wind ; all the 

 snowy mountains round being lit up ; clouds were racing 

 round the bottom of Sneehatten ; the top was every 

 now and then visible to our aching eyes against the 

 gray sky. It was certainly enough to satisfy my lust 

 for wildness. In about one hour more we gained the 

 top. As you approached near to it, it reminded me 

 greatly of that of Mont Blanc that of a round cone ; 

 but when on it, it ran in the form of a ridge along 

 the top of the sides of the crater, into which black 

 abyss you looked. There were, however, clouds rolling 

 about inside, so that we could not see the bottom. 

 The view from the top would no doubt have been 

 splendid, commanding as it does the whole of the 

 Dovre Fjeld (' Fjeld ' is the Norse word for mountain 

 range) ; but we were not fated to enjoy this sight to 

 perfection, as it was only now and then we could get 



