238 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



was no sign of a possible path. Precipices of bare, 

 loose rocks, with gullies filled with snow and slip- 

 pery ice, were before us, and nothing else. We went 

 on a little way until we came to a snowy ridge, on 

 which was a heap of large stones. " This," said 

 John the Baptist, "was the chalet of Monsieur 

 Whymper." Then the path began to grow narrow, 

 and abysses opened below us. John called a halt, 

 and said that we must now be very careful ; we 

 must watch nothing but our feet; we must talk as 

 little as possible ; we must keep our mouths shut 

 and breathe through our noses; and finally, we 

 must chew chocolate or caramels all the time, 

 for this, he said, would keep our throats from being 

 parched. This began to look like serious work; 

 so we left off looking at the sunrise and the glaciers, 

 watched our shoes, chewed our chocolate, and 

 moved on. 



The path started out along a shelf of rock about 

 a foot wide, the surface of which, in accordance 

 with the southward dip of the strata, slanted toward 

 the mountain. Above the path was a wall of rock 

 some ten feet high, and at the top of this was a 

 similar shelf, but somewhat broader than the one 

 on which we were walking. Below us was a slip- 

 pery wall of rock, perhaps a hundred feet high, at 

 the foot of which lay the ice of the Furggen 

 glacier. In summer the glacier slides away from 

 the mountain, the supply of snow not being great 

 enough to balance its loss by melting. Between 

 the mountain and the glacier is therefore a deep 

 chasm, or Bergschrund t a damp, chilly, un- 

 inviting looking place, bordered on one side by 



