OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS. 451 



it may be asked, which the molten earth required for 

 its consolidation 1 But these vaster epochs lack sub- 

 limity through our inability to grasp them. They be- 

 wilder us, but they fail to make a solemn impression. 

 The genesis of the mountains comes more within the 

 scope of the intellect, and the majesty of the operation 

 is enhanced by our partial ability to conceive it. In 

 the falling of a rock from a mountain-head, in the shoot 

 of an avalanche, in the plunge of a cataract, we often 

 see a more impressive illustration of the power of gra- 

 vity than in the motions of the stars. When the intel- 

 lect has to intervene, and calculation is necessary to 

 the building up of the conception, the expansion of the 

 feelings ceases to be proportional to the magnitude of 

 the phenomena. 



The Piz Languard is called a ladies' mountain, 

 though it is 11,000 feet high. I climbed it on July 

 2.% and a very grand outlook it affords. The heavens 

 overhead were clear, but in some directions the scowl 

 of the infernal regions seemed to fall upon the hills. 

 The group of the Bernina was in sunshine, and its 

 glory and beauty are not to be described. The depth 

 of impressions upon consciousness is measured by the 

 quantity of change which they involve. It is the 

 intermittent current, not the continuous one, that 

 tetanises the nerve, and half the interest of the Alps 

 depends upon the caprices of the air. 



The Morteratsch glacier is a very noble one to those 

 who explore it in its higher parts. Its middle portion 

 is troubled and crevassed, but the calm beauty of its 

 upper portions is rendered doubly impressive by the 

 turbulence encountered midway. Into this region, 

 without expecting it, Hirst and myself entered one 

 Sunday in July, and explored it up to the riven and 



