ALPINE ROADS. 15 



and displaced, and so litde by little it increases on its 

 course until it is one vast niovinof sea of ice and snow, 

 sufficient to demolish anything that offers to obstruct 

 its progress, no matter what it be. Forests of trees 

 are uprooted and swept away like grass beneath a 

 scythe. Mountain huts are demolished, and even 

 entire villages have been known to fall a prey to the 

 relentless avalanche. It is to protect the great moun- 

 tain roads from this influx of ice and snow, and to 

 prevent the road being blocked, that galleries are 

 made. The avalanche in its descent then passes over 

 the gallery, whilst at the very same moment con- 

 veyances can pass through it in perfect safety. A 

 pistol-shot or the cracking of a whip is sufficient 

 in the still, rarefied atmosphere of the mountains 

 to occasion the fall of an avalanche. In fact, when the 

 mass of ice and snow, owing to the heat of the sun, is 

 already loosened from its bed, it does not require a 

 serious concussion to send it flying down towards the 

 valley. 



I have frequently watched avalanches fall in 

 various parts of Switzerland. At first a very slight 

 rumbling sound is heard, like distant thunder, which 

 increases in power as the avalance descends ; but I 

 have often seen them falling fast, one after the 

 other, and their course, after they have disappeared, 

 has been clearly marked out by the line of their 

 destructive passage. Grindelwald is one of the best 

 places I know to witness avalanches ; also the 

 Triimleten Valley which separates the Jungfrau 

 from the Wengern Alp. Even close to the Jungfrau 

 Hotel a view may be obtained of the descending 

 avalanche without incurring any risk. 



Thus the fall of avalanches alone provides the 



