430 The Hunting Grounds 



tended order, as, every few yards we went, huge frag- 

 ments came rolling down, which would have caused 

 severe injury had they struck any of us. After 

 several hours' severe toil we clambered a ridge of 

 broken rocks piled on each other in great confusion, 

 which up to this time had entirely hidden the higher 

 part of the mountain, and the overwhelming sublimity 

 of the scene, that then broke upon our view for the 

 first time, amply compensated for the fatigue we had 

 undergone. We had reached the edge of a huge 

 glacier, which, like a mighty river suddenly frozen, 

 appeared to flow down a gorge in the side of the 

 mountain, and extended for some miles both above 

 and below the ridge on which we were standing. 

 Dense foliage and huge masses of rock intervening, 

 had prevented our getting a glimpse of it before, not- 

 withstanding we had attained an altitude much above 

 the lower part, which seemed to have cleft its way far 

 into the heart of the forest. 



The panorama from this point was magnificent, for 

 at the end of the glacier which in some parts was 

 dazzling white, and in others of the colours of the 

 sapphire and the amethyst where it appeared to 

 blend with masses of eternal snow, rose the stu- 

 pendous summit of the " Father of Mountains," tower- 

 ing in silent majesty like a glittering mass of cold 

 alabaster. Seating ourselves on a smooth slab of rock, 

 we spent some time in gazing on the surpassingly- 



