272 EXPEDITION TO THE TYROL. 



we got many a tumble ; but before sunrise, we had left 

 all vegetation far behind us again, and were far away 

 among the crags and snow. As we ascended, we saw a 

 valley on the left, filled with a dense mist, which, as soon 

 as the sun began to tinge the highest peaks, rose in 

 wreathing columns, and shut from our view every thing 

 in our immediate vicinity. This was advantageous ; for 

 although it prevented our seeing, it at the same time pre- 

 sented our being seen from the cliffs before we reached 

 our best ground. We advanced steadily, crossing vast 

 beds of snow, and occasionally the roots of a glacier, till 

 we arrived at a point, where Karl expected to fall in with 

 a chamois^ when we came to a halt, and, sheltered behind 

 a mass of rock, awaited the disappearance of the mist. 



At length, the sun smiled away the rising grey clouds, 

 as a great man would awe his enemies into submission by 

 his steady glance. We then saw that we were in a region 

 of snow-fields, filling up broad valleys lying shadowless 

 in the bright sunshine, ^Eere and there blue lines marked 

 the crevices in the ice, and dark ridges, standing sharply 

 up from the plain of snow, marked the course of buried 

 mountains. We were advancing along the base of the 

 lowest tier of cliffs, when Spiegle suddenly threw him- 

 self prostrate behind a stone, and, guessing the cause, 

 we followed his example. The Tyrolese appeared under 

 the influence of the keenest excitement. Following hia 



