90 An Excursion Inland. 



many places overhanging, we followed its direction 

 to the left, continuing the ascent, which had now 

 become rather laborious on account of the extreme 

 steepness and the depth of the snow. 



It was also necessary to use great caution, as we 

 would frequently emerge on the very brink of the 

 chasm, the snow being so dense as to render it im- 

 possible to see more than ten or twenty feet ahead. 

 Had we only enjoyed clear weather, the scenery 

 around us must indeed have been grand ; as it was, 

 the black and to us unfathomable yawning abyss, 

 on the edge of which we would often unconsciously 

 find ourselves, presented a sublime and terrible 

 grandeur, such as I have rarely witnessed. 



My companion, with more sense than myself, 

 pointed out the insane folly of advancing any fur- 

 ther, observing, and very rightly, that in such thick 

 weather there was no inducement to proceed, and 

 that in all probability we should be unable to find 

 our way back. I attempted to comfort him by 

 saying that I had brought my pocket compass with 

 me, and that we were therefore perfectly safe on 

 that score, withholding the fact that we had taken a 

 circuitous route, and that our compass bearings 

 were, therefore, of no avail. 



By half-past four, we felt from the force of the 

 wind, that we had reached the summit of a hill, 

 whose height we estimated, though of course very 

 roughly, at over two thousand feet. 



Deeming it imprudent, on account of the incle- 



