248 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 
perpendicular wall of rock, nearly 6,000 feet high, and 
a little cataract formed by the melting snow above 
falls from the top to the bottom. Soon I entered the 
little valley of Engelberg, the most beautiful and pic- 
turesque I have seen, probably the finest in Switzer- 
land; at least that of Meyringen and this of Grindel- 
wald, where I am now writing, are not to be compared 
with it. I only wonder it is so little known. I think 
it not improbable that I am the first American that 
has visited it. It is far out of the ordinary routes, 
and though easily accessible with chars from Stanz, 
yet the three passes that lead out of it are excessively 
difficult footpaths. It is a green, sunshiny valley, 
having perhaps eighty acres of plain, but very rich 
pastures rise up the mountain-sides to some distance ; 
it is entirely shut in by the high mountains that rise 
on every side; the Titlis rising abruptly on the south 
within a few yards of the village, and sending down 
its avalanches in the spring close to the houses. But 
the glaciers are so situated as to send their summer 
avalanches in the other direction, so that the hamlet 
is not in danger; the other mountains toward the 
south have the glaciers on their summits, but the 
peaks on the other sides present naked precipices. 
The Engelberg, from which the hamlet is named 
Congel seoghtain) is a lofty mountain shaped like a 
slender cone, with the apex cut off obliquely. It rises 
almost within the valley, and presents a very curious 
appearance. The large convent stands just between 
the base of this mountain and the Titlis. Attached 
to it is a very large and fine church for such an out- 
of-the-world place. I stopped at the simple auberge 
of the Engel (angel); mine host could only speak 
or understand German and Italian, so that our com- 
