258 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 
vegetation, but almost every step to the end was now 
on rock or snow, and I walked on to the hospice near 
the summit in the midst of a snowstorm, one and a 
half hours; knowing it could seareely accumulate 
sufficiently to obstruct or obscure entirely the path 
until I could reach the place of shelter, I enjoyed it 
intensely, but had quite enough when, at one o’clock, I 
reached the hospice (twenty yailess: near the summit 
of the pass, surrounded with unmelted snow, more 
than 6,000 English feet above the sea. It is as com- 
fortable a place as can be expected in such a situation, 
now kept as a kind of inn during the summer, and in 
winter left in charge of a single servant, with a store 
of provisions to last him until spring. The winter 
before last it was crushed by an avalanche, but the 
man and his dog escaped, and reached Meyringen in 
safety. It is now repaired; the stone walls are ex- 
tremely thick, the roof protected against the winds, as 
is usual here, by laying huge stones upon it. Laid 
aside part of my wet elethins, and lay down before the 
fire to dry the remainder ; fell asleep; on waking had 
just begun to write, but when I had given the head- 
ing, in came three more travelers : two Germans, whom 
I had met before at Grindelwald, and a young Eng- 
lishman ; all thoroughly wet with the storm, which 
was now more violent. We all had to huddle about 
the fire, so there was an end of writing. 
Awoke Sunday morning and found myself in mid- 
winter; very cold, snowing hard, and the wind howl- 
ing frightfully around our humble but snug place of 
refuge. The other travelers determined to prosecute 
their journey, spite of the Sabbath or the storm, and 
to go by way of the glacier of the Rhone, the other 
side of the summit of the pass and about four miles 
