CHAP. X. ON THE SUMMIT OP ANTISANA. 195 



size, — some, as much as half a mile long, two hundred and fifty 

 feet deep, and sixty to eighty feet across. One of the larger ones 

 was crossed by a snow-bridge ; and, although tied widely apa,rt, 

 all of us were on the bridge at the same time. Above this the 

 slopes steepened, and ominous cracking sounds occurred. All 

 three exclaimed simultaneously, ''I fear an avalanche."^ But no 

 snow-slip happened, and presently the gradients lessened, ceased, 

 and the slopes fell away in front. '^ My cherished dream of a 

 boundless view over the Amazonian basin was annihilated in 

 that instant. Nothing could be seen through the mists that 

 encircled the mountain. The snow still rose on our left, and we 

 bent round to the north, and after a few hundred yards it fell 

 away on that side. Then we bore north-west, west, south-west, 

 south, south-east and round to north again, always keeping the 

 rising snow against the left shoulder. At last we could perceive 

 no tendency to rise or fall in any direction, and came upon a 

 nearly level plain of snow, lost in mist on all sides. This was 

 the summit. 



It was still early in the day, and we reposed upon the snow, 

 around the barometer, in air so calm that it could scarcely be 

 said to blow from any quarter. At 10.20 a.m. the barometer 



^ I overruled Jean-Antoine on this occasion. He wished to take the slope trans- 

 versely, and I insisted upon going straight up, holding the opinion that that course 

 was less likely to disturb the equilibrium of the slope than by making a groove 

 across it. 



These cracking sounds are produced by snow on the lower parts of slopes slipping 

 down and being divided from the snow above. Sometimes the fissures that are 

 caused are nearly invisible (scarcely the eighth of an inch across) or they may be 

 inches or feet wide. This depends upon the extent of the slip. If the snow above 

 has got good hold it may remain immovable, notwithstanding the division ; but, 

 more usually, through being deprived of support, some of it slips down against the 

 part which has already yielded, and the shock causes the face of the slope to peel off 

 in an avalanche. See the impressive narrative by Mr. P. C. Gosset in the Appendix 

 to Scrambles amongst tJie Alps. 



2 We struck the summit-ridge about half an inch to the right of the asterisk 

 on the engraving. 



