DEPAETMBNT OF THE PYRENEES. 2£i5 



passage of this glacier, beyond whidh lies the Brfeche, is by fd,r the most 

 dangerous part of the undertaking. At the place where we encountered the 

 ice the breadth of the glacier may be about 400 yards, but throughbut, the 

 inclination of the smooth polished ice is such that a false step inight prove 

 fatal ; for beneath are grim precipices." 



Here our traveller had a fall, the effects of which might have been 

 serious. But, says he, " bracing my nerves, I resumed my slippery walk, 

 taking care to hold my guide's hand, and resting occasionally. During one 

 of these pauses a dull sound fell on my ear, and looking in the direction 

 from whence the noise proceeded, I saw a grand snow-fall streaming from 

 one of the ledges of the Marbor6. Down it plunged with increasing roar, 

 as the white mass loosened and gathered the snow in its course ; but, before 

 reaching the ledge below, a tourmente, or sudden gust of wind, caught the 

 snow-fall and sent the scattered fragments whirling high in the air. The 

 effect was extremely grand. This phenomenon is called in the Pyrenees 

 La Lid de vent, in contradistinction to La Lid de terre ; the snow in the first 

 instance being, as I have described, borne upwards, sometimes whelming 

 unfortunate mountaineers; while in the other case the snow descends, like 

 the Swiss avalanche, into the valleys. 



" At length I had the inexpressible satisfaction of achieving the passage 

 of this formidable glacier. The rest of the climb was comparatively easy, 

 though the steepness of the ascent, and the slippery nature of the footing, 

 were trying enough. But all sense of fatigue forsook me when the huge 

 portal — ^the tiny notch as seen from the valley near GrMre— yawned in all 

 its stem magnificence before me. The spectacle was a reward for all my 

 toil ; and I felt that I would have willingly endured even greater fatigue 

 to make acquaintance with such a scene as now met my astonished gaze. 



" Eager to attain the limit of my undertaking I hastened onwards, and 

 with beating heart soon stood within the jaws of the mighty portal, through 

 which roared the rushing wind. A step more and I was in Spain. Smooth 

 glaciers slope away on each side of the wall ; but opposite the Br&ohe, the 

 action of the sun and force of the wind, here rarely at rest, through the 

 great rock-rent, have tortured the ice and frozen snow into wierd forms, 

 leaving the rock entirely bare. 



" A wild world of barren mountains appears to the south ; these in*'the 

 foreground being covered with snow, the more distant looming hazily over 

 the plains of Aragon. With a powerful telescope, Saragosa, it is said, may 

 be seen if the atmosphere be clear ; but although my glass was good, and 

 the weather favourable, I could not discern it. 



" Towards France the scene is softer. Mountains are there too, sky- 

 piled; but also forests, the homes of wolves and bears, emerald vales, 

 silver streams, and gleaming lakes. But how hope to portray the mighty 

 phenomena of mountains and rooky pinnacles, — 



' Dark, heaving, boundless, endless, and sublime ; 

 The image of eternity, — the throne of the Invisible ! ' 



"The wall, however, here about 600 feet high and 800 feet thick, is the 

 great feature of the scene. Besides the Brfeche de Eoland, there is another 

 opening in the wall to the west, called the Fausse Br^che. The precipices 

 and glaciers between this and the Taillon, a lofty mountain which rises west 

 of the false Brfeohe, are very grand ; but the proportions of the gap are 

 much inferior to those of the grand Br^che. 



" The walls on either side of this Brfeche are rendered still more imposing 



