1860-61 VISIT TO SWITZERLAND 103 



In the following August Owen visited Switzer- 

 land, and he has left an account of his first visit 

 to a glacier and his first mountain climb in a letter 

 to his son, dated Riffelburg, August 24, i860: — 



' On Wednesday evening, August 22, the 

 party was made for the ascent of the Cime de Jazi, 

 a mountain of the Monte Rosa range, and the 

 next to it eastwards, the summit of which, 13,200 

 feet above sea, commands a view of the lakes,, hills,, 

 and plains of Italy, including Milan and part of 

 Tyrol — Mr. Hinchliff, secretary of the Alpine 

 Club ; Mr. Hardman, a stout friend of H.'s ; Mr. 

 Clerk, son of Sir George ; Mr. and Mrs. H, Cole, 2 

 myself, and a young German botanist. We had 

 five guides ; two were to leave us on gaining the 

 summit, and to go on to their native place in a 

 valley on the Italian side. Mr. Clerk had his own 

 guide, and our two were to return with us. 



• We were to start at daybreak, weather being 

 favourable. But at 4 a.m. appearances led the guides 

 to think that it would not do ; at 5 things looked 

 better, and we breakfasted all round, and were off 

 with due supplies, ropes, &c, by 6. 15. The mists 

 were rising from the valleys, and we were soon 

 in them, but the sun had risen too, and we were 

 often amused by the mist rainbows. Our main 

 route to the Gorner glacier was along a narrow 

 rough footpath along the steep sides and often 

 above precipices of the Gornergratz. Fortunately 



2 Sir Henry Cole. 



