104 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv. 



for my head, the mists surrounded everything, 

 save a few yards of the path before us, and I was 

 surprised and rather bored by the empressement 

 with which the guides helped me over several 

 parts which offered no particular difficulty. I 

 knew the reason better when we returned ! 



'At 8 a.m. we passed up the glacier, the first I 

 had stepped on. The ice rose with a bold convexity, 

 was rough, and my nailed shoes clung pretty 

 well to it. With the alpenstock, soon got to the 

 level, much crevassed ; but most of them we could 

 step or easily jump across : the blue shining 

 sides of their ice-walls extending down to depths 

 indicated by the rushing of the hidden river. 

 The surface of the glacier ice was like sugar candy 

 in masses, sparkling in the sun, and crunching 

 under our feet. After an hour's scrambling walk, 

 leaping the awful fissures, crossing them by ice- 

 bridges, and dodging round the treacherous 

 snow-bridges, we left the glacier for some rocks, 

 which we gained at 9 a.m. Here we rested and 

 took some refreshment, preparatory to the main 

 part of the ascent. This was over snow-covered 

 ice, of mostly a gentle rise, and the snow at this 

 hour still hard enough to yield, but only foot- or 

 ankle-deep, guides carefully probing suspicious 

 parts as we advanced. The mists were dispersed, 

 the bright and hot sun lit up the enormous plain 

 of dazzling snow and the grand mountains bounding 

 it — Monte Rosa, M. Cervin, &c. — which towered 



