Natural Glacier of the Rothorn . &93 
had until now arrested the curious. In fact, it required a consi- 
derable degree of courage to allow one’s-self to slip down this 
polished surface, even although the rock was distinctly visible 
which was to stop us, and the leap not very considerable. Be- 
yond it, the cavern turned to the right, and descending below 
its former level, presented only a frightful darkness to those 
whose eyes endeavoured to penetrate its depth. 
The officers, however, would not be stopped : we therefore, 
upon the faith of our guides, made the leap with the best grace 
we could, and descended from rock to rock, till we reached a 
flat part, covered with a layer of the purest ice, and hung on 
the right and left with large masses or stalagmites of congealed 
water, the surface of which appears to undergo a slight evapo- 
ration. We heard at regular intervals the noise of the drops of 
water falling from the roof into the little reservoirs they had 
hollowed for themselves in the ice below. 
This hall, vast and horrible, but magnificent, terminates the 
natural ice-house, much more remarkable for its grandeur as a 
cavern, than for the quantity of icejt contains. It required half 
an hour to reach the extremity of the cavern, because we were 
stopped at every step, either by the difficulty of the way, or the 
singularity of the spectacle ; but its real depth cannot be less 
than 10 minutes. Its general form is exactly that of a Z ; its 
dimensions are every where about 100 feet wide by 40 high, 
except at the external entrance, where it is not so high. The 
'slope from the entrance to the extremity is considerable ; but it 
is at the second elbow especially that it is steepest, and that 
the inclined plane of ice already mentioned is situate. 
In coming out of the profound darkness in which we had 
been plunged for an hour, we found some difficulty in being 
able to support the light of the sun ; but our eyes soon became 
accustomed to its brightness, and the landscape, which presented 
to us a smiling verdure, the limpid water of a beautiful lake and 
a serene sky, met at the horizon by the glittering summits of 
the Alps, seemed only the more enchanting. 
It is better to return by the same road, than to attempt to 
follow a sort of path in the face of the rock which is on the right 
in coming out of the cavern : it finishes very soon, and leaves 
you in the midst of rocks and forests, which it is impossible to 
