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 ernpressement 
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 scramblinsf 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 
