i86o-6i ascent OF THE CIME DE JAZI 105 
higher as we ascended. A group of chamois was 
discerned by the guides, and seen by some of 
the party, but I had my green-glass goggles and 
had adjusted my veil, and would not disturb the 
essential arrangement against snow-blindness for 
the chance of detecting the little antelopes on a 
distant rock. Some of the party had white cloth 
masks, with holes for the green spectacles, for the 
nose and mouth, and presented most grotesque 
figures. We got to more frozen but finely 
granular snow on a steeper rise, sinking in it 
often knee-deep or more. I followed as closely 
ns I could the footsteps of the guide before me. 
‘ Every now and then was a halt, and we gazed 
Opon the wonderful and ever-varying environment ; 
new snow-capped mountains, with their dark 
rocky precipices, coming into view, but, as yet, 
not the summit we were bound for. We passed 
Some grand crevasses, the openings of yawning 
ohasms of more than 2,000 feet sheer ; we must 
Occasionally have traversed snow-bridges over 
Such. On one occasion my left leg sank suddenly 
Op to the hip, and as the guide lifted me out I felt 
Certain that the foot had no resting-place, but had 
projected into a subnival space. On surmounting 
the 
finse of the summit of the Cima, distant by a vast 
'^ract of the glacier, along which we went for a 
oi’le or so by a slight descent or undulating plain. 
length we reached the base of the consummate 
ascending part of our snowy route we saw the 
