iy 
passed over these lofty mountains in good weather—the 
sun was shining, and the snows that had lately covered 
the gulches had disappeared. In had weather, in mist 
and rain, it is a dangerous pass. We have heard from 
many of the perils of the ascent. The sleet and hail 
sometimes blind the traveller, and he is lost if he fail to keep 
the narrow track. In winter, when snow falls, the drifts 
extend across the track—not parallel to it—and without 
care the traveller would touch a sideling and roll into a 
deep gorge. 
The atmospheric effects during fog are, as described 
to us, altogether different from those observed in the 
Hartz Mountains, but as weird and eldrich. A man 
at a little distance is magnified, and he walks a giant. 
Ilis horse is no longer a horse, hut a huge creature of 
pre-adamite times. The shrubs are distorted and appear 
“ As strange phantoms rising as the mists arise.” 
The peaks seem to shift their places, the path itself is 
apparently possessed of motion, and without an expe¬ 
rienced guide and a fair share of courage the stranger 
might wander here helplessly until; lost in the intricacy 
of the ranges. 
On one of the slopes as we passed we found the skeletons 
of horses that had perished in the snows. 
Not only in winter, hut in all seasons of the year, these 
lofty heights are liable to he enveloped in mist, to he 
drenched with rains, or covered with a fair mantle of 
white snow. 
We were fortunate in making the ascent when the 
weather was charming. The icy air that cooled our 
cheeks was delightful. We remembered, however, that 
B 2 
