JOURNEY TO BORGAFIORD. 213 
diagonal direction, keeping in a beaten track for 
some way, but at length directing our course, in 
the nearest line, for the highest summit. We 
were soon compelled to leave our horses; for, 
though the base of the hill had been firm rock, 
interspersed with a few patches of vegetation, we 
shortly came to a part from which, to the very 
peak, the wlple was altogether composed of small 
loose pieces, to the greatest degree barren and de¬ 
solate; except in those little spots in which the 
Trichosiomum had formed a bed, and retained a 
sufficiency of moisture to supply with nourish¬ 
ment a few miserable specimens of Salix herbacea 
or Silene acaulis. It is hardly possible for any 
person, unless from experience, to form an idea 
of the fatigue of climbing a mountain of this 
sort: wherever we placed our foot a vast num¬ 
ber of pieces of rock were immediately set in 
motion, and rolled for a considerable way down, 
and when the greater steepness of the ascent 
compelled us to make use of our hands in addi¬ 
tion to our feet, these latter were sure of being: 
annoyed by a torrent of the sharp and angular 
stones striking against them. At length, drenched 
with perspiration from the violence of the ex¬ 
ercise, we reached a ridge of the mountain, 
which led by a gradual ascent to the summit; 
great masses of snow lying every where scat¬ 
tered about its precipitous sides. No sooner had 
