HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 
76 
being the conservative body, and the Protestants going in for 
radical measures. The President over all, is elected every 
four years, and may remain in office indefinitely. It occurs 
to me that it would be a very interesting study to collect the 
systems of governments and parties, and methods of election 
of all countries, and publish in a summarized form. Such 
information is probably scattered in geographies and other 
books; but in lieu of any such publication, I believe it would 
be of general interest.” 
She gives an interesting account of a Russian countess who 
had been spending the season at Grindelwald, making all 
the excursions of the neighborhood: “She ascended the 
Wetterhorn, and was obliged to stay two days upon the moun¬ 
tain, for a severe snowstorm came up. The proprietor said 
to look at her when she was dressed for the evening, one would 
say she could not walk a mile — ‘ not even to the glacier.’ 
“The day was so clear that I concluded to visit the upper 
glacier, and at once engaged a guide. The horse had to be 
caught and saddled. He was pretty lively after his week’s 
rest since the last tourists had been up the valley. The shadow 
side of the valley was covered with a deep snow in contrast 
with the green hills where the sun shone. As we approached 
the glacier, the snow deepened. I had to leave the horse, and, 
the guide leading, I waded through snow to my knees; each 
step the guide tested before I advanced. I had one fall, as 
the ice under the softly fallen snow made the walking very 
unsafe. 
“At the glacier, the snow concealed many crevasses, and it 
was with great difficulty that the entrance to the grotto was 
found. At last I entered and walked for some distance along 
the delicately blue tunnel. The imprisoned air-bubbles as¬ 
sumed the most fantastic shapes, and several curious features 
in the ice-formations indicated that glaciers would offer a 
fruitful subject for study. I believe that very much is yet to 
be done to explain the attendant phenomena. 
“The proprietor said that twenty-seven deaths had occurred 
this year from mountain accidents. The most distressing 
was the Jungfrau accident, when six gentlemen fell 8,000 feet 
