a strong emphasis on
the word. The very doubt implied in this expression was enough to decide
us; so we began the work. And work it was, too! The side was very steep,
the trees all leaned downwards, and we slipped at every step on the dry
leaves and grass. After making a short distance this way with the
greatest labor, we came to the track of an avalanche, which had swept
away the trees and earth. Here the rock had been worn rough by torrents,
but by using both hands and feet, we clomb directly up the side of the
mountain, sometimes dragging ourselves up by the branches of trees where
the rocks were smooth. After half an hour of such work we came above the
forests, on the bare side of the mountain. The summit was far above us
and so steep that our limbs involuntarily shrunk from the task of
climbing. The side ran up at an angle of nearly sixty degrees, and the
least slip threw us flat on our faces. We had to use both hand and foot,
and were obliged to rest every few minutes to recover breath.
Crimson-flowered moss and bright blue gentians covered the rocks, and I
filled my books with blossoms for friends at home.

Up and up, for what seemed an age, we clambered. So steep was it, that
the least rocky projection hid my friend from sight, as he was coming up
below me. I let stones roll sometimes, which went down, down, almost
like a cannonball, till I could see them no more. At length we reached
the region of dwarf pines, which was even more difficult to pass
through. Although the mountain was not so steep, this forest, centuries
old, reached no higher than our breasts, and the trees leaned downwards,
so that we were obliged to take hold of the tops of those above us, and
drag ourselves up through the others. Here and there lay large patches
of snow; we sat down in the glowing June sun, and bathed our hands and
faces in it. Finally the sky became bluer and broader, the clouds seemed
nearer, and a few more steps through the bushes brought us to the summit
of the mountain, on the edge of a precipice a thousand feet deep, whose
bottom stood in a vast field of snow!

We lay down on the heather, exhausted by five hours' incessant toil, and
drank in like a refreshing draught, the sublimity of the scene, The
green lakes of the Salzburg Alps lay far below us, and the whole
southern horizon was filled with the mighty range of the Styrian and
Noric Alps, their summits of never-melting snow mingling and blending
with the clouds. On