on the summit;
left the horses, took off my coat, and went to the summit, seven
thousand feet (English feet) above the level of the _sea_, and about
five thousand above the valley we left in the morning. On one side,
our view comprised the Jungfrau, with all her glaciers; then the Dent
d'Argent, shining like truth; then the Little Giant (the Kleine
Eigher;) and the Great Giant (the Grosse Eigher,) and last, not least,
the Wetterhorn. The height of the Jungfrau is 13,000 feet above the
sea, 11,000 above the valley: she is the highest of this range. Heard
the avalanches falling every five minutes nearly. From whence we
stood, on the Wengen Alp, we had all these in view on one side; on the
other, the clouds rose from the opposite valley, curling up
perpendicular precipices like the foam of the ocean of hell, during a
spring tide--it was white and sulphury, and immeasurably deep in
appearance.[3] The side we ascended was, of course, not of so
precipitous a nature; but on arriving at the summit, we looked down
upon the other side upon a boiling sea of cloud, dashing against the
crags on which we stood (these crags on one side quite perpendicular.)
Staid a quarter of an hour--begun to descend--quite clear from cloud
on that side of the mountain. In passing the masses of snow, I made a
snowball and pelted Hobhouse with it.

[3] Ye _avalanches_, whom a breath draws down
In mountainous o'erwhelming, come and crush me!
_I hear ye momently above, beneath,
Crash with a frequent conflict_
* * * * *
The mists boil up around the glaciers; _clouds_
_Rise curling_ fast beneath me, white and sulphury,
_Like foam from the roused ocean of deep hell!_
MANFRED.

[4] O'er the savage sea,
The glassy ocean of the mountain ice
We skim its rugged breakers, which put on
The aspect of a tumbling _tempest's_ foam
_Frozen in a moment_.
MANFRED.

"Got down to our horses again; ate something; remounted; heard the
avalanches still: came to a morass; Hobhouse dismounted to get over
well; I tried to pass my horse over; the horse sunk up to the chin,
and of course he and I were in the mud together; bemired, but not
hurt; laughed, and rode on. Arrived at the Grindenwald; dined, mounted
again, and rode to the higher glacier--like