verse that in which the fissures of the glacier were
hidden under the snow; and now at last we trod the eternal and spotless
shroud of the frozen desert. I breathed with difficulty, my weakness
increased, so that it was with no small pleasure I arrived at the
halting-place marked out by our foremost party. I threw myself,
exhausted, but enchanted, on the bed of snow which had been prepared for
me. Avalanches were frequent. Sometimes they rolled in immense blocks
with a sullen roar; sometimes whirlwinds of snow fell upon us like
showers of heavy hail. To our great alarm the mist rose on all sides so
that we often lost sight of those of our party who were acting as
pioneers. After leaving the plain of snow we ascended a steep and
difficult incline. The guides had hardly strength enough to clear a
path, so rude was the acclivity and so dense the snow.

"At length, about ten o'clock, we halted on a platform which stretched
to the base of the Moench, whose ridge or backbone rose before our eyes.
Here a small grotto had been excavated in the ice in which I was bidden
to rest myself, thoroughly well wrapped up. We were literally on the
brink of a complete collapse, respiration failed us, and for some
minutes I expectorated blood. However, I regretted neither my fatigues,
nor the resolution which had carried me to this point. All that I feared
was that I should not be able to go farther. The very air which I
endured so badly was an object of interest and study on account of its
extraordinary purity. One of the guides, having brought from the grotto
a few juniper branches, kindled a fire and melted some snow, which we
drank with eagerness. I then remarked that they had collected in a group
at some distance apart, and were conversing in a low tone and with
anxious faces. The Jungfrau had been indicated as the goal of our
enterprise, and their apprehensive glances were turned towards that
mountain, which rose on our left, shrouded in dense fogs. I felt a vague
fear that they wished to interpose some obstacle to the complete
realization of my projects; and, in fact, they soon came to tell me that
it would not be possible to climb the Jungfrau that day; that there was
still a long march to be made before we could reach its base, which, by
an optical illusion, seemed so near to us; and that from thence to the
summit would be at least another three hours' climb.

"It seemed scarcely practicable to pass the night on the snow at so
gre