Crossing One Of These Streams,
I Flushed A Solitary Woodcock, The Only Inhabitant Of The Wild,
And Shortly Afterwards, Our
Guide, an uncouth bundle of sheep-skins,
slipped over a frozen stone, and came down in the freezing water with
A splash, which, at that hour of the morning, made one shudder all
over involuntarily. The snow-shoes which F. and myself had donned,
alone saved us several times from a similar, uncomfortable fate. Our
path, properly speaking, should have led over the very centre of the
glacier; but, in consequence of the numerous crevasses and the early
appearance of the new snow, our guide steadily refused to take us
over the pass by that route. To have taken it without a guide would
have been simply impossible; so we diverged to one side, and, after a
sharp ascent of two hours over the snow, reached a sort of upper basin
among the very mountain-tops. Here the scene which opened on us was
wild beyond description. We were now about 18,000 feet above the sea,
and in every direction around us snow hemmed in our view. Under our
feet was a plain of pure white snow; the mountain-tops were snowy
HILLOCKS, standing white against the leaden sky; and from above the
fleecy snow-flakes fell around us thickly as we trudged along. The
ground was most treacherous, and required great care m traversing, and
in one place, being ahead of the guide, the snow and ice suddenly gave
way beneath me, and with a most unpleasant sensation of uncertainty
as to where I might be going, I found myself standing up to my waist
in snow and to my knees in freezing water.
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