a wall before us to change our direction and instead of proceeding parallel to the to strike suddenly towards it � we had now a close view of some of the obstacles which bar the approach to the of on which we were about to enter seemed to me absolutely the only relief to the white snow and ice before us was an occasional rock thrusting its sharp point above their surface and too steep to permit the snow to lodge on it one of these rocks or rather a chain of them called the grand which we had destined for our resting place for ae was vm but above our heads at the of four or five miles the however still lo defy all attempts to approach it� the of uke the rest of the of the is an immense mass of ice filling a valley which stretches down the mountain side and is formed by the snow and ice which are constantly in the summer months sliding from above while the are thus constantly increasing on the surface die internal heat of the earth is slowly melting them below � hence when they are large there generally proceeds from under them a considerable stream such are the sources of the and of the their surface often that of a sea suddenly they are frequently of several in breadth and from to feet in depth the snow which falls on them to the depth of several feet every winter is softened by the sun s rays in summer and again at the return of cold weather but in a more solid state forms a successive every year this may be easily measured as each of them is distinctly separated from its neighbour by a dark line at the section made by those cracks which every in all directions these cracks or are occasioned by ae irregular sinking of part of the whose support below has been gradually melted away this effect takes place principally in summer with a noise that may be heard at the distance of several miles and with a shock that makes the neighbouring country tremble these rents are from a few to or even or feet in breadth and generally of immense depth probably extending to the bottom of the they offer the greatest danger and to the passenger they are often concealed by the snow which gives no indication on its surface of the want of and it often happens that the � � � � � � � � � � i i � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � m � � a � � � visit to the summit of ing all his caution suddenly sinks through this veil into the chasm beneath we remained a couple of hours at our resting place to take some refreshment and to regain strength for our next difficult task our feet seemed to linger and to leave with reluctance the last ground we were to touch until our return we however entered on the with confidence in the skill and prudence of our guides several of whom being hunters and accustomed to chase the over such were acquainted with all the precautions that it was necessary to take for our safety to avoid the danger of falling into the especially those washed by the snow we fastened ourselves three persons together at the distance of or feet apart by a cord round the body so that in case of one falling into one of these the other two could support urn each person was provided with a pole six feet long and pointed at the bottom with iron which we found to be a necessary article � where the were not more than two or three feet broad we over them with the assistance of our others we passed on natural bridges of snow that threatened to sink into the abyss and over others we made a bridge of the ladder which was extremely alight as otherwise it would have been impossible to carry it up the we had ascended without it� we could not have passed the over this slender support we crawled with caution over a chasm into which we could see to an immense depth but of which we could see no bottom we were sometimes forced to pass on a narrow ridge of treacherous ice not more than a foot in breadth with one of these terrific on either side the firm step with which we saw our guides pass these difficulties inspired us with confidence but i can not even now think of some of the situations we were placed in without a sentiment of dread and especially when in and in the silence of the night they present themselves to my vol i to the summit of imagination i involuntarily shrink with horror at the i and am astonished in what little sensation i felt at the moment we threw down into some of the narrow cracks pieces of ice and fragments of rock and heard for a considerable time the noise and more distant sound as they bounded from side to side in no instance could we perceive the stone strike the bottom but the sound instead of suddenly as would then have been the case grew fainter and fainter until it was too feeble to be heard what then must be the immense depth of these when in these silent regions the noise of a large stone striking the bottom b too distant to be heard at the the number of we met with which were broader than the length of our ladder and which of course we had no means of crossing rendered our we were often enabled 