Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-10-23

two miles in width and ten in length Encoun-
tering in its journey narrow passes where the
sides OF the ravine come more closely together,
and yet driven on by the irresistible weight be-
hind, and its own momentum, the ice becomes
rent and upheaved into a thousand fantastic
forms. Huge seams are opened through which
you look down hundreds of feet into its blue
depths, pinnacles are thrown up which the rain
and sun polish and sharpen, and torrents of
melting water dash headlong across, till they
plunge into an open crevasse Where the gla-
cler is still in an advancing condition, the ground
at its base, against which it presses, is heaved
up in huge rolls, and forests are slowly snapped
line by line like pipe-stems. As the enormous
mass grinds along, it reduces the hard rock of
the mountain side to fine powder. Two feet
per day is about the average advance of the
glaciers, and on either side are thrown up enor-
nous heaps, miles in length and often FIVE hun
dred feet in hight, of shattered stones, that have
fallen on it, or been torn off in its course.
SCALING A GLACIER
know nothing finer than following up vast
glacier to its source. Some of them, though
by no means all, are formed of the purest crys-
tai ice. You set out, having carefully prepared
you shoes with fresh sharp nails, and seen to it
that the iron spike of your Alpine staff is strong
and biting For a little while all you have to
do is to avoid tumble. But presently you are
face to face with an enormous creyce. Far
down beneath its opal depths YOU hear the roar
of the under-torrent, the unfaing spring of the
Rhonc or Rhine. 1t is thirty fec, wide, its sides
as slippery as glass, and for quarter of mile
you skirt the chasm till you fad place where
the edges come nrar enough to allow YOU to
leap across Sometimes it is necessary to cut
steps down the sides with hatchets and ascend
opposite by the same extemporary contrvance.
Meanwhile the heat of the sun has begun to
melt the surface. A hundred little rills are
trlckng past till they unite to form torrent,
and then plunge with Tremendous roar through
Il huge blue hole into the depth beneath. On
you 90, hour by hour, till at length YOU encoun-
ter a portion of the glacier, so utter a chaos, so
torn and split and uphcaved, that no power of
rope or ladder or hatchet will help YOU over
and you take, perforce to the huge masses of
shattered stones at the side and turn the mon
sters flank By this time you are ready for lun-
cheon, and oh. what table stands waiting to
be spread. No cabinet maker could contrive a
better. a huge Hat granite slab, that fell on
the glacier, nobody knows when, has protected
the surface beneath from the suns rays. All
around the ice has melted three or four feet in
depth, leaving the slab like a huge toad-s,ool
perched up on its frozen pedestal. You get on
top, display the tempting store, eat with a
mountain appetite, and between the bites enjoy
the magnificent scenery. You are now in the
heart of the Alps, shut in on every side with
snow-clad peaks, or steep, PERCEPTIONS precipi-
ces on which no snow can rest. No bit of
grassland, no stunted shrub no human habita-
ton is in sight Pure, undefled snow sharp.
Jagged peaks, bright blue sky over head an
occasional avalanche, a ceaseless roar of water
this is your companionship. Oh how YOU
nifty rho Ipulnl h.ncye rbp tb.,,l- I, L.,
Alps if they but ride up the Rhigi, or the. File
gern. on, q mule.
down hill-morally or physically-is easy. 1t
is getting up the mountain either of virtue or
ice that costs. This descent, however, is not
accompanied with twinges of conscience and
you tread freely. Before you are half wav
home the snow is crimson with the hues of eve
nlng, and the last hour you stumble over the
stones in the dark, by this time, fortunately, far
down beneath the glacier.
THE ROAD OVER SYMPTOM.
After satisfying myself with making the va
rious excursions round Chamonix, went on
through Martigny to Briegg and crossed the
Slmplon, descending on the Italian side on I.ago
Maggoire. The post road over Mt Simplon is
too well known to require minute description
on my part. And yet what marvel tits
one of those stupendous undertakings, which
ever impress the mind with fresh wonder. and
make he'breast swell with pride at the ingenu-
ity and daring of man. How easily and grace
fully it winds its way along. spanning torrents.
skirting dizzy precipices, threading cave-like
tunnels gliding past the base of glaciers and
avalanches, stretching on through the savage
wi!dness of the summit Of the pass,-evcry-
where broad, smooth. gradual, safe Its passage
inspires the senSment of exhilirating delight
a blending now of admiration of the grandeur
of the scenery, now of amazement at power of
man. AT one moment you stand entranced at
the rich combination of green pasture pictu-
rescue cottages, foaming cataract and snow-clad
mountain; at the next you dwell with astonish-
ment on the daring of blasting a roadway along
such frightful precipices, and conducting its
course through archcd galleries, on whose roofs
tremendous avalanches thunder, and over which
torrents plunge into chasms beneath. Then,
too, the gradual progress, through various sta
ges OF vegetation from the luXuriant fertility of
the lower valleys to the rugged, blasted desola-
tion of the summt-the change from the actual
heat of summer at seven o'clock to the enioy-
ment Of the winter pleasure of snow-balling at
one-surely if variety is the spice of life one
has it here. Still more striking, however, is
the contrast that accompanies the descent. By
two O'Clock you leave the hospce on the top
where the self-denying monks devote their lives
W tHt succoI Vi tiit WTttcHeu poor VINO traverse
the mountains, and of the snow-foundered and
bewildered mule-trains,- by seven you find
yourself stepped in the very atmosphere of Italy.
The soft, hazy air the rampant growth of vines,
the luxuriant chestnuts, the convent crowning
the hight, the picturesque, dirty towns, the null
tiplication of shrines and stations,-you feel the
old remembered spell once more upon you.
THE CONTRAST OF ITALY
After week or two spent among the more
rugged passes of the high Alps, the change of
scenery presented by the Italian lakes is certain
ly very charming. A sweet dreamy beauty en-
'irons them. Even the bold forms of the snow
clad mountains, that rise on their northern
shores, are softened into harmony by the trans
parent veil of luminous mist that fills the at
mosphere The beautiful villas that skirt the
coast are classic in their architecture, and the
statues and vases that adorn them are richly re-
heyed against the terraces of orange trees, mag
nolias and oleanders. Every little village has
its pretty tower, its numerous bells, its fancy
colored awnings, its line of graceful boats with
their yariegated curtains. The water is beauti-
fully clear, and blue as the sky that arches over
it. pleasant languor steals over the frame,
till it seems as though oneself, the mountains,
the motionless boats were all dreaming together,