The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-01-29

/ Cautioned Us to lie on our hats and tie,
the bottoms of our pants closely over OH
I shoes.
! IL Was necessary for us TO breath,
much more rapidly, and we had to us,
much more cxertion in speaking, in orde
to make ourselves heard. One notice
the insnttciency of the mir when he la.
"scended 10000 feet, and some even a
lower attitudes
Here an1 there were to be seen tho re
mains of butterflies and insects which
had straycd from the genial valley below
-" fallen on the snow.
The last 500 feet of our route was
quite fa,iguing. As the mountain i. toe
steep tor one to go straight up we mus,
ascend in zig gag course. On this par,
ot the route also we passed over decr
flssurcs on bridges OF ice aud snow.
Sometime before we reached the sum
NIT, as we stopped tvrest a moment and
stuck our sticks in the snow, the hat Of
one OF our party was blown off, striking
his stick with such force ns 10 throw i,
out oi balance. Before he could sciZ. the
stick it was gliding point foremos, down
the mountain, and told us what would be
our fate if we all slipped here.
The wind blew strongly in our faces and
almost took our breath from us, but we
we're soon upon the summit.
Here | quote from Baedcker the
heights Of some of the highes, aud hest
known of the Alps to give the reader an
idea Of our altitude: Nj. Blame 1871
f., Monte Rosa 1927 f., Ma,,erhorp
HOO f., Wetterhorn II, lG5 it., Junglrau
1861 ft., Gross.Schrcckhorn 1896 f.,
Finstcraarhorn (the highest of the Bcr-
nese Alps l4,02G it., Grand Paradis
(Graian Alps 1910 hl
Baedeker, in his guide book, says of
the little village of Zermatt, from which
we had come, I'm no other locality is the
traveller 80 completely admitted into the
heart of the a pine world d-the very sane.
tnnry of the Spirit Of the Alps, ," and of
Corner Grat which we asccnded two davs
before, and which is just across the gla-
cier fiom the Brcitlorll, he says, "rhe
panorama from the Corner Grat. in par
ticnlar, though destitute Of the common
attributes of the picturesque, cannot fail
to impress the spectator with its unparul
lcled grandeur" But the view from
Corner Gra, is limited 10y the gian, peaks
which surround on every side. We were
now upon one Of the giants OF the Alps
and in the "heart" of this wonderful
region.
Wehad ascended from Zermatt, in little
more than six hours, 9.37O feet and stood
upon peak 1858 feet high. The day
was perfect. No clouds were to he seen
except few IN Italy. Nothing seemed
to obs,ruct our vision but its own limited
movers. Immediately near Us, toward
he West, the slender pyramid of the
Great Matterhorn pie,ced the blue dome
of the heavens and afforded spectacle,
which, in point of solitary grandeur, is
among the Alps About the
same distance toward the East rose Monte
Rosa in Italy. Even nearer To us were
the Little Mattcrhorn aud Castor and
Pollux. The Corner Grat, which two
days before seemed 10 us SO high, Law
over 1900 feet below us and looked quite
insignificant
To ,hc North we saw the great noun.
tains of lhe Bernrse Alps, will, their i'm.
men>s snow fields, and the deep cut val.
ley o.. the Rhone, whosc glacial waters
flow 20 the lake of Geneva. Looking
more toward the East we saw the snowy
chain of the Tyrolcsc Alps and tie
Eugadine. Southwark wc saw the Grand
Paradis, the pride of the Grainn Alps,
aud Westward we viewed the great Mt
Blanc, Of Savoy. Countless peaks rose
sublimely on every hand. y vast sea Of
ice and snow and glaciers greeted the
view. The deep ravines and gorges seemed
furrowed in their rocky beds.
The little villages and smiling valleys
were sheltered from view and the pictur.
esque had given place TO the awful and
the grand. Here it was more easy to
what Switzerland is. We
could see the great mountain walls of the
ancient Hel.etia, which had encouraged
n spirit of liberty among its people and
were barrier against foreign enemies.
We could better appreciate the exploits
of Pompey and Cesar among the Alpine
heights and we could see the great natur-
al boundary, which had kept people and
governments and languages separate.
Thus these barren heights reveal many a
page of history and many picture Of
subl,mity.
1t was, in word. view of Switzer.
land.
The guide said ne should stay but
few moments, and the cold wind admon.
ished us that we should descend.
The descent was quite rapid, but
little fatiguing. When we arrived at
the base of the little Matterhorn, we
found the German and his guide descend
ing. He had "seen enough" without
going to the summit. But he saw it too
late. The fact was he was getting nau.
seated. He had already come too high
and though his effort was to get dopn,
the effort of his Greakfast was exactly the
The two had disagreed" and
a failing out" was inevitable. lie had
given up all idea Of ascent, but his break