The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-11
LIFE IN THE ALPS.
BY PROF. JOHN TYNDALL.

AO"'AhS AhS AduO HI culy dAu IO- turning in October, I spend three months of every year among the Swiss mountains, where now write.
 Various and striking are the aspects of nature witnessed during these long visits. Sunshine from unclouded skies, dense fog, mountain mist, furious rain and hail and snow so deep that, were not my wife and I such thorough children of the hills, and 80 well &C., quainted with their ways, we should sometimes fear imprisonment in our highland home.
 The region where we dwell was chosen by Mrs. Tyndall and myself on account of it's surpassing beauty and grandeur. I first made it's acquaint- ance twenty-nine years ago. The ancient name of the alp on which we have built our nest is Lusgen Alp, and this is the name that we have given to our cottage.
 have called it chalet, but it is by no means one of the picturesque wooden edifices to which this term is usually applied. It has to bear, at times, the pressure of mighty mass of snow. The walls are therefore built of stone and are very thick.
 l could give you many illustrations of the breakages produced by snow pressure, but one will suffice.
 Our kitchen chimney rises from the roof near the cave, and the pressure of the snow lying on the roof above it was once so great as to shear away the chimney and land it bodily upon the snowdrift underneath. When we ar- rive early, we usually find, here and there, heavy residues of snow. Once, indeed, to obtain entrance to our kitchen, we had to cut staircase of six steps in the drift at the back of the house.
 As l write, rush, followed by 8 heavy thud, outside informs me that mass of snow has shot from the southern slope of our roof down upon our terrace. This reminds me to tell you something about the avalanches which are such frequent destroyers of life in the Alps. Whole villages, inn prudently situated, are from time to time overwhelmed. We had an eye to this danger when we chose the ter race on which our cottage is built.
 Climbers and their guides are not unfrequently carried away by ava- lanches, and many brave man at the present moment lies undiscovered in their debris. Some years ago famous guide, and favorite companion of mine, was lost, through his allowing him. self to be persuaded to attempt mountain which he considered unsafe.
 On the slope of this mountain, with the summit fully in view, 8 report re- sembling pistol shot was heard by the party. It was the cracking of the snow. My friend observed the crack, and saw it widen. Tossing his arms in the air, he exclaimed: "We are all lostw
 The fatal rush followed in mo- ment, and my noble guide, with a Russian gentleman to whom he was roped, were dug, dead, out of the snow some days afterwards. The other mem- bers of the party escaped.
 1 will now describe to you an ad- venture of my own with one of these avalanches. Five of us, tied together by a rope, were descending a steep slope of ice, covered by a layer of snow, which is always a position of danger. Through inadvertence, the snow was detached, an avalanche was formed, and on it all five of us were carried down at furious pace. We were shot over crevasses and violently tossed about by the inequalities of the surface.
 The length of the slope down which we rushed in this fashion was about thousand feet. It was very grave accident, and within a hairs breadth of being very calamitous one. A small gold watch, which 1 then car ried, was jerked out of my pocket, and when we stopped I found fragment of the watch chain hanging around my neck.
 made an excursion into Italy, re-. turned after an absence of nearly three weeks, and, half jestingly, or- ganized party to go in search of the watch. The proverbial needle in bundle of straw seemed hardly more hopeless as an object of discovery; still, l thought it possible that the snow which covered the watch might, during my absence, have melted away, and the watch have been thereby brought to the surface.
 An ascent of some hours brought us to the scene of our impetuous glis- sade, and soon afterwards, to our sur prise and delight, the watch was found on the surface of the snow. It's case must have fitted water tight, for, on being wound up, it began to tick immediately. It is now in the posses sion of my godson.
 Falling stones constitute another serious and frequently fatal danger in tho A Inc Av1 hn~<, hc