Rocky Ford enterprise., 1909-07-09

closed again, the awful chasms. opened
and shut SO swiftly. throw the imagi-
nation into q state OF disorder that
adds enormously to the confusing gram
deur of the spectacle. Only few
days ago. while climbing across the
middle slopes OF the Blumlisalp, ! was
fortunate enough to see the pageant
in all its splendor. The hot spring sun
shine Joined forces with the snow
cooled air to produce q vast chaos OF
cloudland. Far below. the huge trough
Of the Oschinen See was filled with.
seething vapour. that -ose and fell rs
the winds directed 1t, allowing occa-
sional glimpses into the green siac-
Ter water through profound tunnels
OF mist, yet, as q whole. climbing grad.
ually upward to where we stood.
Overhead, the submits rose clear in
sky OF summer blue. with the single
exception OF the great Doldenhorn.
where an immense cloud. forever shift
ing. and shedding whole precipices on
its way, moved OF laborious1y till 1t
was caught by the air-draughts from
the eastern Thai. and myseriously
spirited out Of sight altogether.
But, meanwhile, the sea of vapour at
our feet had risen till It spread in a
single plain Of white that somehow
made one think Of Shelley's plat
forms Of the wind" become visible.
This sea was without break. Ap-
parently. too. It was motionless: yet.
on looking closer through feld-glasses.
It showed itself really alive with move
ment; the rising and falling Of waves.
riffs with fringed and jagged edges
shooting In all directions. though rev.
er high enough to destroy the gen.
eral effect Of calm surface. There
were swift draughts and whirlwinds
astir through the entire mass. 1t was
the glasses. Of course. that betrayed
the colossal scale Of the thing. Far
below us, from some steep slope hid
den beneath the sea of mist. there
rose a curious longdrawn round that
at first suggested nothing we could
rrecogniz. It was only few minutes
later when the thunder followed that
we realized an avalanche had plunged
into the gulf. First we heard the hiss
ing of the sheet of sliding snow-that
awful kissing that more than any
thing else strikes error to the heart
through the mist as he sound Of an
explosion might rise through the depths
of the sea- Then. as the mass fell
from ledge to ledge and finally dropped
over the last dizzy cliff into the Os-
chinen See. we heard the laundering
roar that echoed below. behind and
overhead. and later felt the Icy wind
that followed the displacement OF the
air. Yet no signs were otherwise WIS.,
ible. The surface of the mist-sea re-
manned untroubled. Nothing stirred:
only the mighty sounds and the mes
sage of the loosed wind. And, far over
head, the iron battlements of rock
stood serene and terrible. their foun-
dations rising out Of the vast platform
Of vapour that wrapped them about
like an ocean. their submits Of shin
ing Ice inhabited by the flames Of the
sunshine.
Yet. several hours later. when we
watched the same mountains from the
safety OF the comfortable Gemmi no.
tel and listened to the warnings OF
Herr Dettlebach. the proprietor. about
spring avalanches. 1t all seemed some
how unreal-the scenery all incredible
and phantasmal as with the coloring
Of a splendid dream. The clouds had
risen: like fragments of flying fire
they fioated far overhead now in the
sunset 1t becam. impossible to see
again that ocean OF mist. What we
had seen was no scenery of the known
world. 1t belonged. surely. to the
scenery Of such dreams as carry the
imagination into the beyond-into In
finite distances above the clouds.