CHAPTER VIII.

THE THIRD VISIT TO MONTE ROSA: THE GRIMSEL, AND ANOTHER ASCENT OF THE EGGISCH-HORN.

The Grimsel - Glacier marks - The Hospice The Table-d'hôte Storm on the Grimsel A goat's eccentricities Society at the Grimsel The Rhone Glacier Walk down the upper valley of

On the occasion of our third visit to Monte Rosa, in the autumn of 1858, I had the honour of having two members of the ALPINE CLUB for my companions; and as only one of them had previously travelled in my company, I was at first fearful lest my strength and courage should prove unequal to a journey with mountaineers belonging to so formidable a fraternity. However, thanks to their forbearance and patience, and to a few days' gradual training at Lauterbrunnen, I became at last so inured to the labours we had to encounter, that they never had to lose one day in waiting for me to rest; and though each day's journey in my company lasted more hours than it might have done without me, as those on foot can go faster than a mule's pace, they were always kind enough to say that

the additional delay afforded them ampler time to enjoy the beautiful scenery, and was no disadvantage. Thus they would not allow me to consider myself an incumbrance.

We had determined that the present excursion should be devoted to exploring the interesting district on the southern side of Monte Rosa. Grindelwald was our place of rendezvous, and we had, while staying there, a most interesting excursion across the lower glacier of Grindelwald to the Zäsenberg Châlet, at the foot of the Strahleck Pass. I had not courage to venture by the Strahleck Pass to the Grimsel, although our guide boasted of having taken a lady across it about twelve years ago. After having thoroughly enjoyed this excursion into the very heart of the glacier, where I gazed with wonder on the stupendous scenes of desolate magnificence which it displayed, I reconciled myself to the more prudent course of crossing the Grand Scheideck, and proceeding by that route to the Grimsel and the valley of the Rhone.

As it is not my intention to attempt any description of the Bernese Oberland, I will simply state that we arrived at the Grimsel on the afternoon of the 25th of August. Our intention was, after having paid another visit to our favourite Æggisch-horn, to cross by the Simplon Pass to Domo d'Ossola, and to commence our explorations in the beautiful Val Anzasca, which, on my former visit, had so much fascinated me. I had visited the Grimsel

before, but retained no pleasing recollections of it. However, on this occasion, the grim Grimsel appeared less grim than my former experience had led me to expect. I had then looked upon its rugged, bare rocks almost with aversion; but they were now invested with a new charm by the interest which they excited in our travelling companion Mr. L—, in consequence of the abundant traces which they exhibit of glacier action. Some of the indications are frequently to be seen indelibly marked on the rocks at the height of several hundred feet above the footpath. It was impossible to resist the contagion of his enthusiasm when we observed the scientific interest which he took in these vestiges of times gone by, and in the structure and character of the various rocks met with on our route. I became conscious for the first time that I had, on former journeys, lost an important source of delight by being very imperfectly acquainted with geology. During the whole of our present excursion we daily experienced additional pleasure in examining every new kind of rock which made its appearance, and in ascertaining its nature and The only practical inconvenience which this study occasioned us was that we found ourselves, in the course of our journey, gradually accumulating a collection of geological specimens, which added considerably to the weight of our baggage. Every traveller in the Alps who can combine the pursuit of science with the love of mountain-adventure will have ample opportunity

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of increasing his store of knowledge, whether his tastes are geological or botanical; and even a slight smattering of those subjects will be found to add considerably to the interest of an Alpine journey.

I remember perfectly that on visiting the Grimsel a few years previously, I never thought of troubling myself about glacier marks, which now give such great interest to its bare and desolate rocks. The celebrated Höllenplatte, which had then no rail to protect the traveller from slipping down the steep incline several hundred feet, impressed me with some degree of terror as I rode over it in a storm of rain; nor could I then admire the appearance of the rocky ravine which leads to the Hospice, and looks as if it were just riven asunder by some sudden convulsion of nature; so scanty is the vegetation which covers it. "This kind of scenery," said one of my companions, "is just suited to delight the heart of a stonemason." On the present occasion, however, these bare masses of granite rock were of the deepest interest; for all the way from Handeck to the Grimsel they exhibit unmistakeable traces of glacier action, and we were perpetually making discoveries that were new to us. The rocks here are of a character particularly favourable for these observations; for they appear to retain every glacier scratch; whilst in other valleys, where we were about equally certain that enormous glaciers had anciently existed, the rocks were of a kind which chip off in flakes on the surface, and this

sometimes effectually baffled and always impeded our investigations.

But, besides the interest occasioned by the traces of glacier action, the crystalline rocks of the Grimsel exhibit a profuse variety of mosses and lichens, which decorate and colour them. How true and beautiful is the following description of the Alpine mosses

"On the broken rocks of the foreground in the crystalline groups, the mosses seem to set themselves consentfully and deliberately to the task of producing the most exquisite harmonies of colour in their power. They will not conceal the form of the rock, but will gather over it in little brown bosses, like small cushions of velvet made of mixed threads of dark ruby silk and gold, rounded over more subdued films of white and grey, with light, crisp and curled edges, like hoar frost on fallen leaves, and minute clusters of upright orange stalks with pointed caps, and fibres of deep green, and gold, and faint purple passing into black, all woven together, and following with unimaginable fineness of gentle growth the undulations of the stone they cherish, until it is charged with colour so that it can receive no more; and instead of looking rugged, or cold, or stern, or anything that a rock is held to be at heart, it seems to be clothed with a soft, dark leopard-skin, embroidered with arabesque of purple and silver. But in the lower ranges this is not so. The mosses grow in more independent spots, not in such a clinging and tender way over the whole surface; the lichens are far poorer and fewer; and the colour of the stone itself is seen more frequently; altered, if at all, only into a little chillier grey than when it is freshly broken.” *

It was six P.M. when we reached the Hospice of the Grimsel. We had, for about an hour previously, observed that the clouds were gathering rather sus

* Ruskin's 'Modern Painters,' vol. iv. chap. 11.