Crag, Glacier and Avalanche. Narratives of daring and disaster ... With 13 illustrations

Front matter

THE MATTERHORN. Page it. CRAG, GLACIER, AND AVALANCHE. CLIMBING A GLACIER. Page 206, Œbomas nelson anO Sons, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND N E IV YORK. CRAG, GLACIER, AND AVALANCHE. Narratives of Daring and Disaster. BV jpEclullcs AUTHOR OF " WITH PACK AND RIFLE IN THE FAR SOUTH-WEST," " IN THE LAND OF THE MOOSE, THE BEAR, AND THE HEAVER," " FRANK REDCLIFFE," ETC. With 13 Jllustrations. Jt 0 n i 0 11 : T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW. EDINBURGH ; AND NEW YORK. 18S9. CSTon tents. I. THE ALPS : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS, 9 II. CHAMOIS-HUNTING AND ITS PERILS, ... ... ... 45 III. PERSONAL APPEARANCE OP A CHAMOIS - HUNTER — MORE CHAMOIS-HUNTING, ... ... ... ... ... 57 IV. TWO DARING ESCALADES, ... ... ... ... 84 V. NARROW ESCAPE IN A CREVASSE, ... ... ... 101 VT. DREADFUL DISASTER ON THE MATTERHORN, ... ...

Ill VII. INUNDATION OF THE VAL DE BAGNES, ... ... ... 133 VHI. THE FALL OF THE ROSSBERG, ... ... ... ... 144 IX. DARING CAPTURE OF TWO EAGLETS, ... ... ... 156 X. POACHING IN THE ALPS, ... ... ... ... 172 XI. ASCENT OF THE GROSS GLOCKNER IN WINTER, ... ... 18S JMiisi of illustrations. THE MATTERHORN, Frontispiece CLIMBING A GLACIER, ... ... ... ... ... Vignette "LEADING THEIR CATTLE FROM PASTURE TO PASTURE,"... ... 17 MONT BLANC — SEEN FROM THE JURA, ... ... ... ... 19 THE JUNGFRAU FKOM INTERLACHEN, ... ... ... ... 39 CHAMOIS-HUNTING, ... ... ... ... ... ... 77 "WITH WINGS OUTSTRETCHED AND MOTIONLESS," ... ... 85 PERILS OF MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING, ... ... ... 109 THE MATTERHORN AND VILLAGE OF ZERMATT, ... ... ... 121 THE RHONE GLACIER, ... ... ... ... ... ... 137 VILLAGE OF GOLDAU BEFORE AND AFTER THE CATASTROPHE, ... 149 A SCENE IN THE HIGHER ALPS, ... ... ... ... 157 AN ICE-AVALANCHE, ... ... ... ... ... ... CRAG, GLACIER, AND AVALANCHE.

Chapter I. The Alps

: THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. Who is there that has not felt the sublime charm which pervades the mountains ? The other great features of the Earth — the ocean, the forest, and the plain — excite feelings of wonder, awe, and admiration ; but there is a peculiar fascination in mountain scenery which raises emotions similar indeed to, but of a deeper nature than, any of these. The mind becomes elevated by the glorious prospect of snow-clad peaks, silent, yet eloquent ; unchangeable, yet varying in shade from hour to hour — now grim and stern, again suffused in roseate hues, or scattering the driving cloud -wrack whirled against them by the tempest. To live among the hills, to scale their heights, to brave the crevasse, the avalanche, or walk with cautious step by the dizzy verge of the profound abyss ; to watch the tempest gathering among the peaks ; to listen with : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. awe to the thunder reverberating among crags and gorges, and hear the crackle of the lightning ; to note the blush of dawn stealing downward over snow-slopes, or the painting of the after-glow when the sun has set; in short, to make the Alps a home until their mysteries are explored and their pleasures enjoyed to satiety, is to be taken behind the scenes by Nature herself and made acquainted by the great instructress with all her allurements.

And so great are these, that to the true votary they never stale. Year after year the same scenes are revisited, the same or greater perils to life and limb incurred, and still the craving to be with Nature, to see her in all her moods and under all her forms, remains unappeased. It is an inexplicable attachment ; but it is deep rooted in the soul, and few attachments are productive of more true enjoyment. Those glorious mountains of which we speak more particularly, the Alps in the generic sense, have an individuality possessed by few, if any, mountain ranges elsewhere. There, everything is peculiar to them. The eye of the visitor is at once arrested by the cottages of the peasantry. In many districts these are constructed of rude masonry, often unplastered either within or without ; the hearth frequently destitute of a grate, and now and then even unprovided with a chimney.

This latter peculiarity is most frequently ob served in the Italian Tyrol, notably in the Val Auronzo, where even the better-class cottages are unfurnished with this apparently needful adjunct to a kitchen. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIll DANGERS. 11 On entering we perceive that the furniture is scant and rude : a few common tables and chairs, or mayhap a mere bench or two ; a shelf tacked here and there to the walls holding a few necessary articles of crockery ; and over the fire a crochet fixed in the wall serves the purposes of the " crane " so common in an Irish cabin — namely, to support the pot in which the food of the family is cooked. These are the salient features of the ruder class Swiss interior. Picturesque as are the inhabitants, it cannot be alleged that they are as much addicted to the use of soap and water as would be desirable to sensitive olfactory nerves.

This indifference to personal cleanliness per haps springs from the same feeling which on the north of the Tweed gave rise to the proverb of " the clartier* the cosier;" and as the Swiss peasant perambulates his native mountains he is shielded from the penetrat ing blasts by an armour-plating of dirt. This is in great measure occasioned by the objectionable habit they have of sleeping in their clothes, which are rarely if ever changed until they gradually fall to pieces. " Dirt and discomfort " would be a phrase unintelligible to the natives of certain districts in the Alps. Fortunately, however, for the traveller these personal and architectural characteristics are not universal. In the Bernese Oberland, love of the picturesque influences the inhabitants to a greater degree than perhaps any where else.

Here are to be seen the best samples of * Dirtier. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. cottage architecture, from which are copied those orna mental toys and models so familiar to every one. In this district the house of a well-to-do farmer is quite a gem in its way. On the ground floor the walls are plastered, and lime has been applied with such a lavish hand that they rival in whiteness the snows on the upper peaks. In this part of the house are placed the offices and kitchens. The upper stories are all of wood, with the exception of the chimneys. The parlours and the chief bedrooms are on the first floor; and at the back of the building, on the same level, are often situated storerooms for grain, wool, or other farm produce. There are usually two staircases leading to the upper floor, one within and the other outside, communicating with the gallery from which a door leads to the interior of the house.

Frequently there is a gallery on both sides of the house ; and when this is the case, access to the storerooms is usually gained from that at the rear. In the houses of the less well-to-do peasants, the stalls and other similar offices are, as a rule, placed under this gallery, and form, in fact, an integral part of the family residence. Tlie windows are formed of small panes in wooden casements, provided with green-painted jalousies, and are arranged close together along the front of the house. The low-pitched roof falls nearly to the level of the second floor, and is covered with wooden shingles, the huge eaves projecting for at least four feet all round ; and beneath the shelter thus afforded another railed : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. gallery runs along the sides and front of the house.

The windows of this floor are as far as practicable also made to look to the front. Higher still, there are attics or garrets which reach to the apex of the roof. These are commonly utilized as bedrooms or for storage. In the houses of the wealthy proprietors, the beams and other wood - work are richly carved, the walls are panelled and are embellished with painted or sculptured devices. The railings which guard the galleries are similarly ornamented, and even the ends of the shingles which form the roof are cut so as to resemble shields. On the roof are placed heavy stones or logs to pro tect the shingles from being torn from their places by the terrific blasts of winter. The names of the builders are very commonly carved on the panels and on the beams, often accompanied with appropriate Scripture texts, such as, " Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it," or couplets like the following : — " In Gottes Hand stehet dieses Haus ; Gliick komme herein und Ungliick herans." [" This house in God's hand standeth stout ; Bide weal within and woe without."]* The posts at the angles of the house, as well as the brackets which sustain the roof, are generally very richly carved, and this is most frequently the case in the Val Ormonds.

In the case of the poorer families, the various offices, as well as the dwelling-house itself, * "Alpine Regions of Switzerland." : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. are all under one roof; but the wealthier proprietors ordinarily have these in detached buildings of a plainer description than the house, but with a strong family resemblance to it. In the Italian Tyrol the rooms on each floor are made to communicate with a spacious gallery which runs from back to front of the house At one extremity of this is a staircase, and at the other is a glass door leading into a little balcony. In this gallery the meals are often served. In the Oberland the smaller houses are mostly constructed of wood, and have stone chimneys. In general they are a great im provement upon the cottages of the French and Pied montese Alps, which, as has elsewhere been noticed, are built of rough stones rudely put together, often without. the aid of mortar, and as rough interiorly as they are without.

In the Southern Tyrol wood is much used in the construction of the chalets. The gables of the larger dwellings are of this material, as are also the barns and other out-buildings. The insides of the walls are not unfrequently faced with planks instead of being plas tered ; and if they be kept clean, this mode of finishing imparts a sufficiently comfortable appearance to the rooms. The character of the architecture in the various dis tricts is decided by local taste and peculiarities ; but in general the various styles may be thus summed up : — In the French and Vaudois Alps, stone is much more frequently used than wood, and the houses are badly "LEADING THEIR CATTLE FROM PASTURE TO PASTURE.'' Page 17. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. over with these picturesque habitations, sometimes singly, sometimes several together, the number being usually determined by the size of the adjacent pastur ages.

And a pleasant thing it is for the tired and hungry chamois-hunter or traveller to find himself at the hospitable door of one of these huts ; for within he knows he will get bed and board, cheese, perhaps even the luxury of white bread, and plenty of milk, or a dish of schmarren will be set before him. The family may be at work in the neighbouring fields, but some one will be within, so that the traveller may boldly enter. At evening time a bell suspended above the roof sounds the return to supper, and a kindly welcome to the board will make him feel quite at ease. Outside, upon the sunlit slopes, the kine repose them selves, and to a poetic fancy appear to watch the up ward stealing of the golden glow along mountain ridge and snow-field. Peak after peak catches the roseate tint, until, bathed in the tender hues, their beauty be comes almost unreal.

Far beyond the highest summits clouds tinged with purple and edged with burnished gold float in an amber sky, against which all around is silhouetted each lofty ridge and peak. The inhabitants of these hills are in their own way almost as picturesque as the scenery. In certain districts both sexes wear a green pointed hat, ornamented with a golden tassel, and further em bellished in spring and summer with gay flowers on the brim. "LEADING THEIR CATTLE FROM PASTURE TO PASTUR E." Page 17. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. 17 In the mountains of Bavaria and of the Tyrol, the gray joppe, or loose short coat, is worn by the men ; and the mountain maids set off their trim forms in gold-embroidered boddice and striped petticoat. And grateful, too, is it to hear the kindly " Griiss di Gott," or " God greet you," of each wayfarer as he passes, showing that in these mountain solitudes a pleasing simplicity of heart still survives notwithstanding the unspiritualizing tendencies of the age.

The villagers among these hills lead a pleasant life. They look healthy and well fed. In the summer they pass the time on the verdant mountain slopes, leading their cattle from pasture to pasture , and when the chill nights of autumn announce the approach of winter they return to their snug village homes, where they live comfortably on the proceeds of their cheese, milk, and butter. Before introducing the reader to scenes of daring and peril, we will give a brief glance at this gigantic sea of mountains which rise peak behind peak and ridge on ridge, "heaven kissing," Nature's laboratory of snow and ice and tempest ; the home of the chamois and the lammergeier, and the playground of the hardy and strong of nerve of all nations. Among the mountain systems of Europe that of the Alps holds the first place.

It contains the loftiest peaks and the most extensive glaciers. It reaches from the confines of Hungary to the waves of the Mediterranean, bounding Italy on the north. This vast range is divided : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. into several well-defined groups, each with its distinctive appellation. Thus for a distance of nearly one hundred miles, from the shores of the Gulf of Genoa to Monte Viso, lie extended the Maritime Alps ; thence for some sixty miles to Mont Cenis stretch the Cottian Alps ; beyond again, and reaching the Col de Bonhomme, a distance of fifty miles, are the Graian Alps. Beyond these again, to Monte Rosa, sixty miles, to Mont Bernardin, lie the Helvetian Alps; thence to the Drey-Herren-Spitz, or Three-Lords-Peak, in the Tyrol, one hundred and forty miles, they are known as the Rhætian Alps ; and on ward to Vienna, two hundred miles further, lie the Noric Alps.

In the Austrian provinces of Carinthia, Carniola, and Dalmatia, which embrace those lower ranges connecting the Alpine system with the Balkan chain, are the Carnic, Julian, and Dinaric Alps. In the Pennine group are found the highest peaks and largest glaciers : in this division lie Mont Blanc, 15,750 feet; Monte Rosa, 15,152 feet; and, most inac cessible of all, the Matterhorn, 14,837 feet. The Helvetian stand next in importance. These are the Swiss Alps, and their loftiest summits include the Grabenhorn, 15,440 feet; the Finsteraarhorn, 14,111 feet; and the huge but narrow-topped Jungfrau, 13,718 feet. Among the Pennine Alps, the highest practicable passes for pedestrians are the Col de Ge'ant, 11,172 feet, and the Mont Cervin, 11,096 feet. Over the Hel vetian four carriage roads have been constructed, and MONT BLANC-SEEN FROM THE JURA.

Page IQ. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. two cross the Rhætian chain. That through the Stelvio Pass, at an elevation of 9,174 feet, is the highest car riage road in Europe. The Mont Cenis Tunnel (so named) now renders a journey through the formidable barrier of the Graian chain a bagatelle indeed. The loftiest point in Europe is, of course, the summit of Mont Blanc, which further possesses the peculiarity of being all but equidistant from the pole and the equator. In shape Mont Blanc presents the appearance of a huge pyramidal mass, lying north and south, sur rounded by stupendous pinnacles, or aiguilles, chan nelled by vast glaciers, and shrouded in eternal snow and ice. It is a majestic mountain, and seems to pos sess its full share of all those awful qualities with which other lesser giants are but partially endowed.

The feelings it excites are wonder and awe. It domi nates Europe. On it, one is above everything. Man and his petty cares and ambitions are dwarfed into utter insignificance when viewed from such a stand point against a background so illimitable. From this one seems to behold all the peaks of Switzerland, of the Tyrol, even of France and Italy. Before, behind, on all sides, the eye ranges over a space so vast, so infinite, that half Europe seems unfolded to furnish this the grandest panorama of the Continent. Peak on peak in serried array, clad in glittering mantles of snow, pierce the enormous field of vision : here a flash of brilliant light as the sunbeams are reflected from wind-swept (121) : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. 20 ice ; there, tender shades born of glacier and snow -field, nestling in schrund or behind ridge from the ardent glances of the sun.

Shades adorn these glorious hills that can scarcely be defined: some seem velvety in their softness ; others are composed of violet, of in digo, and various depths of purple ; while some resem ble emerald faintly veiled by snow. Far on the verge of the great prospect the eye fancies it detects a dim blue streak, which the guides assert to be the Mediter ranean ; Tyrol uplifts its jagged crest almost to a level; France spreads her mountains and her plains in limit less perspective; and far away to the north fancy seems to say, " That must be Germany." With what rapture does not the soul thrill at such a prospect as this ! In the foreground there is a gleam of lakes ; soft shades, as it were, floating on the landscape, denote wood and forest ; tiny indications of mankind appear in micro cosmic towns and villages.

We can express our rapture merely in ejaculations, so full are heart and mind with awe and reverence for the wonderful works of God. The summit of Mont Blanc was first attained, at least so far as we know, by Paccard and Jacques Bal mat in the month of August 1785. Shortly afterwards, in the following year, De Saussure, led by the hope of enriching science by new discoveries, successfully made the ascent. Soon to scale Mont Blanc became an object of ambition to travellers, and now-a-days its ascent enters into almost every holiday programme of such pleasure-seekers as wend their way to the Alps. Even : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. 21 ladies, ever faithful imitators or rivals of the stronger sex, have placed this mountain monarch literally at their feet. Among them may be mentioned the follow ing :— Mademoiselles Paradis, 1809, DAngeville, 1838; Mrs. Hamilton, 1854 ; Mademoiselle Formaren, 185G ; Miss Walker, 1862 ; and since then many other adven turous ladies have overcome the difficulties and dangers of the ascent, several being Americans.

Among the most distinguished climbers of Mont Blanc were De Saussure, Professors Tyndall, Forbes, and Agassiz, and Charles Martins. To the scientific observations of these eminent men is due much that is known regarding glaciers and the other phenomena of nature in these inhospitable heights. The fascination we have alluded to which enthrals those — and they are many — who take to mountain climbing, seems to increase the more the pursuit is indulged. It is hard to say in what this pleasure con sists, whether in the satisfaction of overcoming the barriers opposed by Nature herself, or pride in that endurance and strength of nerve which scales the precipice, or passes undismayed, by fragile snow-bridge, across yawning crevasse or bergschrund ; or whether it arises from the glories of the prospect unfolded to the enraptured gaze when at length the summit has been won ; or from the intimate communion with Nature in these desert solitudes.

Perhaps it partakes of all these sources of pleasure. One* who spent many delightful * Charles Boner. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. days among mountain peaks in pursuit of the chamois, and who has fortunately a gifted pen to convey his own feelings warm from his heart to that of his reader, o thus writes : — " I now looked around me. The scene was magnificent. The spot on which I stood was near six thousand feet high;* and to the south the view was bounded by ranges of mountains covered with snow, whose peaks rose up one behind the other in every variety of abruptness. Over the vast fields of snow fell here and there a broad shadow, and the brilliant whiteness of the peaks facing us formed a strong con trast with the darker sides that looked towards the east. With my glass every snow-drift was distinctly visible, and terrific places amongst those awful solitudes where no living creature had ever moved.

"Stretch ing far out to our left, they formed an amphitheatre before us ; and behind, all distant view being shut out by the Miesing, was the valley between the mountains where, just visible among the rocks, the deep blue of the Soen Lake showed how clear the air was and how bright the sky. " Opposite this lake, the sides of the Miesing were covered with the dark green of the latschen ; but nearer to where we stood all was desolation, — against the sky, the barren and blasted rock, and thence to its foot a bed of loose, rolling stones, cold and monotonous in hue. But it was towards the distant mountains that I * It was on the Miesing. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. 23 turned and gazed, and yet never could see enough. And then again I looked at them through my glass, and peered into their dark places, and at their bold projections, and at their very highest pinnacles, as though I might at last be enabled to unravel the mys tery, to discover something that might clear the doubts and so remove the strange awe that hung over and around them.

And still I looked and watched and pondered, and the spell that bound my gaze grew stronger, and I could not turn away. For me moun tains have a fascination ; and in their presence I sit down and with fixed look scan their unexplored sum mits, not in wonder, but with an overwhelming sense of awe at the frozen stillness of their deserts, so far beyond the sphere of all human sympathy — where all life has ceased, and where nothingever moves save the storm and the avalanche. It is not a region of death, for death speaks to us of change ; but it is one of numbness and rigidity — of life that, once warm, has become still and stark. It produces an effect as different from ordinary death as the sight of the motionless soldier on the plains of Russia — still standing up right, and looking as though still alive — differs from that feeling awakened by death in any other form.

He with the scythe and the hour-glass kills — he de stroys life, and turns it into death ; but that power which sits on the frozen mountain-tops seizes on warm life and enlocks it in a glaze which chills vitality, while the semblance of life remains. It is not of : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. death these icy solitudes remind you, but of benumbed life." Perhaps the most remarkable, and to the Alpine tourist the most formidable peak, is the famous Matter horn. Long-continued failure to scale its icy crest had produced the conviction, shared by guides experienced in climbing and familiar with every phase of mountain peril, that its ascent was altogether impossible. Many attempts to reach its summit had been made by men who had made a special pursuit of Alpine exploration, but not one had succeeded.

It therefore continued to rear its virgin peak to heaven, and seemed to defy the prying curiosity of the pigmies who assailed it. This gigantic pyramid springs to a height of nearly 15,000 feet above sea-level, 5,000 of this rising per pendicularly into a peak, of which the glaciers below appear to form the foundations. It belongs to the Pennine range, and is situated near Monte Rosa, south west of Zermatt, and at no great distance from the redoubtable peaks of the Mischabelhbrner and the Weiss horn. " All the way along its flank," says Mr. Ruskin, " for half a day's journey on the Zmutt Glacier, the grim black terraces of its foundations range almost without a break ; and the clouds, when their day's work is done, and they are weary, lay themselves down on these foundation steps and rest till dawn, each with his leagues of gray mantle stretched across the grisly ledge, and the cornice of the mighty wall gleaming in the : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. 25 moonlight three thousand feet above."

This cornice projects one hundred and fifty feet beyond the face of the dizzy wall supporting it, at a height of 14,000 feet above the sea. Although the Matterhorn has been described as a peak, it is, in fact, the terminal portion of a vast ridge connected at its western end with the Dent d'Erin, " and lifting itself, like a rearing horse, with its face to the east." Writing of this great mountain, an enthusiastic Alpine climber* says: — "Looking back, the Matter horn itself was invisible, ' wrapt in dense cloud from base to cope ;' but Melchior said that the storm was ceasing on his upper part. What if we had waited and gone on later ? Everything about that solitary and unique peak is grand and terrible. He can do a storm with which the storms on no other mountain can compare ; he can be wrestling with the storm demons while all other peaks are free.

When a cloud comes near him, he clasps it in his dark, stony arms, and struggles with it in sublime fury. He clothes his mane with thunder and laughs in demoniac joy as the storm-wind rages vainly round his awful crest. ' There's matter in't indeed if he be angry.' There is never anything petty, spiteful, little about him. The giant Jotun is always grand, and fierce, and awful. Gazing back upon the storm-shrouded shape, we saw that he alone amongst the mountains had passed a night of * Mr. Schiitz Wilson. : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. fellest warring with all the storm-fiends; and as we strode along with a sense of relief through gentler scenes and in a softened air, I felt that my life was at least richer for the memory of the grandeur of a night of storm upon the sublime Matterhorn."

Mr. Whymper, who, with Lord Francis Douglas, and Messrs. Hadow and Hudson, was the first to stand on the icy scalp of this grisly giant, thus speaks of it : — " It was the last great Alpine peak which remained unsealed — less on account of the difficulty of doing so, than from the terror inspired by its invincible appearance. There seemed to be a cordon drawn around it, up to which one might go, but no further. Within that invisible line gins and effreets were supposed to exist, — the Wandering Jew and the spirits of the damned. The superstitious natives in the surrounding valleys (many of whom still firmly believe it to be not only the highest mountain in the Alps, but in the world) spoke of a ruined city on its summit wherein the spirits dwelt ; and if you laughed, they gravely shook their heads, told you to look yourself to see the castles and the walls, and warned one against a rash approach, lest the infuriate demons from their impreg nable heights might hurl down vengeance for one's derision.

Such were the traditions of the natives. Stronger minds felt the influence of the wonderful form, and men who ordinarily spoke or wrote like rational beings, when they came under its power, seemed to quit their senses, and ranted and rhapso- : THEIR PLEASURES AND THEIR DANGERS. 27 dized, losing for a time all common forms of speech. Even the sober De Saussure was moved to enthusiasm when he saw the mountain, and, inspired by the spec tacle, he anticipated the speculations of modern geolo gists."* But if a more or less volatile Frenchman was warmed to enthusiasm by the grandeur of nature, it was less to be marvelled at than that the " Philosopher of Chelsea" should yield to the same influence. Hear him : — " But sunwards, lo you ! — how it towers sheer up a world of mountains, the diadem and centre of the mountain region !

A hundred and a hundred savage peaks, in the last light of day, all glowing of gold and amethyst, like giant spirits of the wilderness ; there in their silence, in their solitude, even as on the first night when Noah's deluge first dried ! Beautiful, nay solemn, was the sudden aspect to our wanderer. He gazed over those stupendous masses with wonder, almost with longing desire ; never till this hour had he known Nature — that she was one, that she was his mother, and divine. And as the ruddy glow was fading into clearness in the sky, and the sun had now departed, a murmur of Eternity and Immensity, of Death and Life, stole through his soul ; and he felt as if death and life were one, as if the Earth were not dead, as if the Spirit of the Earth had its throne in that splendour, and his own spirit were therewith holding communion."