After much solicitation, the guides did actually get him upon his legs-but struck with new terror at the deeper view this gave him down into the cavities of the ice, he plumped down again, bewailing himself more bitterly than ever. Colonel Cleveland now called to the guides to tuck him up and carry him off by force, which they accordingly did; the one taking his heels, and the other his head. And now if you're not quiet friend, you will break your neck in good earnest,' exclaimed Colonel Cleveland. But the Frenchman, stiffened and ghastly with horror, never moved limb nor feature, and was carried safe down the glacier, like a bale of goods. When he was set upon his legs, and the guide had returned to us, we proceeded a little higher up to the point of our destination, the same to which the unlucky Parisian had been bound; and we were recompensed for our labours by the grand view it commands over the valley of ice of the glacier, and the towering heights of the Shreckhorn. Great must have been his mortification to have seen me, from the bottom of the glacier, prosperously proceed over the very ice on which he had sat himself down in despair. He waited our descent, and when we rejoined him, the contortions which despair had produced upon his physiognomy having subsided, I recognised our old acquaintance of the Côche d' Eau, on the Rhone, M. Berger, the same whom we had surnamed the disconsolate shepherd, who was travelling expressly to cure himself of his. love--and who, when we first saw the distant Alps, pronounced them to be 'bien gentil.' Ah, Mademoiselle!' exclaimed the hapless 1 youth, with a piteous shrug when he saw meIs it you !'-and straitway, with a most rueful countenance, he began to express, after the French mode, the inexpressible delight and happiness he experienced in meeting me again-even here; but woeful was his account of the 'horreurs' it had been his luckless fate to go through, in this horrible country; and bitter was his abuse of the Alps. I ventured to offer a word in their vindication--'Mais mon Dieu! Mademoiselle,' he exclaimed- Quel vilain pays! Quelles montagnes affreuses! Quels rochers sauvages! Quels glaciers! Quel desert! O mon Dieu ! Quel vilain pays, quel vilain pays!' He then proceeded to abuse the people for a set of savages ;--and then their language barbare-why they did not even know French!c'est incroyable !'--Orpheus among the brutes, he declared, was not half so lost as himself amongst these Swiss savages. Pathetically did he complain of the dreadful perils he had encountered upon this glacier, vowing he never would venture upon another; and adding,' he supposed the reason Mademoiselle walked so well over the glaciers was, that I was used to them in my own cold country! This exceeded all I could have imagined possible, even from the ignorance of a Badaud de Paris! This glacier is certainly rather a perilous passage. In crossing it, a man of Grindelwald once fell into one of its deep fissures, when quite alone, but most providentially he alighted on a bed of snow, softened by the stream of water which flows beneath it; and, by following its course, he made his way under the vault of ice, and issued forth with the source of the river, at His arm. the lower extremity of the glacier. only was broken. An escape so miraculous would be incredible, was it not within the memory of most of the inhabitants of the valley. The man to whom the accident happened, by name Christian Boren, is the innkeeper of Grindelwald, and himself related to us the history of his miraculous escape. In former ages, the space now covered with the enormous glaciers which lie hid between the Shreckhorn, the Wetterhorn, the Vieschhorn, the Eiger, and the Jungfrau, was occupied by verdant Alpine vallies, through which a road led into the Haut Valais. A rural chapel which stood upon this pass, is buried beneath the ice-but they still shew you the ancient clock which belonged to it, with the date of 1144 inscribed upon it. The guide told us, as we were returning, that a bear had been seen very lately upon these far extended glaciers, which had excited great alarm in the valley, as it was the first which had appeared for many years. Colonel Cleveland, to whom I serve as interpreter, for the guides here speak their native German Patois only-on hearing this, most vehemently longed to have a hunt after the bear, and tried to persuade the guides to assemble some of the peasants to-morrow morning for that purpose. I cannot say I seconded this scheme very earnestly in my interpretation of it, for I knew it would frighten Mrs. Cleveland to death; and besides, I really thought that he might break his neck upon the glaciers, in the ardour of the chase; not to mention the chance of being swallowed up by the bear, for breakfast.. Very tired and very hungry, we reached the inn, and found Mrs. Cleveland alone, somewhat. uneasy at our absence, and waiting dinner of us. Lady Hunlocke had returned to Interlachen, to visit her old and most valued factotum of a man-servant, who, instead of following her as she expected, to Lauterbrunn this morning, had sent a message to say that he was. taken ill of an intermitting fever, and she could not feel easy without going back to see that he had the best advice and assistance, and also to leave her own maid to nurse him. She fixed to meet us at Meyringen to-morrrow, to which she is to proceed from Interlachen direct, by way of Brientz. CHAPTER XVIII. MORE MOUNTAINS-MORE MISHAPS.. -Ye toppling crags of ice, Ye avalanches, which a breath draws down, In mountainous overwhelming, will ye crush me? Tendons une main bienfaisante A cet infortuné que le ciel nous presente; Manfred Il suffit qu'il soit homme, et qu'il soit malheureux. Fais ce que tu dois,-arrive ce qui pourra! LETTER XVI.. VOLTAIRE. BALCARRIS. CAROLINE ST. CLAIR TO MRS. BALCARRIS. Sept. 10, Grindelwald---still! MORE than one day has elapsed and still I am here, and here for many days more I am likely to remain. Little did I think, but I must tell my tale from the beginning. The morning following our arrival, as usual, rose bright and beautiful, though so cold that we found a good deal of snow had fallen during the night, upon the surrounding mountains. Mounted on horseback, we all set off after 21* VOL. I. |