i6

SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS.

Half an hour later I stood on a parapet of the west front,by the side of the leering fiend which for centuries haslooked down upon the great city, and then took rail toSwitzerland ; saw the sunlight lingering on the giants ofthe Oberland ; heard the echoes from the cow-horns inthe Lauterbrunnen valley and the avalanches rattling offthe Jungfrau; and crossed the Gemmi into the Valais ,resting for a time by the beautiful Oeschinen See , andgetting a forcible illustration of glacier motion in a neigh-bouring valley—the Gasteren Thai. The upper end of thisvalley is crowned by the Tschingel Glacier, which, as itdescends, passes over an abrupt cliff that is in the centreof its course. On each side the continuity of the glacieris maintained, but in the centre it is cleft in twain by thecliff. Lower down it is consolidated again. I scrambledon to this lower portion, advanced towards the cliff, andthen stopped to admire the contrast of the brilliant pinnaclesof ice with the blue sky. Without warning, a huge sliceof the glacier broke away, and fell over the cliff on to thelower portion with a thundering crash. Fragments rolledbeyond me, although, fortunately, not in my direction.I fled, and did not stop until off the glacier; but beforeit was quitted learned another lesson in glacial matters.The terminal moraine, which seemed to be a solid mound,broke away underneath me, and showed that it was onlya superficial covering resting upon a slope of glassy ice.

On the steep path over the Gemmi there were opportu-nities for observing the manners and customs of the Swiss mule. Though it is not perhaps in revenge for generationsof ill-treatment that the mule grinds one’s legs against fencesand stone walls, and pretends to stumble in awkward places(particularly when coming round corners and on the brinksof precipices), their evil habit of walking on the outsideedges of paths (even in the most unguarded positions) isone that is distinctly the result of association with man.