TIIE ADAMELLO.

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precipices on to the head of Yal d’Avio and its lake.The side of the peak above us was steep, but thanks tosome rocks and the splendid condition of the snow ittook hut twenty minutes to gain the summit, a snow-crest some fifty yards long rising at either extremity,the north-eastern point being the highest.

From its position as an outlier of the great chain,we had expected much from the Adamello , and now wewere not disappointed. The morning had held good toits promise and brought forth one of those golden mid-summer days which, as some think, are best spent onthe tops of mountains.

Far away in the east we could trace the line of ourwanderings from their very commencement. Therewere the dolomite peaks of Primiero, a little further theMarmolata, Pelmo, and the pyramidal Antelao ; thenthe eye had only to leap the broad gap of the Pusterthalto run over the Tauern from the Ankogel (aboveGastein ) to the Brenner. The Glockner was as welldefined as from Heiligen Blut, only that its snows weretinted an exquisite rose colour, as if they had madeprisoner of a sunset. The Orteler and Bernina, fromwhich we were nearly equidistant, made a fine show ofsnow and ice; still closer at hand we surveyed the greatsnow-fields of our own group, overlooked by our tworivals, the Presanella and Care Alto. To the south laya labyrinth of granite peaks and ridges, separating themany glens which, ran up from Val Camonica. Thisgreat valley was visible for miles, and the eye restedwith pleasure on its fields of Indian corn and chestnutwoods, until led on by the white thread of road tothe blue waters of Lago d’lseo basking amidst brightgreen hills. When tired of this prospect we could take