6

THE ASCENT OF THE MATTERHORN.

CIIAl’. I.

is, immediately opposite) this Bies glacier seems to descendnearly vertically. It does not do so, although it is very steep.Its size is much less than formerly, and the lower portion, nowdivided into three tails, clings in a strange, weird-like manner tothe cliffs, to which it seems scarcely possible that it can remainattached.

Arriving once more in the Khone valley, I proceeded toViesch, and from thence ascended the Eggischorn; on whichunpleasant eminence I lost my way in a fog, and my tempershortly afterwards. Then, after crossing the Griinsel in a severethunderstorm, passed on to Brienz, Interlachen, and Bern; andthence to Fribourg and Morat, Neuchatel, Martigny, and the St.Bernard. The massive walls of the convent were a welcome sightas I waded through the snow-beds near the summit of the pass,and pleasant also was the courteous saluta-tion of the brother who bade me enter. Hewondered at the weight of my knapsack, andI at the hardness of his bread. The sayingthat the monks make the toast in the winterthat they give to tourists in the followingseason is not founded on truth ; the winteris their most busy time of the year. But itis true they have exercised so much hospi-tality, that at times they have not possessedthe means to furnish the fuel for heatingtheir chapel in the winter.*

Instead of descending to Aosta, I turned aside into the YalPelline, in order to obtain views of the Dent d’Erin. The nighthad come on before Biona was gained, and I had to knock longand loud upon the door of the cure’s house before it was opened.An old woman, with querulous voice, and with a large goitre,

* The temperature at the St. Bernard in the winter ia frequently 40° Fahr. belowfreezing-point. January ia their coldest month. See Dollfus-Aussct's Materiauzjtour Veixule des Glaciers, vuls. vi. and vii.