OCR Text |
Show 66 [ 174 ] to make exercise agreeable, ancl we soon cnt~red the defile I had seen the preceding day. It was smoothly carpeted wtth a soft grass, and scattered over with groups o.f flowers, of winch yellow. \~as the predo~munt color. Sometimes we were forced, hy an occa tonal dtflicult pas , to p1ck our way 011 a narrow led~c aloug the siJe of the. defile, and the mules. were freq uen tl y on their lmccs; bu L these obstruct wns w re rare, antl we JOurneyed 011 in the swcetmonnug all', dellghteu ~t onr ~o?d fortune 1~1 hav11.1g found sach u. beautiful entrance to the monntau~s. 1 h~s r~ud ~ontmued {or about thrre miles when we SUUUellly reached llS tcl'll1l11allOU ll1 one of the grand views whi~lt, at every turn, meet the travel ler in this n:agnificcnt regiou. Jierc till' defi1e up which we bad travelled opened ontu1to a. mall lawn, where in a little lake, the strealll lwd its source. The~·c were SO\llC fiuc (l, tcrs in bloonl, unt all the flowering plants appear-ed to sPek the sheller of the rock~, and to be of lower growth than below , as i( they \.:>ved the warmth of the soil,. a~1d lwpt out of the way o( the wi! 1 d'>. lmmeuwte\y al om feet a prec1p1tous descent led to a confus1on of delllcs, and before us rose the mountains as we have represC'nted them in the annexed view. It is not by the splendor of far-off views, which have lent snell a glory to tbc Alps, that the c impre~s the miud; but by a aiaantic uisorder [ Cll0 ll1lOU:::i ma~SCS, and a SU.Vflge sublimity o( uakcd ~o~k, in wonuerfnl contrast with inuumerable gr ~en spot of a rich floral beauty, shnt np iu their -tern rt'ccsscs. Their wildness seems well suited to the character of the pcnplc who inhabit the co untry. I detenni11eu to 1 ·ave our nuim;1ls here, and ma.l;;e the rest of our way on fuo t. Tha peak appt•ared so nt~ar, that the re was 110 doubt of onr returning before night; and a few lllCII were left. in ch:uge of the mnles, with our provisions and blankets. \V c took with us nothi11g but our aru1s and iu::.trn: ments, ant.l, as the day had t>ccomc warm, the grcn tcr part left onr coats. Having m:.ule an early dillllei, we started agaiu. We were oon involved in the most 1agged precipices, nearing the ccutra.l chain very slowly, and risiug but lillle. Til(~ first ridge hid u succession of others; and w ben, with great. fati gue and difl1culty, we had. climbed up five hundred feet , it was bnt to make an equal t.lescel\t on tll·~ other side; all these intervcuing places were filleu with small dGep \ak.·s, which met the cyf' in every direction, dcsccttding from one level to another, sometimes under briuges formed by h uge fragments of granite, beneath which was heard the roar o( the water. These coustan~ly obstrncteJ our path, forcing us to make long detou1'S; frequently oblig0d to retrace our steps, and frequently (alli11g among the rocks. 1\'laxwell was precipitated toward the face of a precipice, and saved himself from going over by throwillg himself fbt on the ground. We clambered on, always expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to reach the foot of the peals, and always disappointed, until about 4 o'clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the shore of a little lak~ in which there was~ r?cky island, and. from which we obtained the vi'cw given in the front1sp1ece. W c rema111cd here a short time to rest and continued on around the lake, wll~ch had in some places a beach of 'wllite sand, and in others was bound w1th rocks, over which the way was dillicult and dan· gerous, aR t.he water from innumerable springs made them very slippery. lly the tlme we had reached the fmther side of the lnke we found ourselves all exceedingly [J.tigued, and, much to the satisfactidn of the whole party, we encamped. The spot we had chosen was a broad flat rock, in some measure protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and~he .... z tn |