should have ascended to the height we did.

When the sun burst out, it was a glorious sight, for his beams were reflected from a thousand glaciers, and every now and then an avalanche fell with a thundering sound. Frank and I were much excited by the position we occupied; we felt, perhaps, too proudly susceptible that we had achieved a daring adventure. But still there was one source of disquietude. It was mortifying to see the two chamois hunters pursue their soul-stirring occupation, without heing able to join them; but thus it is in our keenest enjoyments.

It reminded me of ascending the Wrekin in the days of my youth. A party of us, of both sexes, reached the base of that mountain, when one, the most talented the life-the very soul of the party, was taken ill, and we were obliged to leave her behind. As I sat by the crow's nest, on the brow of the mountain, I wrote in my pocket-book the following lines: I have them to this day.

There is, where every heart has been,-
So wayward is our will,-
In every soul-seducing scene,

A something wanted still.
The breeze is pure, the sky is clear,
And bright the blaze of day;
Health, freedom, gladness, all are here,
But-Lucy is away!

While Frank and I with difficulty moved from one spot to another, the chamois hunters fearlessly climbed, seemingly, inaccessible heights, flung themselves with the assistance of their poles over rifts, and fissures, and craggy chasms, frightful to gaze upon, in pursuit of their nimble-footed prey.

The chamois bounded with unerring aim from rock to rock, from rugged crag to slippery glacier, taking leaps from eight to ten yards in depth, alighting there with inconceivable steadiness.

I saw one of the hunters take a cool aim with his rifle while standing on the very brink of a perpendicular glacier; while the other, even yet more daring, hung over the fearful precipice with one hand, to pull up the stricken chamois with the other, from the narrow-pointed ledge on which he had fallen.

The little food we had with us was frozen so hard, that we were obliged to use our hatchets to break it. After a day of toil and excitement, we descended in safety. There is no kind of hunting that I have ever witnessed, half so exciting as chamois hunting.

Though Frank had thought himself so strong, the exertion sadly tried him; and the next day he remained at Chamouni, while I set off in company with the chamois hunters, who had engaged, for a trifling sum, to show me, high among the

An indescribable sense of awe, wonder, and admiration takes possession of the mind when gazing on a mountain unusually lofty; and fear is added to this when standing on the brink of a frowning precipice. Unaccustomed to witness such heights, and to endure the sight of such fearful depths, we feel sensibly affected by the one, and often unequal to encounter the other.

In one of my journeys to school with Frank Berkeley, I climbed up a part of the Lickey Hills, which had been rendered nearly perpendicular by the removal of earth and gravel.

Thinking it possible to cross over from one side of this precipitious part to the other, I made the attempt, when I found the earth begin to shiver down under my feet. Thus situated, finding no foot-hold, I was constrained to dash across the part, scrambling along as well as I could. Fortunately I effected my purpose, though in great danger, every part on which I trod instantly giving way. Had I fallen, it would have been down a precipice of two hundred feet; but a false step in some of the paths of the mountains that I traversed with the chamois hunters in Switzerland would have precipitated me headlong a depth of as many thousands.

We passed along to the village of Martigny, and onwards, through pine woods and romantic rocks, till we came to a venerable-looking mansion, where some of the monks of La Trappe had

taken

As soon as the sun had risen the following day, we were ascending the precipitous mountains; and, as I looked back on the old mansion we had left, I pictured to my fancy the monks at their devotions.

I saw them move on when the matin-bell rung,

While their prayers were ascending on high; While they knelt in the nook, with a skull and a book, A cross and a rosary.

Bare-headed, bare-footed, all languid and pale,

They knelt on the cold flint stone;

And I thought that while bidding their beads for their sins,

We had all need to pray for our own. The chamois hunters had their ironshod poles with them, and they led me through hollows, and over large loose stones, and under natural archways, still ascending, higher and higher, up the mountains. Sometimes we came to places which we had to descend, and others up which they pulled me while I held fast by one of their poles: I felt sure that we were getting a great height.

All at once we arrived at so fearful a precipice that I involuntarily stepped back from the brink of it; but this was useless, for along the brink we had to go.

The path was about a yard wide; but the yawning precipice of a thousand feet below, and the perpendicular rock rising above it, clothed the place with terrors. The matter was made worse, by the path getting narrower and narrower : we had not more than half a yard to walk upon. Every now and then the chamois hunters stopped, as if doubtful whether they should proceed. It was evident that the

Again and again I inquired if we had come to the worst; but not a word could I get in reply.

In one place there was a rift in the path. It was not more than a foot wide; but, in stepping over it, the horrible precipice below became more visible to the eye. It was a trying moment; but I thought, when passed, that the principal danger was over: still on we went, the path even yet narrowing, without a tree, bush, branch, twig, root, or projecting inch of rock to lay hold of; not even a blade of grass was to be seen. Had Switzerland been mine, I would have given it all freely for one foot of earth in the valley below, where the narrow river seemed like a silken thread.

Scarcely daring to draw my breath, I followed the chamois hunters thirty or forty yards further, the path in places narrowing to a few inches: it would have been impossible to traverse it, had not the rock above been, in that part, rugged, affording a hold for our hands.

Once more I asked if we had gone through the worst; but my guides, who were both before me, were silent as the grave.

As we passed on, I could catch a glimpse of the first chamois hunter over the head of the latter one, who was a little shorter; but, suddenly I lost sight of him, and saw but the one immediately

cling to the rock while round the point, and felt with my toe for a place to stand on.

To enable me to do this, the guide behind me pushed forward his pole, which was held also at the same time by his companion on the other side the rock, making me a kind of rail to lean on; but, just as I was about to lay my right hand upon it, by some unaccountable circumstance, the guide holding the heavy end let it go. It swung down, and he who still held it, was compelled to lose his hold, and cling to the rock for safety. As I hooked my fingers like claws to the rugged projections of the rock, my eyes mechanically followed the falling pole down the tremendous steep. My brain reeled again; and had not the chamois hunter behind me, seized me with a firm grasp, Paul Preston would soon have been food for the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air. It was however but a moment that this giddiness lasted. The guides put their remaining pole across, as they had done the former one, I at first clutched it, but afterwards dared not trust it; so, passing my right leg round the rock, the guide there placed my foot on a projection, and I gained the other side in safety.

The only way to avoid the dangerous pass in returning, was to cross the river in another part; and to do this we had to go a long way round, where a rude bridge served the hardy mountaineers as a communication between the sides of the river. At this point the rocks rose, precipitously, on each side, forbidding all access to the stream which ran deep below; but what was my consternation when I heard the guides fearfully exclaim, 'Le pont! Le pont! There hung the broken bridge down the perpendicular rock, and again the fear of the terrible path we had passed came over me.

After a little consultation, it was agreed to proceed up the rocks by the river side in search of a place to cross the stream, and we succeeded when we least expected it.