first, and presents on each side precipices
of dark limestone, with the strata apparently
much contorted, of which I shall
afterwards speak. Advancing to Grindelwald,
the higher ranges of rock recede, and
form a broad bay or basin, surrounded by
glaciers and snow-capped mountains. The
village of Grindelwald is situated upwards
of three thousand feet above the level of
the sea, having nearly the same elevation
as the priory at Chamouny. The forests
are entirely of fir, and the cultivated part
of the valley has a dreary appearance. Potatoes
are the principal food of the inhabitants
; they keep goats, from which they
make cheese, which is mostly sold to purchase
salt, and articles of indispensable necessity.
They have a common right in the
forests for fuel, which costs them nothing
but the labour of procuring it.
What constitutes the most remarkable
character of the Bernese Alps, is the abrupt
detached forms of the highest mountains,
which may be nearly, approached, and are
seen at one view from the summit to the
very base. The Wetterhorn, or Weather-
horn, is so called, because it indicates the
state of the weather, being frequently involved
in clouds. From the region of perpetual
snow, it is cut down in one unbroken
and nearly perpendicular line, to the valley,
forming the most awful precipice I
had yet beheld. This mountain seems to
rise immediately above Grindelwald. The
Gros Eiger, another mountain of equal or
superior height, is also seen on the other
side of the valley, from its summit to its
base. These mountains rise about 12,000
or 12,500 English feet above the level of
the sea. The near view of mountains of
such elevation, without any intervening
object to diminish the effect, is indescribably
sublime. The two principal glaciers
come low down into the valley, and the
lower one has a large ice cavern at the bottom,
from which a river issues. Though
these glaciers are extensive, they are not
to be compared in magnificence with those
of Chamouny.
A very melancholy accident occurred
here a few days before our arrival. A
young Lutheran minister from Iverdun,
ascended one of the glaciers with a guide,
A great chasm particularly arrested his attention
; it was about four feet wide, and
of unknown depth. He was amusing him-
N 2