THE MATTERHORN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 455, 10 April 1912, Page 7

THE MATTERHORN.

HURT AND HACKED BY TIME.

Our progress up the last slope was exceedingly slow, but it was steady and continuous. At every step onr Leader trod the snow cautiously, seeking some rugosity on the rock beaeath it. This, however, was rarely found, and in most cases he had to establish practicable attachments between the snow and the slope which bore it. No semblance of a slip occurred in the case of any one of us ; had a slip occurred, I do not think the worst consequences could have oeen avoided. With steady perseverence,, difficulties upon a mountain, as elsewhere, come to an end. We were finally able to pass from the face of the pyramid to its rugged edge, feeling with comfort that honest strength and lair skill, which might have gone for little on the slope, were here masters of the situation.

Standing on the arete at the foot 3 f a remarkable cliff-gable seen from Sermatt, and permitting the vision to range over the Matterhorn, ita appearance from above was exceedingly vild and impressive. Hardly two ;hings can be more difficult than the respective aspects of the pountain from above and from below. Seen Tom the Riffel or from Zermatt it presents itself as a compact pyramid, smooth and steep, and defiant of the weathering air. From above it seems torn to pieces by the frosts of ages, while its vast facettes are so foreshortened as to stretch out into the iistance like plains. But this underestimate of the steepness of the mountain is checked by the deportment of its stones. Their discharge along the side of the pyramid was incessant, and at any moment by detaching a single boulder we could let loose a cataract of them, which flew with wild rapidity and with a clatter as loud as thunder down the mountain. We once wandered too far from the arete, and were warned back to it by a train of these missiles sweeping past us.

As long as the temperature of our planet differs from that of space, so long will the forms upon her surface undergo mutation, and as soon as equilibrium has been established we shall have, not peace, but death. Life is the product and accompaniment of change, and the self-same power that tears the flanks of the hills to pieces is the mainspring of the animal and vegetable worlds. Still, there is something chilling, if not humiliating, in the contemplation of the irresistible and remorseless character of those infinitesimal forces whose summation through the ages pulls down even the Matterhorn. Hacked and hurt by time, the aspect of the mountain from its higher craigs saddened me. Hitherto the impression it had made was that of savage strength, but here we had inexorable decay.

We shook the rope away from us when we left the snow slope, and went rapidly down the rocks. The day was well advnnced when we reached the cabin, and between it and the base of the pyramid we lost our way. It was late when we regained it, and by the time we reached the edge of the Hornli we were unable to

distinguish rock from ice. We were afterwards entangled in the woods of Zmutt, but finally struck the path and followed it to Zermatt, which we reached between one and two o'clock in the morning.—Professo: Tyndall.