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made the loneliness even more oppressive. There was an inky gloom over
all that was not covered with snow and ice. Grass there was none.

Each moment I felt increasing upon me that dreadful doubt as to my own
identity--as to the continuity of my past and present existence--which is
the first sign of that distraction which comes on those who have lost
themselves in the bush. I had fought against this feeling hitherto, and
had conquered it; but the intense silence and gloom of this rocky
wilderness were too much for me, and I felt that my power of collecting
myself was beginning to be impaired.

I rested for a little while, and then advanced over very rough ground,
until I reached the lower end of the glacier. Then I saw another
glacier, descending from the eastern side into a small lake. I passed
along the western side of the lake, where the ground was easier, and when
I had got about half way I expected that I should see the plains which I
had already seen from the opposite mountains; but it was not to be so,
for the clouds rolled up to the very summit of the pass, though they did
not overlip it on to the side from which I had come. I therefore soon
found myself enshrouded by a cold thin vapour, which prevented my seeing
more than a very few yards in front of me. Then I came upon a large
patch of old snow, in which I could distinctly trace the half-melted
tracks of goats--and in one place, as it seemed to me, there had been a
dog following them. Had I lighted upon a land of shepherds? The ground,
where not covered with snow, was so poor and stony, and there was so
little herbage, that I could see no sign of a path or regular
sheep-track. But I could not help feeling rather uneasy as I wondered
what sort of a reception I might meet with if I were to come suddenly
upon inhabitants. I was thinking of this, and proceeding cautiously
through the mist, when I began to fancy that I saw some objects darker
than the cloud looming in front of me. A few steps brought me nearer,
and a shudder of unutterable horror ran through me when I saw a circle of
gigantic forms, many times higher than myself, upstanding grim and grey
through the veil of cloud before me.

I suppose I must have fainted, for I found myself some time afterwards
sitting upon the ground, sick and deadly cold. There were the figures,
quite still and silent, seen vaguely through the thick gloom, but in
human shape indisputably.

A sudden thought occurred to me, which would have doubtless struck me at
once had I not been prepossessed with forebodings at the time that I
first saw the figures, and had not the cloud concealed them from me--I
mean that they were not living beings, but statues. I determined that I
would count fifty slowly, and was sure that the objects were not alive if
during that time I could detect no sign of motion.

How thankful was I when I came to the end of my fifty and there had been

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