EXPLORING THE MOUNTAINS 147

treacherous moss and other growth. Things finally
came to such a pass that, for a while, they had to
descend to the very edge of the torrent which came
dancing and vociferating over the stones of its bed. To
make a long story short, after having thus groped their
way tumbling and slipping every now and then for
three days, the priest felt quite feverish as he camped
in the densest part of the forest on Wednesday night.

An informal little consultation had to be held,
and, at the suggestion of the clergyman, it was decided
to change the course so far followed and make for a
gigantic range of white mountains, a glimpse of which
they had caught the previous day, when the party,
having lost its bearings, had fallen on an immense
swamp. Soupand up they went on the morrow, until,
a little after ten in the morning, they suddenly emerged
into the open, that is just above the tree limit® and
at the foot of the snow-covered range, for which they
had been making since the morning of that day.

What a relief! No more tree trunks to jump over
or to walk along and fall from, they (or at least the
priest) thought! The exultation was, however, of
short duration. Soon claps of thunder announced a
storm, which drenched them to the bones and rendered
their packs much heavier, by getting wet for the lack
of any shelter. On and on they trudged, crawling
along the almost wall-like slopes of the mountain,
sometimes crossing, 4,000 feet above their torrential
river, immense bands of hardened snow in which they
had to cut, with an axe, holes for the feet, as they were
hung up in the ravines they filled in at an angle of per-
haps 80 degrees.

A detail, the importance of which will escape most

® Which is at that latitude about 5,200 feet above sea level.