Page:Whymper - Scrambles amongst the Alps.djvu/71

Rh with precipitous cliffs cut us off from it; the snow slope, too, which existed in the preceding year on the Piedmontese side of the pass, was now wanting, and we were unable to descend the rocks which lay beneath. A fortnight afterwards the mountain was ascended for the first time by Messrs. Mathews and Jacomb, with the two Croz's of Chamounix. Their attempt was made from the southern side, and the ascent, which was formerly considered a thing totally impossible, has become one of the most common and favourite excursions of the district.

We returned crest-fallen to Abries. The shepherd, whose boots were very much out of repair, slipped upon the steep snow-slopes and performed wonderful, but alarming, gyrations, which took him to the bottom of the valley, more quickly than he could otherwise have descended. He was not much hurt, and was made happy by a few needles and a little thread to repair his abraded garments; the other man, however, considered it wilful waste to give him brandy to rub in his cuts, when it could be disposed of in a more ordinary and pleasant manner.

The night of the 14th of August found me at St. Veran, a village made famous by Neff, but in no other respect remarkable, saving that it is supposed to be the highest in Europe. The Protestants now form only a miserable minority; in 1861 there were said to be 120 to 780 Roman Catholics. The poor inn was kept by one of the former, and it gave the impression of great poverty. There was no meat, no bread, no butter or cheese; almost the only things that could be obtained were eggs. The manners of the natives were primitive; the woman of the inn, without the least sense of impropriety, staid in the room until I was fairly in bed, and her bill for supper, bed, and breakfast, amounted to one and sevenpence.