. Scottish geographical magazine. ng peak. Ihave gazed at Mont Blanc from the summit of the Matterhorn, and atthe Matterhorn from Mont Blanc, and some of the grandest views inSwitzerland, but the northern faces of the Katunskie-Belki range, withthe crystal clear glaciers hanging in the sun and sparkling likediamonds, form a picture so striking and beautiful that any experiencecan offer no parallel to them. It is mere commonplace to say that it wasthe finest view I had ever beheld. The wind was intensely cold, andthe mountain seemed to draw nearer, the glory of the panorama beforeme making me w
. Scottish geographical magazine. ng peak. Ihave gazed at Mont Blanc from the summit of the Matterhorn, and atthe Matterhorn from Mont Blanc, and some of the grandest views inSwitzerland, but the northern faces of the Katunskie-Belki range, withthe crystal clear glaciers hanging in the sun and sparkling likediamonds, form a picture so striking and beautiful that any experiencecan offer no parallel to them. It is mere commonplace to say that it wasthe finest view I had ever beheld. The wind was intensely cold, andthe mountain seemed to draw nearer, the glory of the panorama beforeme making me wish for some one with whom to compare peak in especial, of a shape reminiscent of the Matterhorn, buthaving an obelisk of rock about 2000 feet less than that of the famousSwiss mountain, particularly impressed me. It stood out amon<* its 654 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. comrades with such imposing grace that it was difficult for me to removemy eyes from it. The indescribable beauty of the view before me, and. the consciousness that I was gazing upon a scene that had never yetbeen desecrated by the camera, or described by any human being, was SIBERIA : A REVIEW. 055 one of a lifetime, and amply repaid me for the difficulties and incon-veniences I had experienced on the way. Here all was virgin were no passes known and labelled ; no Mark Twain had evermade the ascent of these peaks in imagination; no telescope had scaledtheir heights before my Zeiss binocular; no avalanche had hurled itsvictims to an untimely death; no Alpine hut vulgarised the slopes orridges, or obscured the view of the summit; no Baedeker enumeratedthe guides or reduced the glories of the ascent to a matter of pounds,shillings, and pence. I was in the home of the maral, the marmot, theibex, the bear, and the red Alpine wolf; when the summer came themountain slopes would be alive with the song of countless myriads ofbirds and the hum of numerous insects, unmolested by civilisa
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
