About five kos
on our journey we halted to let the kitchen come up, and had our
breakfast on the snow in the company of a select party of marmots. The
little creatures appeared to live in great peace and seclusion here,
for they let us up, in their ignorance of fire-arms, to within thirty
yards of them before scuttling into their habitations. They were all
dressed in blackish brown suits of long thick fur, and considering
that they live in snow for at least eight months out of twelve,
they appeared not the least too warmly clothed. As we went by they
used to come out and sit up on their hind legs, with their fore
paws hanging helplessly over their paunches, while, with a shrill
discordant cry, they bid us good-morning and then hurried back to
their houses again. Not having our rifles handy they escaped scot
free, otherwise we might have borrowed a coat from one of them as a
reminiscence of the country. After another kos or two we began to get
clear of the glacier; but occasionally we came upon enormous masses of
snow jammed up on either side of the torrent, the action of the water
having worn away the centre.
Pages:
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167