THE ALPS, FROM END TO END.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TIM 8FECTATOR."]
SIR,—Will you allow me to make a few comments on some- statements contained in your review of Sir W. Conway's.- book, "The Alps, from End to End," in the Spectator of, September 28th? It is, perhaps, hardly to be expected that. any account of a mountaineering tour in the Alps should. make a favotuable impression on a reviewer who. regards RD- essentially distinct "the class that mountaineers," and "that which feels interest in mountains "; but surely some of the criticisms with regard to the sport of mountaineering in. general are a little too adverse. The cloud of mystery which- in the opinion of your reviewer should ever shroud the high, peaks, though it might conduce to the longevity of mountain- spectres, and BO commend itself to the lover of mythology who is- not also a lover of nature, would nevertheless deprive mankind. of the privilege of enjoying the delights of the noblest of recrea- tions. Without the aid of ice-axes and other mountaineering paraphernalia which your reviewer declares to be "at enmity. with the sacred character of the eternal hills," the true, beauty and majesty of the mountains can never be seen or realised, unless indeed it be by means of the mountain rail- way,—that terrible invention of the nineteenth century, the- spread of which is looked on with such dismay by true- mountaineers like Sir W. Conway.
The visitor to the Alps who confines himself to the valley' loses well nigh all the grandeur and inexpressible charm of mountain scenery; but, though all who have the gift of health, may climb mountains, comparatively few have time and opportunity to do what Sir W. Conway has done, to traverse. the entire Alpine chain by peaks and passes from end to end.. The journey was a remarkable one, and, at least until such a tour is of common occurrence, an account of it must be- interesting to all mountaineers, apart from the usefulness of the information it affords to any one desirous of waking a.
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