The next morning we started from Lucerne to make the ascent of the Rigi-Kulm. We went down the lake on a steamboat and got ashore at Viznau. I was eyeing the ascent above me with great awe. It was not an easy affair. We had to climb a road leading skyward, like an interminable staircase, by the funicular railway. It was incredible that the locomotive, standing on his hind legs so to speak, should creep up the mountain; I thought no one but a goat could surmount it. The funicular contains two cars, roofed but open from the sides, the seats are tilted back, which enables the passengers to sit level while going up the steep incline. Whether going up or down, the engine is always at the lower end of the train. The passengers sit backwards going up, and face forward going down. Our engine began to climb laboriously the steep mountain which is 6,000 feet high, grappling slowly step by step to the toothed rails, having on each side gigantic precipices clothed with pines. Loud cataracts roared below unseen. The road lay between high granite walls. Through a gap in the rocks unfathomable depths disclosed themselves below us, chilling my blood and making me dizzy. I gripped Sergy’s arm pinching him very hard, but Sergy, whose nerves were stronger than mine and who didn’t see any danger at all, said laughingly to me that it was quite unnecessary to give him the blues, but I only grabbed his arm the tighter. The view grew fairer and fairer as we mounted. From here one could see the four lakes in the shape of a cross, on which the water appeared a smooth sapphire floor sparkling with sails no bigger than pin-heads, and the far stretching large and fertile valley. Now we began to climb up a narrow bridge thrown over a precipice at the bottom of which a rapid torrent rolled. I will not pretend I was not frightened, I was very. Footpaths are traced for pedestrians here and there. We saw a tourist resting against a huge stone in the crevice of a rock. We crawled higher and higher till we met the clouds that rested on the mountain sides. We are in the clouds now. The sun is shining above us and underneath the whole space is covered with thick clouds forming a milky ocean, and screening our way completely.