MATTERHORN  , one of the best known mountains (14,782 ft.) in the

Alps . It rises S.W. of the village of Zermatt, and on the frontier between Switzerland (canton of the Valais) and Italy . Though on the Swiss side it appears to be an isolated obelisk, it is really but the butt end of a ridge, while the Swiss slope is not nearly as steep or difficult as the grand terraced walls of the Italian slope . It was first conquered, after a number of attempts chiefly on the Italian side, on the 14th of July 1865, by Mr E . Whymper's party, three members of which (Lord Francis Douglas, the Rev . C . Hudson and Mr Hadow) with the guide, Michel Croz, perished by a slip on the descent . Three days later it was scaled from the Italian side by a party of men from Val Tournanche . Nowadays it is frequently ascended in summer, especially from Zermatt .