the abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me ; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me ; a few shattered pines were scattered around ; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling waves , or the fall of some vast fragment , the thunder sound of the avalanche , or the cracking reverberated along the mountains of the accumulated ice , which , through the silent working of immutable laws , was ever and anon rent and torn , as if it had been but a plaything in their hands .