hand, and as it relaxed from its rigidity, had been gradually forced into a curved shape. Our general line of march was not up the centre of the glacier, but lay nearer the right side of it, as you face the Col.

Soon afterwards, in consequence of our coming to a very bad crevasse, Devouassoud was again sent out to explore a passage in one direction, and Coutet in another, leaving me and the two others together. Here, a large wasp, apparently puzzled, like ourselves, came buzzing round us. We were at fault here for some time. At last, a very narrow bridge of ice was seen at some little distance, which by its darker colour appeared to be old ice, and therefore firm. This bridge, if such it may be called, lay on our right, many feet above us; and the question was how to reach it. Devouassoud, with admirable coolness, yet running risks which made me feel almost faint with anxiety as I witnessed them, managed, by the help of steps which he cut with his axe in the solid ice, to scramble up to the base of a small column of ice, that communicated with a sort of platform, on which there was firm, though scanty, standing room, and whence the bridge might be immediately reached. The ice column looked insecure ; and the more so, from the quantity of brilliantly white. fresh-fallen snow that had lodged against it. Its firmness, however, was put to the proof by blows with an

ice pole, and it was partially cleared of the fresh snow. Devouassoud, then cautiously cut steps round its exterior surface, and so ascended to the platform, followed by another guide, who held one end of a strong cord, the other end of which was tied round my body. I then followed them. The two guides, now firmly placed on the platform, held the cord slackly, not intending to use it unless it was required. It was agreed that they should tighten it if I called out to them to do so, and not else. Thus I wound my way, in their footsteps, carefully round the column; with yawning gulfs, formed by crevasses intersecting crevasses in every possible direction, beneath me; steadying myself with one hand, and holding the cord loosely between the finger and thumb of the other; like a child who learns to walk by holding up its frock before it; confidence in either case being the only support really required. The other two guides followed me. We then all crossed the narrow bridge of ice without difficulty, and descending by a low, yet perpendicular cliff of ice, we resumed our line of march, leaving this formidable crevasse behind It was now eight o'clock. Soon after this the glacier changed its appearance altogether. As we ascended, we found more fresh snow, vasses; but there was no less need of caution. Here we all tied ourselves together with two stout cords, and

us.

and fewer cre

proceeded for half an hour more, until we came to a convenient place for halting; where we stopped, and took some breakfast; having had a laborious walk of more than six hours from the Montanvert, almost entirely over ice.

Here I accidentally let fall on the snow the case of the green spectacles which I wore on this expedition. It immediately began to glide away, as if animated, and disappeared down a crevasse at about eighty yards below us. Nothing is safe for an instant if not well looked after on these treacherous slopes. In order to prevent a like mischance happening to our poles, the loss of any of which would have been a serious matter, we took care never to let them out of our hands without first sticking them firmly upright in the snow by their pointed ends.

Whilst we were in the middle of the glacier, I could not help remarking what ridiculous figures we all were, equipped with blouses, frieze gaiters, green spectacles, veils, and slouched hats, pacing along with the most solemn gravity. Devouassoud, in particular, with huge spectacles, and his hat tied on with a handkerchief under his chin, supporting himself with his stick, was no bad representative of Mother Goose.

After our repast we resumed our march exactly as before. At a quarter before ten we came on the fresh

track of more chamois, but we saw none. Mont Blanc now appeared on our right in a rocky opening by the side of the glacier; and I stood in mute surprise to see how astonishingly diminished in height it now appeared, and how close to us; yet in reality it was more than six thousand feet above us, and, on that side, wholly inaccessible. We hence pursued our course up a long and steep ascent of snow, in one monotonous zig-zag, interrupted only by our sinking knee-deep into the soft snow, and by the counter-marches it was necessary to make in order to find snow bridges strong enough to bear us across the crevasses with which the snow, or serac,* was at this height intersected.

Some of these bridges were on principles decidedly unmechanical; with a downward, and not an upward curve; fringed with dripping icicles many feet long. Such as these we carefully avoided. In many places we saw creases in the smooth snow, under which we found incipient cracks, and crevasses, of a few inches only in width, showing the perpetual changes going on in these wonderful regions, so that no two journeys

*"On appelle Seracs des parallélipipèdes, des cubes, et d'autres formes un peu regulières de glace et neige, qu'on rencontre à de grandes hauteurs. La denomination provient d'une espèce de fromage blanc, fait dans les montagnes, auquel on donne des formes semblables."-Relation du Docteur Hamel, &c.

across them can be made under the same circumstances. And now the bare outline of the summit of the Col seemed to lie just before us; it was not, however, until after nearly another hour's labour over the inclined plane of eternal snow (glacier no longer) that we actually found ourselves upon the highest ridge, 11,142 feet above the level of the sea;* having attained our point not without some hard work, and undergoing some risks; but without any painful degree of fatigue, and without experiencing any ill effects whatever from the rarity of the air.+ The cool, silent precautions of my guides throughout were beyond all praise.

But it is not desirable, and it is scarcely possible to remain long on the uppermost ridge. You must make immediately for the rocky buttress where Saussure's cabin stood. In order to reach this spot, you pass a very dangerous steep snow slope, terminating abruptly in an enormous crevasse, on the summit of the glacier of Mont Fréty, on the side towards Piedmont. Here, if any unhappy being should chance to slide down, he would be precipitated over the edge of the serac, into the crevasse; or, possibly, he might shoot right over it, into blank air, and fall ultimately on some spires of

*Forbes.

+ See ascent of Etna, in this Volume.