On the recent Change of Form of the Summit of Mont Blanc. 329 



third and fourth hoop, the names of Joseph Coulet and J.'Bal- 

 mat (dit le Mont Blanc), the two guides of Chamouni who 

 were charged to fix the pyramid on the summit. The posts 

 were of a species of Pinus called Melezc, which grows in the 

 Alps at the height of nearly seven thousand feet, and was 

 therefore considered more likely to withstand the destructive 

 force and change of climate on Mont Blanc. They were se- 

 lected from the forest of La Blaitiere, fashioned at Chamouni, 

 and carried the first day by six men as far as the rocks called 

 the Grands Mulcts, nine thousand nine hundred feet above the 

 level of the sea. The second day these indefatigable moun- 

 taineers arrived at the summit with their ponderous load ; and 

 having excavated a hole in the ice six feet deep, the pyramid 

 was planted : but its elevation above the surface being only six 

 feet, it could not be seen from the neighbouring valleys with- 

 out the aid of a telescope. 



As the workmen had no other materials but the fragments 

 of ice which they had dug out of the hole with which to secure 

 the foot of the pyramid, it was not likely it should remain 

 long or be substantially built. It is very true that this obelisk 

 was no longer in a perpendicular position on the third day 

 after it had been erected, but it remained in an inclined di- 

 rection towards the south-west nearly three years. When 

 M. Rodatz of Hamburgh gained the summit in 1812, he found 

 the pyramid still existing, and tied an empty bottle to the top 

 of it, as is related by the guides who accompanied him. 



This little incident, simple in itself, of leaving a memento 

 on the summit of Mont Blanc, is not the only one recorded ; 

 for Dr. Clarke, in his Narrative, says, " Returning from the 

 classic regions of Italy, it seemed a pleasant object for a walk, 

 to place the symbol of peace at the mast-head of Europe, and 

 deposit a little memorial of the pre-eminence of England, 

 where it may be likely to remain for centuries unmolested. 

 For this purpose we had gathered on the shores of the Medi- 

 terranean some branches of olive covered with bloombuds; 

 and lest a plant reared on a land of slavery and oppression 

 should be of unhappy augury, we had replenished our wreath 

 with twigs of olive from the free and happy soil of Geneva : 

 these we had inclosed in a cylinder of glass, [an empty wine 

 bottle,] subjoining the names of some of the most remarkable 

 persons of the age, whether high in honour as enlightened 

 politicians, revered as sincere and eloquent theologians, ad- 

 mired as elegant poets, useful as laborious physicians, or 

 adorning the walks of private life by the mingled charm of 

 urbanity, gentleness, accomplishments or beauty. Having 



N.S. Vol. 9. No. 53. May 1831. 2 U reached 



