Journey to the Summit of Mont Perdu, 365 



cataract to the bottom of the valley. Here we passed the 

 night in the open air, surrounded by the vapour of the cas- 

 cades above us; Mont Perdu suspended over our heads, an 

 abyss below our feet, and the storm growling every where 

 around us. 



Our first labour in the morning was to ford the torrenl 

 which discharges itself from the lake: its depth, its great 

 rapidity, and iu particular the coldness of the water, ren- 

 dered this operation exceedingly troublesome. The water 

 made the thermometer rise to only two degrees above con- 

 gelation. 



From this place to the top of the Col de Niscle we expe- 

 rienced no other difficulty than that which arose from the 

 great inclination of the declivities. 1 ascertained the height 

 of this defile, and found it to be on a level with the Port de 

 Pinede, and a little more than that of the lake. 



The last stages of Mont Perdu appear to the west of this 

 defile, and rise suddenly with an awfulness which an- 

 nounces the avenues to the summit. Four or five terraces 

 piled one upon the other form so many stories, the steps of 

 which are in part covered with eternal snow, and ruins, 

 which in some measure facilitate the approach to these 

 walls, otherwise inaccessible. The first of these ruins are 

 very large blocks of gres containing testacea; among which 

 I found fragments of calcareous schist, strongly stained 

 with argil, and interspersed with small polypiers to which 

 I never saw any analogous, and which seem to constitute a 

 new genus. Higher up, the ruins become smaller; and the 

 greater part of them belong to a calcareous kind of stone, 

 compact, blackish, and singularly fsetid. By being crushed 

 under our feet it infected the air with a nauseous odour, 

 which had no similarity to any of those called forth by per- 

 cussion from any of the common hepatic and sulphureous 

 Stones. 



We employed more than an hour in traversing theseim- 

 mense ruins ; and this part of the journey fatigued us very 

 much, by the efforts we were obliged to make in climomg 

 up the steep declivities, and in consequence of the mobility 

 of the soil, which had a tendency to throw us towards the 

 precipice. 



At length we arrived at the upper terrace, and found our- 

 selves on a band of solid rocks. This band was at first a 

 narrow ridge cut out like the roof of a house; but it gra- 

 dually became broader, and conducted ya to a kind of valley 

 or commencement of the glaciers, with which the peak i* 

 surrounded. Here I found the last rocks which I was able 



to 



