A VISIT TO THE GREAT ST. BERNARD. 435 



such shoals, upon their way to Kngland, that it has been found impe- 

 rative from the scantiness of provisions to allot them only a certain 

 portion of food each. They also sleep three or four together in one 

 apartment. 



A few yards from the Hospice itself stands the charnel-house, a 

 low square building, distinguished only as to its exterior by a massy 

 grated window. Here repose, and have reposed for centuries, the 

 bodies or bones of all those who have met their fate on this mountain, 

 from frost or accident. Decomposition goes on, of course, very 

 slowly here, and though the floor of this apartment is covered to 

 some depth with confused bones, yet the bodies which still stand 

 against the walls, or lie reclined in great numbers, are in a state of 

 wonderful preservation ; the flesh still remaining upon the bones, 

 has the appearance of shrivelled parchment, and, notwithstanding 

 the number of bodies, the nicest sense of smelling could detect 

 nothing offensive. But the eye is the organ that is offended upon 

 entering this dead-house : the teeth, and hair, and even eyes, still 

 remain upon all that have not actually fallen to pieces, and the ex- 

 pression of the countenance, yet more horrible in death, is still there 

 which it had in the moment of dissolution. The more general 

 expression is that of grinning (the effect of extreme cold upon the 

 jaws) ; but there are some faces among them not to be overlooked, 

 which give horrible evidence of the acutest suffering. There is one 

 corpse, in particular, of a woman enfolding in her arms her infant 

 child ; she is in a kneeling attitude, and the expression in the face of 

 the dead betrays the most extreme mental anguish that could be 

 conceived. Even in death the child is folded to the breast with a 

 mother's last grasp, and it never was attempted to loosen it. In the 

 centre of the room, upon a shell a little elevated, lies the last victim 

 of death in his winding-sheet. The body at present there is that of 

 a servant who died some years ago there being no other burial- 

 place even for the domestics of the Hospice. The monks themselves 

 are, of course, buried in the vaults of their chapel. 



The fraternity consists of fifteen persons, including a principal ; 

 their ranks are supplied, in case of death, from the priesthood in the 

 canton below, and, though it would seem to be a change for the 

 worse, yet it is looked upon as promotion to become a brother of the 

 convent. The brethren are obliged to go down at intervals to re- 

 cruit themselves in the valley, either at St. Pierre or Martigny, for 

 otherwise it has been found that the human frame is incapable of 

 standing such a continued siege of frost. Certainly, the existence 

 of such an institution as this, and the fact that men can be found 

 to live under it, speaks highly for humanity ; for, in fact, what 

 higher effort of philanthropy can be carried ? The monks seem 

 to spend the greater part of their day in prayer, and service ap- 

 peared to be constantly going forward in their chapel. Their pro- 

 fession of faith is Catholic; but, be their creed what it may, these 

 ecclesiastics seem to comprehend the true spirit, and practise the best 

 part of religion " love towards one another." For the entertain- 

 ment of their guests no charge whatever is made by these hospitable 

 men, and from the poorer or larger class no remuneration of any 



