Glacier of Talefre. 14S 



ments of a knapsack lying on the ice, which he at once recog- 

 nised to be the same as had been lost by a guide some years 

 before, who fell into a crevasse, where he had nearly perished, 

 in conducting a traveller to the Jardin. Couttet rightly be- 

 lieved that the determination of the motion of the ice in the 

 interval, since the loss of the knapsack, would be a matter of 

 interest to me. 



At the same time the seeming improbability of recovering 

 so destructible a material as a bag or knapsack, made of 

 cloth, after remaining for ten years in the bowels of a glacier, 

 was so great as to make me resolve to investigate the matter 

 thoroughly whilst on the spot. 



The next day I went to the Glacier of Talefre, accompanied 

 by Couttet, Balmat, and another, and Couttet led us straight 

 to the spot marked in the small map (Plate II., fig, 2), 

 with the words " knapsack found," a little higher up than 

 where the usual path to the Jardin by the ascent of " Les 

 Egralets," leads from the ice to the ascent of the rock on the 

 left. Just where the ice of the Talefre incorporates itself 

 with that of Lechaud, and at the distance of 158 feet from 

 the face of rock which bounds the glacier, we found several 

 fragments of strong blue and white cotton stuff (now shewn 

 to the Society) very much worn by friction, but by no means 

 rotten, and not discoloured, with portions of very strong 

 straps and loops partly attached to it of figured tape, which 

 had formed the attachments and shoulder straps {hretelles) of 

 the knapsack. Beside them were pieces (or a piece) of bottle 

 glass. Balmat immediately confirmed Couttet's recollection 

 of them as parts of the identical bag lost by JuUien Devouas- 

 sou ten years before. 



Now, to explain how Couttet and Balmat were in a posi- 

 tion to speak so positively to the identity of the fragments, 

 I must observe, that Couttet was then, and has been ever 

 since, lessee of the pavilion at Montanvert, and that the 

 knapsack in question was his jyroperty^ and was left at the 

 Montanvert, for the express pui'pose of carrying provisions 

 for travellers, who then, much more rarely than at present, 

 visited the Jardin. Auguste Balmat, my guide, was at 

 that time servant to David Couttet, and kept the pavilion 



