Si Dr, Homers Account of [Jak. 



ttred by the rocks, and not far from a torrent coming from the 

 Glacier de Bionnassay. 



The night was beautiful, and at half past two in the morning, 

 the journey was resumed by moon-light, and at 22 minutes after 

 ive o'clock, the travellers reached the base of the Aiguille du 

 Goute ; and after about three hours of very difficult ascent 

 among loose stones, the summit of the Aiguille was attained at 

 60 minutes after eight; the height of which is upwards of 

 12,0U0 feet. After taking rest, and adopting precautions against 

 the cold, and the rays of the sun reflected by the snow, they set 

 offat a quarter past nine towards the Dome du Goute, and arrived 

 at the summit at half past 11. 



The height of this is 1330 [13,300] feet, and Dr. Hamel could 

 advance but few steps without waiting to take breath, on account 

 of the rarity of the air; and finding, from the state of exhaustion he 

 was in, that he must have staid at least half an hour before he 

 could resume his journey towards the summit of Mont Blanc, 

 and calculating that it would be impossible to come back to the 

 Aiguille du Goute before night, he resolved to return by the route 

 by which he had ascended, without attaininor his object. The 

 descent is represented as more difficult and dangerous even than 

 the ascent, but it was safely performed, and the party arrived at 

 about nine at night at an inn called Pavilion de Bellevue, si^ 

 tuate on the Montagne de la Chaletta between Mont Lacha and 

 Mont Prarion. 



Having given a sketch of Dr. Hamel's account of his first 

 attempt to ascend Mont Blanc, I shall continue nearly in his own 

 Words the account of his second journey, and which was attended 

 with great danger to the whole party, and proved fatal to some 

 of the guides. 



" In looking over M.de Saussure's work, I found that he had 

 tried this same route ; but the dangers which he encountered in 

 the ridges of I'Aiguille du Goute prevented him from proceeding 

 further : he did not even arrive at its summit. 



" This induced me to believe that the route by Chamouny, by 

 which he afterwards ascended, must be at least as convenient; 

 and I wished to meet with an opportunity of trying it, so that I 

 night decide which of the two routes was preferable. 



** Soon afterwards, 1 learned that some persons at Geneva 

 were also desirous of ascending Mont Blanc : one of them was 

 M. Selligue, a mineralogist and mechanical artist. , He informed 

 ttiethathe had invented a barometer upon an entirely new prin- 

 ciple, which he wished to try on these mountains. 



** As the cla m of Mont Blanc to be considered the highest 

 mountain of Europe has been lately disputed, and as no travel^ 

 fers who have ascended it since M. de Saussure have taken the. 

 trouble to measure it again, 1 wished to determine its height, 

 with the assistance cf several barometers. Prof, de Saussurei 

 had the goodness to lend me an excellent walking-stick bare- 



