182.1.] Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc, 375 



pointed with iron, which are of infinite service in helping you 

 onward, and a safeguard against falUng. 



There is no part of the ascent to Mont Blanc which I consider 

 so perilous as that from the Glacier des Bossons to the rock 

 called the Grand Mulet. Above, for a considerable space, are 

 the prodigious masses of ice at the bottom of the Aiguille du 

 Midi, rising to a vast height, and frequently overhanging their 

 bases to such an extent as to menace with destruction every 

 thing within their influence. Some of this fell shortly after we 

 had passed, and an enormous quantity seemed likely to follow, 

 and soon did, as will be shown by the sequel. At half-past 10, 

 we rented upon a flat space of ice, or rather frozen snow, consi- 

 derably higher than Mont Breven, which is more than 8,300 

 feet above the sea, where the thermometer was 44°; and at 

 15 minutes past 11, stopped under an immense quadrangular 

 block of snow( pendant with icicles, and perforated in a most 

 singular manner. The hollows were full of water, which v^e 

 found very refreshing, as the heat was almost intolerable from 

 incessant exertion. The thermometer, suspended in the sun, 

 was 52° ; plunged, it sunk to 23°. The dangers increased after 

 leaving this place, and called forth all the vigilance of the guides, 

 accustomed from their infancy to cope with such difficulties. 

 Though but a few weeks had elapsed since they were here, they 

 found a vast change in appearances, and were obliged to proceed 

 with the greatest circumspection. It is impossible to do justice 

 to the courage and zeal of these people, and their devoted 

 attachment to the persons employing them. As a single false 

 step would have been fatal, we were linked together with? 

 ropes at 10 or 12 feet distance for mutual support. The route 

 lay through masses of ice and snow, heaped confusedly together,, 

 and under every shape and form imaginable. Some of these 

 were wholly ice, and so hard as to afford great resistance to the 

 axe with which we were frequently obliged to cut out steps for 

 our advance ; others seemed in a state of half congelation ; 

 many were of snow quite soddened, of great relative gravity, and 

 of a dark hue, from the moisture imbibed; and some appeared 

 of a shining white, as if newly fallen, or having been lately preci- 

 pitated from the upper regions of the mountain. We were 

 obUged to pass sidelong over many of these huge heaps, inchned 

 from 30° to 40°, often with a gulph beneath ; and, occasionally, 

 upwards, upon a mere thread of ice dividing the cavities, whose 

 sides sometimes approaching seemed to unite at various dist- 

 ances below ; while others, receding in their descent, or being 

 quite perpendicular, presented nothing but a vast abyss whose 

 termination was lost in darkness. Any thing thrown or falling 

 Ly accident into these depths sufficiently marked their profun- 

 dity. "We derived great advantage from the ladder, for many of 

 the chasms could not have been passed without it, even by the 

 mountaineers who attended me. Though the distance from the 



