78 Historical 



mon, of Buet (3110 meters) is the Canon Bourrit. 1 i;i At this 

 moderate height, he experienced strange symptoms'. 



In 1776, I left Geneva with the purpose of ascending Buet; it 

 was the second time that I had climbed this mountain; .... I was 

 in good physical condition .... All three of us reached the summit 

 feeling very well .... After ten minutes of peaceful halt, I felt a 

 numbness in my arms and legs, and soon I had not the strength to 

 force myself out of this condition; I was already unconscious when 

 my companions removed me; they carried me down to the first rocks 

 of the glacier .... 



The next year, .... I went there in very fine weather; .... 

 I began to sketch, and told my guide to hold my parasol over me. 

 After 15 minutes, I noticed that he was not holding it well; . . . , 

 and you can imagine my surprise when I saw this man as white as 

 snow .... and his eyes almost motionless; I made the utmost haste to 

 get him away from this baneful summit .... Finally, in 1777, .... 

 M. Saint-Ours .... witnessed a similar attack on the summit of 

 Buet .... (Vol. II, p. 94.) 



Bourrit, however, seems to have been quite subject to syncopes; 

 he reports two others, one on the glacier of Buet, while he was 

 walking (Vol. Ill, P. 198), the other during his attempt to ascend 

 Mont Blanc, September 11, 1784 (Vol. Ill, P. 300 and 304). 



At a still lower elevation, at the monastery of the Grand Saint- 

 Bernard (2430 meters) , a traveller of the same period, Laborde, felt 

 similar symptoms, although considerably less severe: 



The sky was clear when we reached the monastery of the Grand 

 Saint-Bernard (July 30, 1777). 



It would be difficult to express the different sensations which 

 one feels at the same time; the first that is noticeable is an attack 

 caused by difficulty in breathing; it seemed as if the lungs did not 

 have their usual elasticity and lacked the capacity to hold the air 

 inspired; the difference between the air one breathes at such a 

 height must be very evident to those who are used only to air of the 

 plains; it is more rarified and purer because it is less filled with 

 vapors (Lecture on the natural history of Switzerland, P. VIII). 



These few quotations bring us to the celebrated accounts of De 

 Saussure; the sufferings experienced at elevations which are very 

 low compared with Mont Blanc, the ascent of which he dared to 

 attempt and carry out, bring out still more the bravery which he 

 displayed in this intrepid undertaking. Canon Bourrit, when he 

 said, as we shall see in Chapter III, that it would be difficult, if noi 

 impossible to live long on the summit of Mont Blanc, only trans- 

 lated, in a somewhat modified form, an opinion universally held by 

 mountaineers. 



De Saussure, when he ascended Mont Blanc, had prepared for it 



