Dr Barry's Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc. 1J3 



to proceed ; but, on making the attempt, I found the exhaustion 

 returned as before. I even felt a degree of indifference, which 

 a sight of the summit just within reach did not suffice to re- 

 move. Sh"ght faintness also came on, so that I had at last to sit 

 down for a few minutes : when a little wine having been taken, 

 one more effort was made, and at a quarter past 2 o'clock we stood 

 on the highest summit, having been seen to reach it, as we after- 

 wards found, both from the valley of Chamonix and from Mont 

 Breven opposite*. 



After a few minutes of rest on the summit, all the exhaustion, 

 faintness, and indifference had ceased, and I felt fully prepared 

 to contemplate the magnificent and all-repaying prospect around 

 and beneath : but of which, as it would be vain here to attempt 

 any description of a panorama whose centre is tlie highest point 

 in Europe, I shall say little more than that it was not obscured 

 by a cloud. As, however, the nearer objects, at such an eleva- 

 tion, are necessarily much diminished, distant ones, by the hu- 

 man eye, can be but indistinctly traced. I dwelt with peculiar 

 satisfaction on the host of inaccessible aiguilles, projecting dark- 

 ly through seas of snow, immediately around, and formino-, in- 

 deed, part of the range of Mont Blanc, their summits now ly- 

 ing at our feet. There were pointed out to me the Maritime 

 Alps, the chain of the Jura from end to end, the Lake of Ge- 

 neva, the Buet, the Gemmi, the St Gothard, the Furka, the 

 Matterhorn, the beautiful Mont Rosa, the chain of the Appe- 

 nines, Mont Cenis, the mountains of Tuscany, and other heights, 

 with the valleys and plains between. All the mountains of the 

 Bernese Oberland, the Finster-aar-horn, and the Juncfrau. 

 together, formed but an inconsiderable portion of the mighty 

 whole. 



The height of the mountain, according to the calculation of 

 De Saussure, is 14,700 French, or \5,QGQ English feet (one 

 French foot being = 1.06575 English). The extreme summit 

 is a ridge nearly 200 feet in length, its direction east and west ; 



" " It requires seventeen hours' march to reach it (the summit), but the 

 difficulties which are met with lengthen the route, retard the march, and ren- 

 der this calculation of the distance very uncertain. Indeed, it is generallv 

 estimated at eighteen leagues." (Appendix to the Narrative by J. Anldjo al- 

 ready quoted.) 



VOL. xviir. xo. XXXV. — j.^^nuary 1835. ii 



