^5 Fatal Accident which happened to 



would repeat their experiment on Mont Blanc itfelf, that ig 

 to fay, about 850 toifes higher than they were able to afcend 

 after great danger and fatigue. 



Some years ago, a much eafier route for arriving at the 

 fummit of Buet or La Mortine (for it is known by that name 

 alfo) than that followed by Meffrs. De Luc was difcovered, 

 and by this route I afcended it twice without experiencing 

 any difficulty. You firft fleep at Chalets de Villy, the laft 

 place of pafture of the valley which begins at Servoz and 

 terminates at the glacier of Buet. From Villy you proceed 

 to the Col de Salenton by a path practicable for mules ; you 

 then encounter the mountain on its caltern and fouthern 

 fides, and, paffing alternate declivities of fnow and flate, 

 reach the fummit at the end of two hours and a half. The 

 mean of two obfervations of the barometer which I made 

 there, and which were very little different in their remits, 

 gave me 1594 toifes for its height above the level of the fea. 



The mountain itfelf prefents nothing very interefting in a 

 litholotnc point of view; it confifts of flate intermixed with 

 veins of rotten quartz, or quartz fimilar to ftala&ites; but as 

 a belvidcre, nothing in my opinion exifts that can be com- 

 pared to it. You here embrace at one view the whole fpace 

 comprehended between Jura on the weft, as far as the 

 mouths of the Rhone on the eaft, and, on account of this 

 ■circumftance alone, I confidered this mountain as exceedingly 

 proper for receiving fignals in an intended meafurement of 

 a degree of latitude and two degrees of longitude in the pa- 

 rallel of Geneva ; a plan which may be found detailed in a 

 memoir publiffied in the Philofophical Tranfactions of the 

 Royal Society of London for the year 1791 *. 



In 



* I cannot convey a better idea of the fitnation of this fpot than by 

 quoting the words of M. De Luc: — " It is difficult to give a dtfeription 

 in words when they do not awaken fenfations which have been felt ; I 

 do not, therefore, flatter myftlf with the hope of exciting in the minds 

 of my readers thofe which I then experienced. The moll profound filence 

 prevailed in thefe regions ; we perceived that they were not made fof 

 living beings; they weie as little known to our guides as to us. The 

 Chamois goats never approach them, and cenfequcntly no hunter had ever 



afcended lb fir. 



" This 



