286 A Week among the Glaciers. 
feet to sit astride of them as on horseback, and trust to the steadi- 
ness of his nerves and the firm grasp of his knees, to accomplish 
asafe transit. The ascent of these bridges is much easier and 
less hazardous than the descent, in consequence of being com- 
pelled, while descending, to look continually into the gap of the 
depth below, exhibiting the precariousness of the position. 
We traversed these seas of ice and snow from about 10 o’clock, 
A.M. till between 5 and 6 o’clock, P. M. when we arrived at the 
Grand Mulets, which we should ha 
sooner, had it not been for a newly formed crevasse of very great _ 
extent; (I say newly formed, because my guides said that the 
year previous when they made the ascent to the Grand Mulets 
it did not exist.) It was of various width throughout its length, 
from fifty feet to one fourth of a mile; and in following along its 
side we were obliged to ascend about one thousand feet above 
the Grand Mulets before we could find a place to cross it, being 
about two thirds up the length of the crevasse, where turning 
abruptly, at nearly aright angle, it was filled for the distance 
two hundred feet or more by avalanches, which had fallen from 
the Grand Plateau, or summit of the mount, and illustrated it 
the grandest and most impressive manner, the way in whieh 
gravity hurls down and piles up these immense masses of snoW 
and ice to the height of hundreds of feet, and so equally poised 
upon pedestals of ice, that have been wasted by the heat of the 
sun, till it seems impossible that they could bear the enormous 
superimposed weight. In crossing the chasm at this point, We 
passed under these shelving masses, some of which projected one 
hundred feet over our path. The scene was one of wild mag _ 
nificence ; and it was at this point that our guides enjoined the 
strictest silence, and to tread with the utmost lightness and pre 
caution, which injunction I regarded at the tirne as being merely 
an attempt ad captandum, in order to enhance in our estimation 
the value of their services. Being excessively fatigued, and being 
here screened from the wind and dazzling rays of the sun, I pro 
posed to halt and rest, to which my guide in the most peremptory 
and positive manner objected, saying if I attempted to stop at this 
point, he should be obliged to take me up and carry me from 
underneath this shelving ice, while at the same time, pointing 1 
the water which was dripping slowly from its summit, and trick 
ling down its side and base, he said it would not stand another 
