282 THE LIFE OF JAMES 1). FORBES. [CHAP. 



Saussure had traced ' la route nouveUement decouverte/ 

 from Chamounix to Courmayeur, and passed sixteen 

 days on the summit of the pass at a height of 11,000 

 feet, travellers had been few, and the last but one who 

 had crossed this pass was M. Elie de Beaumont, seven 

 years before. Forbes's admiration for De Saussure was 

 great ; and in the account of his own passage of the Col 

 du Ge'ant, 1 he devotes no less than five pages to a sum- 

 mary of the work done by the Humboldt of the Alps, 

 on this memorable spot. ' No system of connected 

 physical observations at a great height in the atmo- 

 sphere/ he writes, ' has ever been undertaken, which 

 can compare with that of De Saussure. At any time 

 such self-denial and perseverance would be admirable ; 

 but if we look to the small acquaintance which philoso- 

 phers of sixty years ago had with the dangers of the 

 higher Alps, and the consequently exaggerated colouring 

 which was given to them, it must be pronounced heroic/ 



To E. C. BATTEN, ESQ. 



'CHAMOUNIX, July 31^. 



* I write to you, firstly because the bad weather 

 tempts one to the fireside, and therefore to the discharge 

 of one's debts of correspondence ; and secondly, because 

 although I know not whether you are certainly aware of 

 the nature of the Col du Geant, y:o I may, without 

 undue self-love, suppose that you would not be sorry to 

 learn that I was extricated in safety from its rocks and 

 glaciers. Be it known to you, then, that the very night 

 succeeding my last despatch I set forth at 1.30 A.M., 

 in a fine clear, cold moonlight, accompanied by two 

 guides, to mount the Col du Geant, a pass which has not 

 been crossed for several years, and which is 11,300 feet 

 high, beset with precipices on the south side and with 

 glaciers on the north. A very steep but not at all 

 dangerous climb brought us in six hours of good walking 

 to the top, from whence, in the calm cold light of a 

 splendid and perfectly clear morning, I enjoyed one of 

 1 ' Travels through the Alps of Savoy,' chap. xii. 



