ix.j ALPINE TRAVELS, 1842. 291 



wet, it resumed its rapid motion. But the first snow- 

 storms of winter came on with more and more violence, 

 and rendered further work impossible for that year. The 

 following account of one of his last days on the glacier, 

 will give an idea of the difficulties he had then to 

 contend with. 





Journal, September 



1 I had resolved, if to-day. were fine, by no means to 



- the opportunity of going to the head of the glacier 



i mining the motion of its tributaries from stations 



[E] and [K.J, which I had fixed on the glaciers of Le'chaud 



and of the Geant respectively ; but the quantity of snow, 



independently of the chances of weather, rendered this a 



^rious undertaking. Under David Couttet's advice, 



e\vr, whom I took with me as well as Balmat, we 



>tarted in lowering weather at 6.30 A.M. In less than 



an hour it began to snow, and so continued the whole 



: at times very heavily, with drifting wind, but not 



use cold. The snow was frequently knee-deep, and 



jiiiivd all Balmat's intimate knowledge of the glacier 

 to keep us clear of bad crevasses by skirting the moraines 



possible. While passing the icefall of the 



1 1 lacier de Talefre, the weal her became still worse; and 



ii we were fairly on the upper LeVhaud, the wind 



\ so strongly from the Grandes Jorasses, and the snow 



liad so completely obscured our landmarks for exact 



ions. that we were fain to crouch In-hind a stone 



he lateral moraine, and make an uncomfortable break- 



at about ten o'clock. At length the snow abated a 



IK! di.-elosed the Pierre a, Beranger, which was 



of ray check-marks for the movement of the 106, 



revived, ami a little wine and 1 u a inly restored some 



uat's confidence: we therefore advanced up the 



trai the storm a-ain inciva.-ed in violence : and ;i* 



we got to the foot of the rock on whieh my station [EJ 



stood, Coutt'i. who had been hitherto the ehief encou- 



expedition, said very quietly, " Nous all-. us 



' . . 



