298 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



undoubted intrepidity had gained thetr esteem an esteem 

 with which his name is still mentioned there. 



The first week removed all doubt that the remedy 

 which Forbes had prescribed for himself, was the right 

 one. 'I have visited the Flegere, the Chapeau, and the 

 Col de Voza/ he writes, 'and my cough has gradually 

 disappeared. The climate agrees with me far better 

 than the soft air of Bex, and the hot sunshine is alone 

 unfavourable.' 



On the 11 th he once more established himself at the 

 Montanvert, where he hourly gained strength and health, 

 and resumed his observations, accompanied by his faith- 

 ful guide, Auguste Balmat, ' who/ he writes, ( to his 

 honour be it said, refused all remuneration for his trouble 

 last winter in watching the glacier, as well as for the 

 days spent with me last summer/ 



Forbes's chief purpose there was to ascertain the 

 progress which the glaciers had made during the winter 

 by measuring the spaces passed over by certain blocks 

 which he had marked, and which Balmat had from time 

 to time observed, during the spring and summer. In the 

 case of one of these, near the lower extremity of the 

 Mer de Glace, its movements had been too irregular to 

 give satisfactory results, owing to the broken character of 

 the ice on which it rested, and the fact of its having 

 been gradually shunted on to the edge of the moraine, 

 where it now lay stranded. Enough, however, could be 

 gathered to prove that, contrary to received opinions, 

 the glacier moved with considerable velocity even in 

 winter. 



Journal, September 12th. 



' I walked up the glacier with Balmat and my small 

 theodolite. . . . The " Pierre Platte" was in every way 

 an unexceptionable landmark, and I resolved to cross 

 the Mer de Glace for the purpose of observing it an 

 exertion which I should hardly have ventured for a less 

 interesting result. It was easy to find the motion of the 

 " Pierre Platte " [c] since the visual line was fixed. From 



