332 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [UIJAP. 



and their projected tour was given* up : but at the end 

 of the month Forbes left England with his sister, Miss 

 Jane Forbes, and travelled with her to Kissingen. 



The month of June was spent at Kissingen, but on 

 the 4th of July Forbes started alone for Basle and Berne, 

 where he spent some pleasant days with M. Studcr and 

 Baron Von Buch. On the 10th Auguste Balmat welcomed 

 him to Chamounix for the last time. 



The chief purpose of his visit was the correction and 

 extension of his survey, and lie does not appear to have 

 occupied himself at all with glacier observations. His 

 first expedition was devoted to the Glacier du Gdant, 

 and on this occasion he succeeded in reaching the point 

 which he had in vain attempted to gain five years before. 



Journal, July 1 5th. 



' I started early for the Glacier du Gdant, taking with 

 me Pierre Joseph Simond, in addition to Balmat, and in 

 three hours we had skirted the rocks of the Tre'laporte, 

 and gained the foot of the great ice-fall. We here 

 found a great deal of soft snow, which choked the 

 crevasses of the glacier and rendered the passage labo- 

 rious, although not more difficult ; on three occasions, 

 however, we were obliged to creep under masses of soft 

 ice almost in the state of snow, which might have fallen 

 tit any moment. We fortunately succeeded in passing 

 the point which had completely stopped us in 1846, 

 where the glacier descending between the Grand and the 

 Petit Kognon is crushed and torn with enormous violence. 

 Half an hour more brought us to the upper plateau, and 

 by keeping well to the right, where there was a great 

 hollow containing a watercourse, we got on without 

 difficulty, and deposited our instruments on a favourable 

 spot. . . . Having finished my observations, we walked 

 gradually upward towards the. Col du Geant, and became 

 satisfied that there was really a passage between the 

 Grand Rognon and Mont Blanc du Tacul, and it is by 

 this passage that the ascent of the Aiguille du Midi 

 should probably be made. . . . 



