334 THE LIFE OF JAMES I). FORBES. [CHAP. 



mounted, generally over snow, and by the back of the 

 Aiguilles, to the summit, which hae a height of about 

 8,800 feet. There were many low clouds which spoiled 

 the view generally, although Mont Blanc and some of 

 the higher summits occasionally showed themselves, and 

 I was able to make a careful sketch of the upper basin 

 of the Glacier du Tour, the only glacier descending into 

 the valley of Chamounix which I had not previously 

 examined, and across which a pass to Switzerland was 

 said to exist. . . . Having made some negus, much to 

 Balmat's satisfaction, we left about three o'clock, and 

 taking advantage of the snow beds in a steep couloir, 

 slid down with immense rapidity to the Fldgere. . . .' 



Forbes then took up his quarters at the little inn on 

 the Col de Balme, and after a couple of days of broken 

 weather, he crossed the pass to which he alludes, from 

 the Glacier du Tour, descending into the Swiss Val 

 Ferret by the Glacier de Salena. This was, perhaps, 

 the most interesting, and certainly the most difficult 

 expedition ever made by him in the Alps. 



* Having determined to trace the Glacier du Tour to 

 its source, and, if circumstances allowed, to descend into 

 Switzerland by the Glacier de Salena, with which I un- 

 derstood that it communicated, I slept at the Col de 

 Balme on the 19th of July, in company, as usual, with 

 my tried guide Auguste Balm at The weather proved 

 so stormy, that I expected nothing but a repetition of my 

 former disappointment ; but as it improved the following 

 morning, I started, taking Michel Charlet, the tenant of 

 the chalet on the Col de Balme, as guide (the route being 

 as new to Balmat as to myself), although it was already 

 half-past eight o'clock, with the intention of at least 

 exploring the Glacier du Tour/ * 



By sleeping at the Col de Balme, the party had the 

 advantage of starting from a height of over 7,200 feet, 

 and although the precipices which bound the Glacier du 



1 The following narrative is condensed from an interesting account 

 of this passage in the Appendix to * Norway and its Glaciers/ 



