150 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



thus press out the interior and primitive part of this crust, leaving the 

 exterior or secondary portions piled up against the interior beds. I 

 saw next the waters precipitate themselves into the gulfs split open 

 and emptied by the explosion of the elastic fluids [gases ?] , and these 

 waters, rushing towards the gulfs, carry with them to great distances 

 the blocks we find on our plains. I saw finally, after the retreat of the 

 waters, the germs of plants and animals, fertilised by the atmosphere 

 newly created, begin to develop on the ground abandoned by the 

 waters and in the waters themselves where they were retained in the 

 hollows of the surface.' [Voyages, 909-919.] 



The ascent of the Crammont had not been de Saussure's only 

 expedition from Courmayeur on his previous visit in 1774. Having 

 found a chamois -hunter nicknamed Patience l who knew the moun- 

 tains well, he started with him and his servant (de Saussure's valets 

 probably found his service trying they were, at any rate, fre- 

 quently changed) to explore the upper part of the Miage Glacier. 

 He was anxious to reconnoitre all the possible approaches to Mont 

 Blanc. Having apparently no rope, the party halted at the point 

 where the crevasses became covered with snow and took to the 

 rocky slopes on the left bank of the glacier. Having reached a 

 height of 8240 feet, further progress was judged impracticable. 

 De Saussure speaks of the head of the Miage as a barrier that would 

 always be impracticable except to chamois. It is obvious, there- 

 fore, that no rumours of early passages of the Col de Miage were 

 brought to his ears. Since such rumours subsequently reached 

 Napoleon and caused local inquiry to be made, this must at first 

 sight seem remarkable. But we may surmise that refugees' and 

 smugglers' passes were for good reason apt to be little talked about. 



In 1778 de Saussure and his friends rode their mules down 

 the long and hot Val d'Aosta from Courmayeur to Ivrea. His 

 remarks on the road are almost entirely geological. He just notes 

 in passing the snows above the openings of the Val de Rhemes and 

 Val Savaranche, Mont Emilius, and the valley that leads to Mont 

 Cervin, as he calls the Matterhorn. 



From Ivrea, despite the trying heat of midsummer, the com- 

 pany rode out towards the Lake of Vivarone to examine the great 

 banks of transported material which spread out fan -wise, like a 



1 His real name was Jean Laurent Jordanay. He kept an inn at Courmayeur. 

 The fact that he guided de Saussure is mentioned in the entry of his death in 

 the Parish Register. 



