THE*BUET 189 



A 



of Valorsine, he was induced to retrace his steps. Accord- 

 ingly a second council was held, and a hunter made the brilliant 

 suggestion that possibly the peak Bourrit called the Buet might 

 be that they knew as the Mortine. Accordingly a start was made 

 by the valley of the Eau Noire ; but a cloudy day discouraged the 

 climbers and induced them to return. The impulsive Bourrit 

 set ofi a second time for Geneva, got as far as Sallanches, and then, 

 finding a clear sky irresistible, rushed back to his mountain. 

 This time all went well, and eight hours after leaving Valorsine 

 the party found themselves on the desired summit. Bourrit 

 was not the man to under -estimate the importance of his success : 

 ' From this moment he conceived the greatest hope for the History 

 of the Earth as well as for physical science.' The view he describes 

 with rapture ; but the best proof of his enjoyment is the fact 

 that he repeated the expedition no less than six times in sub- 

 sequent years. His memory still lives in the name of ' La Table 

 du Chantre ' the Precentor's Table given to a huge slab 

 of rock some distance below the summit on the side of Valorsine 

 on which he rested. 



His hopes for physical science were in some measure fulfilled 

 by the ascent of de Saussure, led by Pierre Simon and a local 

 guide named Pierre Boyon in the following year (1776). From 

 the mountaineer's point of view this expedition does not present 

 any features worth record, although it furnished opportunity 

 for a lengthy review of the structure of the granite peaks of the 

 Mont Blanc chain and a dissertation on the rarefaction of the 

 atmosphere. 



Bourrit had the satisfaction of supplying the savant's work 

 with a panorama of the view from the summit. It is drawn in 

 the old-fashioned circle, but is fairly correct, though the identifica- 

 tion of the peaks is faulty. Bourrit drew in the centre of his 

 illustration the singular icicle -fringed cornice in which the snow 

 dome of the Buet formerly broke away towards the north. De 

 Saussure thereon went out of his way to say in a note that Bourrit 

 was solely responsible for this feature, of which he had no re- 

 collection. Either the cornice had broken away in the interval 

 between the two ascents, or the man of science in this instance 

 has proved himself less observant than the artist. I was inclined 

 to think Bourrit might at any rate have exaggerated, but a 



