MONT BLANC 207 



summer that succeeded it, put off the undertaking till the middle of 

 September. At last the Chamonix guides, whom I had instructed 

 to keep a watch for the favourable moment, came to tell me that the 

 snows were melted. In consequence I gave M. Bourrit a rendezvous 

 at the foot of the mountain. For though, as a rule, I infinitely prefer 

 to make excursions of the sort alone with my guides, I could not 

 refuse to associate M. Bourrit who had been the first to make known 

 this route and his son in the enterprise. 



' In order not to have to climb the whole mountain in one day 

 we had had built at the spot where the snows begin, at 1400 toises, 

 a little hut of flat stones. We carried up there straw, wraps, and 

 firewood. The Bourrits were somewhat inconvenienced by the rarity 

 of the air, but for myself, whom this air suits, I passed a delicious night. 



' We started next morning in the finest weather possible. It was 

 the 14th of the month. We were accompanied by nine strong, brisk 

 mountaineers, who were as eager as we were for the success of the 

 attempt. Everything seemed to promise well for the result. 



' We had, as I have already said, a thousand toises to climb, six 

 hundred of which were up extremely steep rocky ridges, and the rest 

 over fairly gentle slopes of snow and ice. We accomplished easily 

 the first two hundred toises, but as we mounted, the rocks became 

 steeper and less solid. These friable rocks, fractured by weather, 

 now broke away under our feet, now came away in our hands when 

 we tried to cling to them. ... To add to our trouble, the interstices 

 in the crags were filled by snow that had fallen two days previously 

 and masked the hard snow and ice that were often our footing. Still, 

 after five hours of this arduous march we had gained a height of some 

 five hundred toises along these ridges when the quantity of snow and 

 the increasing declivity drove us to hold a council as to whether we 

 should persevere in our advance. We sent the most active and boldest 

 of our guides to examine what remained to be done to gain the top 

 of the rocks. He brought back word that, having regard to the 

 amount of new snow, we could not reach the crest without danger 

 and extreme fatigue, and that there we should be forced to stop 

 because the upper part of the mountain was entirely covered with 

 a foot and a half of new snow in which it was impossible to advance. 

 His gaiters, covered with snow to above the knees, bore witness to 

 the truth of his story, which the amount of snow round us was enough 

 to prove. In consequence, considering the uselessness of going any 

 higher, we resolved unanimously not to push on. 



' I observed the barometer, and the height of 18 inches 1 line f at 

 which it stood proved that we were about 1900 toises above sea-level, 



