MONT BLANC 209 



remember that at the present time above all you are too precious not 

 to be accountable for your life to Europe. We are about to lose 

 M. de Buff on ; another reason for taking care of yourself. How 

 will all the academic chairs be filled ? I really fear the Academy 

 will have to be reduced to twenty, for soon it will consist of nothing 

 but Cordons Bleus and Bishops. 



' I believe that by dividing your expedition between three days 

 you might succeed, to the great advantage of your pursuits and to the 

 honour of your century. But once more take care lest Nature, to 

 revenge herself on you, does not catch you in the act. I can see 

 M. Bourrit offering to paint the scene ! I had suggested to him previ- 

 ously the second resting-place. Would it not be possible to approach 

 it by military methods ? If your workmen, your hunters, your 

 mountaineers exerted themselves, it seems to me that with spade and 

 axe it would be possible by slow degrees to smooth the rough places, 

 cut down your Aiguilles, destroy your summits, and construct little 

 platforms. If you only advanced ten toises a day, at the end of six 

 weeks you would be able to set out in the fine season and to succeed 

 without as much danger as you have already encountered, and we 

 poor mortals at your feet would pray for you, while you were treating 

 us de haut en bas. 



' In return for mine, Monsieur, grant me always the honour of 

 your remembrance, which to-day, when I have received your sublime 

 letter, is more precious to me than you can imagine, since the letter 

 is clear and simple like yourself. If one could only trust what the 

 aeronauts tell us (but " a beau mentir qui vient de haut"), you might 

 take advantage of what they say as to the hot and cold temperatures 

 they constantly encounter. But with them it is an affair of minutes, 

 and you would not be able to stop long in these extraordinary altitudes.' 



As has been shown, Chamonix men had on two occasions 

 overcome the cliffs of the Aiguille and advanced on the relatively 

 gentle snow slopes that lead towards the final cupola of Mont 

 Blanc. The prize, they must have felt, was almost within their 

 grasp. Accordingly, at the earliest possible moment, June 1786, 

 a well-planned attack on the mountain was made. Its first 

 object was to test the rival routes by the Montagne de la Cote 

 and the Aiguille. The Cote party climbed the Dome by its 

 northern slopes, thus avoiding the danger of avalanches on the 

 Petit Plateau. This route has never come into common use, 

 yet it is the only one on the northern side of the mountain that is 

 altogether safe from falling snow or stones. The two parties 



o 



