MONT BLANC 223 



made to the Montenvers. The old track was a very rough one. 

 The ladies made the best use of their stay among the mountains, 

 for which they were greatly pitied by their friends at Geneva. 

 They left, Bourrit records, greatly regretted by the villagers, on 

 many of whom they had bestowed friendly sympathy and sub- 

 stantial kindnesses. 



In the fourth week of July the rains were still at their worst, 

 and Dr. Paccard's father, the notary, who was an elderly man, 

 having rashly started alone for Sallanches on official business, 

 fell off the plank over the torrent from the Griaz Glacier near 

 Les Houches and was drowned. The son, Dr. Paccard, was 

 absent at Courmayeur at the time, but hurried back on hearing 

 the news. He had started just before de Saussure's arrival 

 for the Italian side of Mont Blanc. De Saussure in his diary 

 remarks : ' I think he does not want to see me before my ex- 

 pedition,' and on his return adds, ' He seems to have taken pains 

 everywhere to have gone a little further and higher than I have 

 been.' These passing references do not seem to me to have any 

 significance beyond showing that de Saussure was human enough 

 to be at heart a little jealous of his precursor, as well as of the 

 climbing powers of the younger man. 



The entries in the diary for the last days of July are as 

 follows : 



' 29th. In the evening the thermometer at 6 P.M. stands at 23 

 Centigrade, and stones and dust can be seen blown off the Montagne 

 de la Cote by the violence of the south-west wind. 



' BOth. Same weather ! [He measures the speed of the clouds and 

 finds they move 12 degrees in 68 seconds that is, about 60 feet a 

 second.] 



' 3lst. The weather at last promises well, and everyone prophesies 

 a fine spell. Mont Blanc at sunset is alternately rose and pale white ; 

 it returns, however, to rose, and the quiet clouds which rest on Mont 

 Blanc are also rose. The barometer mounts quickly. I make, there- 

 fore, all arrangements for a start, but keep the secret from my wife. 

 I go to see the Intendant and write up this journal.' 



The new month brought at length a break in the clouds, 

 and the so much longed-for and dreaded moment arrived. The 

 summits cleared under a bright north-west wind, and on the 

 morning of the 1st August the great procession of eighteen well- 



