MONT BLANC 225 



' I leave this note open so that Th6o may give you the thermometer 

 readings : he is careful in his observations. We looked well to see 

 you had forgotten nothing. Do not forget what you have left at 

 Chamonix, and let the remembrance bind you to take care of yourself. 

 My compliments to your companions. My sisters are out walking ; 

 they are very kind. 



' I have no mischievous hand near me to fold my note the wrong 

 way in order to tease me about it. I have used rose-coloured paper 

 so that you may have something else than the white of the snows 

 to look at. Will you sleep well under your tent, mon cher ami ? I 

 trust so.' 



Here follow Theodore's meteorological notes. 



Madame de Saussure's anxiety during the following days was 

 greatly relieved by the ease with which the expedition's progress 

 could be followed from Chamonix through the telescope. She was 

 able to watch the steady and unbroken advance of the party, 

 to count its number, and to enjoy the emotion, almost too thrilling, 

 of seeing all gathered on the summit. From his bivouac on the 

 descent her husband sent down an express messenger to assure 

 her that all had gone well, and that his scientific objects had 

 been attained. 



The Short Narrative, published at Geneva immediately after 

 the ascent, has been excellently translated in Whymper's Guide to 

 Chamonix. In the Voyages de Saussure added many graphic details 

 to it. The following story is compiled from his hitherto unpub- 

 lished manuscript diary and the Voyages : 



' 1st August. I start at 7.25 on a mule with Tetu and several of the 

 guides ; some of them propose to take a short cut by crossing the 

 Bossons.' 



De Saussure was able to ride for two hours, but to a height of 

 only some 800 feet above Chamonix. As he climbed the long 

 ridge between the Bossons and the Taconnaz Glaciers he amused 

 himself by watching the little flocks of visitors, timorously clinging 

 to their guides as they crossed the plateau of the Bossons ; thus, as 

 he says, qualifying themselves to tell a pompous tale on their 

 return of the dangers they had run and the courage with which they 

 had surmounted them . Higher up the party came to a cave where 

 the guides had left a ladder and a long pole for use on the glacier ; 



p 



