THE COL DU GANT 253 



The story of the arrival on the Col may best be given in the 

 words of the letter de Saussure hurriedly sent off on the spot to 

 Genthod. De Saussure 's care to say nothing to his family about 

 the perils of La Noire or the incident of the crevasse is charac- 

 teristic. The contrast between his reticence and Bourrit's ex- 

 aggerations may remind an English reader of Clough's lines in 

 the Bothie of Tober na Vuolich : 



' Colouring, he, dilating, magniloquent, glowing in picture, 

 He to a matter-of-fact, still softening, paring, abating, 

 He to the great might have been upsoaring, sublime and ideal ; 

 He to the merest it was, restricting, diminishing, dwarfing.' 



Here is the account de Saussure wrote to his wife : 



' 3rd July. 



' I am sending Jacques * to carry you the news of our happy arrival 

 on the Col du Giant, where our hut is in the finest situation in the 

 world. We left Chamonix yesterday morning, passed the Montenvers, 

 and came on to sleep at the end of the glacier. Your sisters saw the 

 place where we slept. 2 We started this morning at 5.30 A.M. and 

 got to the hut at 12.30 P.M. We met with some mauvais pas, some 

 steep slopes, but we had no misadventures, and there need be no 

 alarm about our return, as we have decided to come back by Cour- 

 mayeur ; it is a little longer, but not fatiguing, and free from any sort 

 of danger ; there are neither snows nor crags nothing but loose stones. 

 Mr. Hill, the most clumsy of climbers, made this descent by night, 

 tumbling five hundred times, without even giving himself a scratch. 

 So have no fear about our return. I did not deceive you in telling you 

 there was no danger in coming here, but the very light snowfall of last 

 winter forced us to take a different route, 3 which, without being really 

 dangerous, presented some obstacles. These will increase in a week's 

 time, hence my high caution has decided me to come back by Cour- 

 mayeur. The slight difficulties we met with afforded me a great 

 satisfaction from the way Theodore met them without being in the 

 least affected by the rarity of the air. I am, therefore, as pleased as 

 possible as to these first difficulties we have had to encounter. ... I 

 ought to tell you also that Etienne [a new servant] walks like a stag, 

 and at least as well as Tetu, and that I am in almost every respect very 

 pleased with him. . . . 



1 This ' Jacques ' was probably Jacques Balmat, the climber of Mont Blanc 

 (see p. 259). 



* This refers to their visit to the Montenvers in the previous year. 



* The implication, of course, is that it had not sufficed to choke the crevasses. 



