1846.] KNAPSACK LOST AND RECOVERED AFTER TEN YEARS. 195 



dent at the top of the Couvercle, between the Aiguille du Moine 

 and the Glacier du Talefre ; and when at the point marked in 

 the accompanying sketch with the words " Knapsack lost," the 

 guide, to shorten the way, attempted to take an oblique course 

 to the Jardin, instead of following the usual track on firm 

 ground round the foot of the Aiguille du Moine, and then turn- 

 ing sharply to the right, so as to make the passage of the gla- 

 cier as short as possible. The ice on which he ventured was 

 partly covered with snow, as is almost always the case there in 

 July, and near the edge it was also full of concealed fissures. 

 Into one of these the guide suddenly dropped, leaving the 

 astonished traveller alone in this wilderness of rocks and ice. 

 After vainly calling to his guide and obtaining no answer, he 

 left the place in despair, and returned to the Montanvert by the 

 way he had come. Devouassou, however, having reached the 

 bottom of the crevasse but little hurt, managed, by the aid of 

 his pocket-knife, to cut steps in the walls of ice, and, finally, 

 with great exertion and suffering, to raise himself to the sur- 

 face, and make his escape, leaving behind him his knapsack, of 

 which, of course, he had first disembarrassed himself. Astonish- 

 ing fact ! that the yet undecayed vestiges, together with a part 

 of even the very bottle which formed his burden, should be 

 brought to light on the surface of the ice after ten years' fric- 

 tion and onward movement ! I took pains to measure angles 

 with my theodolite at each point, which enabled me to project 

 them with tolerable accuracy on the map, as shown in the 

 Plate ; and I ascertained by the barometer the difference of 

 level of the two points, and also their elevation above the sea. 



Height above 

 the Sea. 



English Feet. 



Knapsack lost, Glacier du Talefre, 29th July 1836, 8657 

 Knapsack found, Glacier du Lechaud, 24th July 1846, 7512 



Difference of level, . 1145 



Horizontal distance moved over, . . . 4300 feet. 



Declivity, . . . 14 55' 



Annual motion, . v 430 feet. 



