MONT BLANC. 5 



expected, since in descending we did not experience any bad effects from 

 the compression of the thorax, our respiration was not impeded, and we 

 were not under the necessity of resting, in order to recover our breath 

 and strength. The road down to the first plain was, nevertheless, by no 

 means agreeable, on account of the great declivity ; and the sun shining so 

 bright on the tops of the precipices below us, made so dazzling an 

 appearance, that it required a good head to avoid growing giddy from 

 the prospect. We pitched our tent again on the snow, though we were 

 more than four hundred yards below our last night's encampment. 

 I was here convinced that it was the rarity of the air, and not the fatigue 

 of the journey, that had incommoded us on the summit of the mountain; 

 otherwise we should not have found ourselves so well, and so able to 

 attack our supper with a good appetite, i could now also make my 

 meteorological observations without any inconvenience. I am persuaded 

 that the indisposition in consequence of the atmosphere, is different in 

 different persons. For my part, I felt no inconvenience at the height of 

 four thousand yards, or nearly two miles and a quarter, but I began to 

 be much affected when I was higher in the atmosphere. The next day 

 we found that the ice in the valley which we had passed in our first day's 

 journey, had undergone a considerable change, from the heat of the two 

 preceding days, and that it was much more difficult to pass, than it had 

 been in our ascent. We were obliged to go down a declivity of snow, of 

 no less than fifty degrees of inclination, in order to avoid a chasm which 

 had happened during our expedition. We at length got down as low as 

 the first eminence on the side, about half after nine, and were perfectly 

 happy to find ourselves on a foundation which we were sure would not 

 give way under our feet." 



We cannot close our account of this mighty work of Nature, better 

 than by quoting the following beautiful apostrophe to it : 



-" Rise, O ever rise ! 



Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth! 

 Thou kingly spirit throned among the hills ! 

 Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven ! 

 Great hie rarch! tell thou the silent sky, 

 And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun, 

 Earth with ten thousand voices praises God !" 



