I'KAKS AND PASSES 389 



easy means of descent on that skle. But the moment- 

 ar\- intii\al of f\vi\v wcjiilicr was succeeded l)v moi'c 

 mist, which clusud in upon us thicker ihau hci'orc. The 

 liclKinu' I'urves of tlio Dome were confusing' wlu'ii half 

 seen through such a xcih hut wc kept on in wliat wc 

 believed to be the riuht direction. A very sliu'ht error 

 might send us to h'ft or riglit of the junction point wliich 

 we souo-ht. In the hittei- cast' we should without kiiowiuL:- 

 ir retui'U to the northern side of the chain, (h)\\n tlie 

 l)ionnassav Gkicier. In tlie former — l)ut as that was tlie 

 error which we '//'/ make, i will descrilte in due course 

 what we found. Tt was now om^ o'clock. l)nt owing to 

 the soft snow and hard ice. we had taken li\-e and a lialt' 

 hours from the Grands Mulcts, and including halts, thirteen 

 from Cliamouni. We Iral a descent before us of quite six 

 thousand feet, before we could reach the main ice-stream of 

 the j\riao-e Glacier. The haze again thinned out a little, and 

 when we came to the edge of a precipitous slope W(^ mis- 

 took it for the head of the affluent (dacier which we wished 

 to descend, and which lav. in realitv. more than a mile 

 farther westwards. \\ «■ could see some hundreds of yards 

 down the slope which, although steep, was covere<l with 

 a great accumulMtion of fresh, but not powdery, snow and 

 seemed easy. .\l any late this facilis descensus looked 

 so in\'itin"- after oui- lou'j,' Lirind. that we \'i(dded to the 

 temptation. 



We descended, i should think, fd'teen hundred or two 

 thousan<l ^oo\. nlouo-hinir comfortabK' \n^ to our knees, and 

 were beoinninti" to see the tlaiter surface of the uLi'it'i' 

 below, while ther(^ was still enough haze to dimiin-h the 

 apparent distance, ami make all look smooth and pleasant 



