THE ALPINE SPANIEL. 167 



Savoy, " is more frequently undertaken in the winter than is 

 generally imagined : it is difficult to conceive the necessity or 

 urgency of affairs which can lead persons, at such a season, 

 through these scenes of danger. They are generally pedlers 

 or smugglers, who mount the pass from either side, in defiance 

 of the snows, tourmentes, and avalanches of these high regions. 

 During the severe cold of winter, the snow at this elevation 

 forms and falls like dust ; it congeals so soon, and so hard, that 

 the particles do not attach and form flakes when they touch, 

 as in lower regions ; and instead of consolidating beneath the 

 pressure of the traveller's feet, they rise around him in powder, 

 and he sinks to his middle. These snow-storms, when accom- 

 panied by violent winds, are called tourmentes, and are often 

 fatal to the poor wretches who encounter them , unable then 

 to trace the path, they wander and fall over precipices. The 

 avalanches, too, take their share of victims. The summer 

 avalanche is caused by the sub-melting of the snow, which 

 undermines its support -, and the mass, once set in motion, 

 descends with great violence. The avalanches of winter are 

 occasioned by the masses of snow accumulating on the slopes 

 of the mountains, where it is too dry to attach firmly $ and 

 when the weight of snow exceeds the supporting resistance of 

 the surface of the ground, it slides off into the valley below, 

 with the suddenness and violence of a cannon-ball : these are 

 the sort of avalanches which in the winter render the approach 

 to the Hospice [a convent situated near the top of the mountain 

 of the Great St. Bernard] very dangerous. Near the convent 

 the mountains are steep, and the traveller is exposed to almost 

 certain destruction if an avalanche fall whilst he passes ; and 

 the poor wretch, buried beneath the mass, is found only when 

 the snow melts, and the summer, which to him never returns, 

 discovers the victim in these regions. Under every circumstance 

 in which it is possible to render assistance, the worthy monks 

 of St. Bernard set out upon their regularly appointed duties. 

 Undismayed by the spirit of the storm, and obeying a higher 

 Power, they seek, amidst the greatest dangers, the exhausted 



