ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 43 



the perpendicular, "with a fathomless termination be- 

 low, and no more foot and hand hold afforded than 

 can be chipped out, it becomes a nervous affair enough. 

 The cords came into requisition again ; and we went 

 along, leaning very much over to our right, and, I 

 must say, paying little attention to our guides, who 

 were continually pointing out spots for us to admire 

 the Jardin, Monte Eosa, and the Col du Geant 

 as they became visible. It took us nearly half an 

 hour to creep round this hazardous slope, and then 

 we came once more upon a vast undulating field of 

 ice, looking straight down the Glacier du Tacxtl, to- 

 wards the upper part of the Mer de Glace the re- 

 verse of the view the visitor enjoys from the Jardin. 

 My eyelids had felt very heavy for the last hour ; 

 and but for the absolute mortal necessity of keeping 

 them widely open, I believe would have closed before 

 this but now such a strange and irrepressible desire 

 to go to sleep seized hold of me, that I almost fell fast 

 off as I sat down for a few minutes on the snow to 

 tie my shoes. But the foremost guides were on the 

 march again, and I was compelled to go on with the 

 caravan. From this point, on to the summit, for a 

 space of two hours, I was in such a strange state of 

 mingled unconsciousness and acute observation of 

 combined sleeping and waking that the old-fashion- 

 ed word ' bewitched " is the only one that I can apply 

 to the complete confusion and upsetting of sense in 

 which I found myself plunged. With the perfect 



