ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 49 



In the first place, it must be understood, as I have 

 just intimated, that the height greatly takes away from 

 the. interest of the view, which its expanse scarcely 

 makes amends for. As a splendid panorama, the sight 

 from the Eigi Kulm is more attractive. The checkered 

 fields, the little steamer plying from Lucerne to Flu- 

 elyn, the tiny omnibuses on the lake-side road to Art, 

 the desolation of Goldau, and the section of the fatal 

 Eossberg, are all subjects of interest, and much ad- 

 miration. But the Rigi is six thousand feet above 

 the sea level, and Mont Blanc is over fifteen thousand. 

 The little clustered village, seen from the Kulm, 

 becomes a mere white speck from the crown of the 

 monarch. 



The morning was most lovely ; there was not even 

 a wreath of mist coming up from the valley. One of 

 our guides had been up nine times, and he said he 

 had never seen such weather. But with this extreme 

 clearness of atmosphere there was a filmy look about 

 the peaks, emerging into a perfect haze of distance in 

 the valleys. All the great points in the neighbour- 

 hood of Chamouni the Buet, the Aiguille Verte, the 

 Col du Bonhomme, and even the Bernese Alps were 

 standing forth clear enough ; but the other second- 

 class mountains were mere ridges. It was some time 

 before I could find out the Brevent at all, and many 

 of the aiguilles were sunk and merged into the land- 

 scape. There was a strange feeling in looking down 

 upon the summits of these mountains, which I had 



VOL. IV. D 



