Notice of Prof. Forbes 1 s Travels in the Alps. 191 



to overthrow buildings and to carry with it trees, haystacks, barns and 

 gravel, cannot surprise us. Enormous masses of rock were moved, 

 but there is no evidence that granite masses were brought down from 

 the higher valleys by the torrent." A similar catastrophe happened in 

 this valley twice in the 16th century, and to prevent its occurrence, 

 men are employed during many weeks in summer, by turning upon 

 the ice streamlets of water, which saw it in two ; but a permanent tun- 

 nel through the mountain, appears to promise the only certain protection. 

 An electrical phenomenon occurred at an elevation of more than 9C00 

 feet above the sea, which although not uncommon, may be worth men- 

 tioning, (p. 323.) The ground was covered with half melted snow and 

 some hail was falling, when a curious sound was heard to proceed from 

 the Alpine pole with which the traveller was walking. On holding his 

 hand above his head, the fingers gave a whizzing sound, and it became 

 apparent that they were so near a thunder cloud as to be highly electri- 

 fied by it. All the angular stones around were perceived to be hissing 

 like points near a powerful electrical machine. One of the guides was 

 carrying an umbrella against the hail storm, and its gay brass point 

 was likely to become the paralonneere of the party ; he was therefore 

 requested to lower the point, and the word was hardly uttered before a 

 clap of thunder unaccompanied by lightning justified the precaution. 

 They found some huts of miners 10,800 feet above the sea, the highest 

 temporary habitation in Europe. 



In closing our extracts from this great work, so rich in valuable and 

 interesting materials, we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of giving 

 an abridged account of a sketch by which Prof. Forbes illustrates the 

 danger of wandering alone amid these icy regions. On the 17th of 

 September, 1842, having with his guide ascended a lonely promontory 

 whose " vast sheets of granite nearly vertical, occur up to a great height, 

 with a sort of shelf above the glacier level, covered with detached 

 masses of granite ;" he sent Auguste in search of water. Becoming 

 uneasy at the long absence of the man, Prof. Forbes proceeded in search 

 of him and met him with two lads of Chamouni, leading between them 

 an American traveller, whom with much difficulty they had rescued 

 from a ledge of rocks on which he had passed the whole night. The 

 adventurer had rambled alone on the morning of the preceding day over 

 these solitary precipices, and toward afternoon having slipped over a 

 rock where his fall was checked by some bushes, he found himself on 

 a ledge of granite, shut in on every side. Here he had passed the 

 whole night, and having in the morning by his cries succeeded in attract- 

 ing the attention of some young men from Chamouni, who were pass- 

 ing far below, with much danger by a circuitous path they were able 

 to gain a position above him. Their efforts would have been in vain 



