A Week among the Glaciers. 291 



latter per minute. Notwithstanding the increase in the frequency 

 of the respiratory action was much greater than natural, and in- 

 creases as you ascend to the higher points of the mountain, I 

 found none of those urgent symptoms mentioned by tourists, of 

 difficult and laborious respiration, that is, during rest or repose, 

 but even at this point, I found that the muscles became rapidly 

 fatigued, and while in motion the respiration was accelerated, 

 and consequently more or less difficult, but ceased to be oppres- 

 sive after a few moments of rest, proving that the effect was due 

 not to the rarity of the air, but the exercise in this rare atmos- 

 phere. The higher you ascend, the greater and greater is the 

 inclination to rest and lassitude, and the power of muscular en- 

 durance is diminished almost to zero. The moment however, 

 you place yourself in the horizontal position, by lying on the 

 snow, the muscles being at rest, you feel merely lassitude, but no 

 fatigue, which returns almost immediately, on the muscles being 

 again called into action. The most troublesome and annoying 

 circumstance was the intense thirst, produced in part by the cuta- 

 neous transpiration, which was very abundant, in consequence of 

 the fatigue produced by motion, and also by the peculiar condition 

 of the atmosphere. As this thirst increases, the desire for food di- 

 minishes, until it becomes actually a loathing. This was expe- 

 rienced not only by myself, but to a great degree even by the 

 guides, who at the Grand Mulets devoured the fattest kind of 

 roasted and boiled meats with the greatest gout, but at the Grand 

 Plateau cared for nothing more than the wing of a chicken, re- 

 fusing positively the hearty meats, but swallowed with infinite 

 satisfaction the Bordeaux wine which I had carried for my own 

 use. The only beverage that had an agreeable taste to me, and 

 which alleviated my thirst, was the lemonade gazense. Taking 

 a small quantity of snow in my hand, I would saturate it with 

 this liquid, and then allow it to dissolve in my mouth. 



My two friends and myself chose the highest point of the Grand 

 Mulets as our resting place for the night; but owing to its steep- 

 ness, fearing lest we might, during sound sleep subsequent to the 

 fatigue of the day, roll or slide down its side, we constructed with 

 the loose stones from the crevices of the rock, a wall about ten 

 feet long, and about two feet high in the centre, and descending 

 to one foot at its extremities, of a semilunar form, against which 

 we were to place our feet. The larger stones were now removed, 



