4 ' Account of ajourney to the 
with provisions, blankets, sheets for a tent, cords, coals, a pan 
to melt snow in, a-chafingdish, bellows, &c. &c.; and each 
of us was armed with a pole about 9 feet long,-with a sharp 
iron spike in the end, to support ourselves and to prevent 
us from falling.—Our line of march seemed rather formida- 
ble as we ascended and descended the broken glaciers. 
We encountered many crevices, some of which were dis- 
tinctly seen ; others more than half hid by the snow. Oc- 
casionally masses of ice had sunk, and left the remaining 
wall rising 40 or 50 feet above us: in such cases it was ne- 
cessary to search the lowest end of the wall, and ascend by 
the ladder, or by cutting stepping holes in the side. This 
however could be attempted only where the wall was not 
more than 20 feet high, as our ladder was only of that 
length. Where besides the wall, there was a crevice at the 
bottom, the ascent was indeed dreadful ; for while crossing 
agulph that yawned 150 or 200 feet beneath us, we were 
climbing the ladder placed against the side of ice, where the 
least slip must have precipitated us to immediate death. 
Where the sides of the crevice were of equal height, the 
ladder was laid down, and we then crawled over on all fours. 
In a few cases it occurred that an arched bridge of snow 
connected the sides, and here it behoved us to tread lightly 
and with caution, lest breaking through, we should have 
sunk into a pit from which it would have been impossible 
to return. Often frustrated in our course by unforseen 
crevices and walls, we were forced to make a lengthened 
march; but at last clambered up a solitary rock that rises 
from the snow, 8 leagues from the village. It is called the 
Grand Mulet, and having served several travellers as a rest- 
ing place, was chosen by us as the only rock on which it 
was practicable to sleep. It is composed of quartz, and 
micaceous schist rising in perpendicular lamina 60 or 70 
feet above the ice, and 7,800 feet above the level of the sea. 
A few pieces of schist arranged into a kind of platform af- 
ford a tolerable resting place for him who is not over fas- 
tidious on such a journey. On one side rises the sharp 
Aiguille de Midi, and on the other the Dome de Couté, that 
seems to soar far above Mt. Blanc. It was yet early in the 
afternoon, and the sun beat down so powerfully as to render 
the heat very mconvenient :—occasionally however a cloud 
of thick mist enveloped us-~it was then extremely chilling 
