6 Botanical Excursion to the 



the highest part of the ridge — probably the highest pass in Europe, 

 as the Col de Cervin is, according to Saussure 10,284', or accord- 

 ing to Welden 9948' ; and the Col de Geant, 10,598', Michaelis. 

 1. c.) — about 3 o'clock, and after a halt of a few minutes, we com- 

 menced a most rapid descent over a smooth field of snow, (at an 

 angle of 15 degrees, Mich.) It soon became, however, more gradual, 

 and eventually the descent was almost imperceptible ; but chasm 

 after chasm soon broke up the hitherto smooth surface of indurated 

 snow, into the most rugged and dangerous glacier. The clouds had 

 gradually spread, and we Avere soon enveloped in a thick and wet 

 mist. All our endeavours to keep clear of the wider chasms were 

 ineffectual, and having, with great dilliculty and much expenditure 

 of time, passed several, covered only with a thin layer of snow, 

 which offered no resistance to the passage of our poles, we were 

 obliged to give up the direction we had taken towards the right side 

 of the glacier, and to attempt reaching the rocks on the left. Here 

 we found more difficulty in proceeding, as the ice did not reach the 

 rocks, but was separated from them by large apertures and deep 

 wide clefts, of which the walls were more than 100 feet high. 

 Again we attempted the centre of the glacier, but were not a little 

 disconcerted at finding the chasms increase rapidly both in size and 

 number. The fog was now so dense that we could not see ten yards 

 before us, and at last the guides gave up all hope of getting off the 

 glacier that night, as the rocks and higher points by which they 

 were enabled to guide their course, were invisible. The impossi- 

 bility of either advancing or returning was too evident, and nothing 

 remained but to submit ; and excepting a small piece of bread in 

 our pockets, unprovided with food and clothed in linen dresses, it 

 was not without considerable doubts whether we should succeed bet- 

 ter on the following day. 



On taxing the guides with their ignorance, one of them then said 

 for the first time, that he had not crossed the glacier since the pre- 

 ceding year, and that the whole nature of the ice and the direction 

 of the chasms were completely changed. However true this may 

 have been, it is the usual excuse that guides bring forward on such 

 occasions. 



After considerable exertion, and several narrow escapes from be- 

 ing engulfed, we succeeded in reaching a high bank of smooth snow 

 on the north side of the glacier, where night surprised us, still hunt- 

 ing out for the shelter of a rock. We were therefore obliged to 

 take up our quarters under a mass of broken rock, which afforded 

 a sort of shelter to our heads and backs, but not before we were so 



