294 DEVASTATIONS AND EBSTORATIONS. 



of rooks rises semiciroularly before you to the height of between 1000 and 

 2000 feet. This gigantic wall is divided^ by three or four steps or ledges, 

 each supporting a glacier from which stream cascades. That to the left, as 

 you face the cerque, is 1266 feet high, and has the reputation of being the 

 loftiest water-fall in Europe. The summit of this wonderful amphitheatre 

 is covered by perpetual ice and snow, resting on the crests of the Cylindre, 

 10,500 feet high. The base of this fine mountain is embedded in a huge 

 glacier, which gives birth to the high fall. Adjoining the Cylindre rises 

 the Tours de Marbor6, forming gigantic spurs of Mont Perdu. Stunted 

 lichens alone vary the ruggedness of the vast semicircle of rocks, and the 

 only sound breaking the stillness is that of the streaming cascades. 



" The floor of the cirque consists of chaotic masses of debris. Immedi- 

 ately under the base of the precipice are large heaps of snow, beneath 

 which the waters of the cascades flow, like the torrents spanned by the 

 Alpine snow-bridges. 



" You are unable to take in the sublime spectacle at once, so over- 

 powering are its features ; and gazing at the walls of the huge cerque, 

 seamed by the rushing cascades, you fancy they are about to fall and crush 

 you beneath their ruins. 



" Within a few yards of the last water-fall on your right hand, the ascent 

 to the Brfeche is made. Without a guide the precise spot would be exceed- 

 ingly difficult to find ; and from the forbidding nature of the precipice, few 

 would be bold enough to make the essay unadvised. It is literally a 

 natural rock ladder, and is the only spot throughout the wide sweep of the 

 cirque afi'ording a means of ascent. The rugged strata, here nearly vertical, 

 afford slight foot and hand hold ; but there are places where the precipices 

 are smooth, and you are puzzled to find a coigne of vantage. Here a steady 

 head is necessary, as occasionally you have nothing between you and the 

 bottom of the precipice but a thin shelf of rock on which you are standing. 

 " As we ascended new wonders were revealed, — precipices, cascades, and 

 glaciers, alternating with wreaths of snow. 



" The top of the great water-fall was still above us ; and you have a very 

 good idea of the altitude of the cascade, when, after more than an hour's 

 ascent, you are still beneath the level of the glacier whence it is supplied. 

 About two hours were occupied in surmounting the first series of precipices, 

 and then we left the high mountain pastures, called by the peasants 

 Malhada de Serrades, where goats pick up a scanty subsistence, and entered 

 the snow-fields. Our course now lay through a very steep gulley filled with 

 snow ; up this we scrambled, taking advantage of the hardness of the snow 

 to make it our path. Above us rose tremendous precipices, terminating in 

 jagged peaks, on which my guide, with his practised eye, discovered numerous 

 izzards. I saw them extremely well through my telescope, balanced like 

 aerial creatures on the giddy heights, one of their number evidently acting 

 as sentinel. Their attitudes were very graceful, all Being ready at a 

 moment's warning from their watchful leader to bound from crag to crag, or 

 descend precipices untrodden by the foot of man. 



" We now fairly lost sight of the cerque, and were in the midst of snow 

 and glaciers, at a steep incline of about 40°. The climbing of this slope 

 was most fatiguing to me, as the frozen snow was very slippery, and I 

 retrograded nearly as often as I advanced. This part of the ascent occupied 

 about an hour. My guide now turned to the left, for the purpose of crossing 

 a glacier, so highly inclined that it cannot be ascended in a direct line. The 



