60 



STRUCTURE OF MONT BLANG. 



tain in Europe, rising fifteen thousand six hundred and eighty feet 

 above the level of the sea, or nearly five times higher than any moun- 

 tain in England or Wales. It was first ascended by Dr. Pacard, in 

 1786, and afterwards, by Saussure, who has published a very inte- 

 resting account of his ascent. Several persons have since ascended 

 this mountain, but Saussure is the only traveller who has given us 

 any information respecting its structure. I shall, therefore insert a 

 brief account of his observations ; they are highly interesting. He 

 set out from the priory of Chamouni, the distance from which to the 

 summit of the mountain, in a direct line, is not more than two French 

 leagues and a quarter : but, owing to the difficulty of the ascent, it 

 requires eighteen hours continued labor, exclusively of the time ne- 

 cessary for repose and refreshment. The first day's journey was 

 comparatively easy, the route being over soil covered with vegetation, 

 or bare rocks. The ascent, on the second day, was over snow and 

 ice, and more difficult: at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same 

 day, Saussure and his attendants pitched their tent on the second of 

 the three great plains of snow which they had to traverse. Here, 

 they passed the night, fourteen hundred and fifty five toises (or three 

 thousand one hundred yards) above the level of the sea, nnd ninety 

 toises higher than the Peak of TenerifFe. The barometer stood at 

 seventeen inches. The next morning, they proceeded with much 

 difficulty and fatigue, arising, principally, from the extreme rarity of 

 the atmosphere, which affected their respiration. The upper parts 

 of Mont Blanc are above the limits of perpetual snow, and it is only 

 on the sides of the nearly perpendicular peaks and escarpments that 

 the bare rock is visible. They gained the summit by eleven o'clock 

 A. M. " From this elevated observatory," says Saussure, " I could 

 take in at one vievv^, without changing my place, the whole of the 

 grand phaenomenon of these mountains ; namely, the position and 

 arrangement of the beds of which they are composed. Wherever 

 I turned ray eyes, the beds of rock in the chains of secondary moun- 

 tains, and even in the primary mountains of the second order, rise to- 

 ward Mont Blanc and the lofty summits in its neighborhood ; the es- 

 carpments of these beds of rock were all facing Mont Blanc, but, 

 beyond these chains, were others, whose escarpments were turned in 

 a contrary direction. Notwithstanding the irregularity in the forms 

 and distribution of the great masses that surround Mont Blanc, and 

 those which constitute the mountain itself, I could trace some fea- 

 tures of resemblance not less certain than important. All the mass- 

 es which I could see were composed of vertical plates (feuillets,) 

 and the greater part of these plates were ranged in the same direc- 

 tion, from north-east to south-west. I had particular pleasure in ob- 

 serving the same structure in the lofty peak of granite called the 

 Col du Midij which I had formerly endeavored, but in vain, to ap- 

 proach, being prevented by inaccessible walls of granite. After the 

 second day's ascent, this lofty pinnacle was beneath me ; and I fully 



