484 



slope is often from 32° to 33° * We felt the 

 want of cramp irons, or sticks shod with iron. 

 Short grass covered the rocks of gneiss, and 

 it was equally impossible to hold by the grass, 

 or to form steps as in a softer ground. This 

 ascent, attended with more fatigue than danger^ 

 discouraged those who accompanied us from 

 the town, and who were unaccustomed to climb 

 mountains. We lost a great deal of time in 

 waiting for them, and we did not resolve to 

 proceed alone, till we saw them descend the 

 mountain instead of climbing up. The weather 

 was growing cloudy ; the mist already issued in 

 the form of smoke, and in slender and perpendi- 

 cular streaks, from the small humid wood which 

 bordered the region of alpine savannahs above 

 us. It seemed as if a fire had burst forth at 

 once on several points of the forest. These 

 streaks of vapour gradually heaped together, 

 and rising above the ground, were carried along 

 by the morning breeze, and gilded like a light 

 cloud over the rounded summit of the moun- 

 tain. 



Mr. Bonpland and I foresaw from these in- 



* Since my experiments on slopes, ch. ii, vol. i, p. 204, 205, 

 I have found in the Figure de la Terre of Bouguer, p. cix, a 

 passage, which shows that this astronomer, whose opinions 

 are of such weight, considered also 36° as the inclination of a 

 slope quite inaccessible, if the nature of the ground did not 

 admit of forming steps with the foot. 



