36 MOUNTAINS. 
tlie smallest difTereiice in the taste or smell of bread, wine* 
meat, I'mits, or liquors, as some travellers have pretended is 
the case at great heights ; but sounds were of course much 
weakened, fioni the want of objec's of reflection. Of ali 
the organs, tliat of rospiration was the most afl'ecled, fh<? 
pulse of one of the guides beating ninety-eight times in t> 
minute, that of iJie servant one hundred and twelve, and 
tlitit of M. de S:iussure one h\indred and one ; wliile 
Chamouni the pulsations respeelively were forty-nine, sixty, 
aud seventy-two. A.fewdays afterwards, hlr. hleaufoy, aa 
English gentleman, succeeded in a similar attempt, alilumgb 
it -A tis attended with greater dllflculty, arising Iroai euhirge- 
ujents in llte chasms in tlic ice. 
THE GLACIERS, OR ICE .MASSF.S.- 
Tuf. three great Ghaders, or Ice mountains, vvhieii descend_ 
from the flanks of Mout Blanc, add theii ice to that of 
the Miage, and ju'esent a majestic spectacle, amid llw 
astoiiishing succession of icy summits, of deep vallks, at A 
<A wide ciu'.sins, whidi have become ehanucls for the 
imiumerable torn.'iils and cataracts with which tliese mouii- 
taliis abound, I'hc view which the Glacier of 'i'alalrv 
aflords from its cetttre, looking to\v;inis the north, is as 
extraordinary as beautiful. It rises gradually to the b.ase o.’ 
a semicircular girdle, formed of peaks of granite of a great 
lu'ight, and lerniinaling ia sharp sunauil.s, extremely varied 
in their forms ; while the iiilervals between these jrcaks are 
fllled up 1 ) 1 ' ice, which falls into this m.ass, and this ma>s 
of ice is crowned by m.asses of snow, rising in i'esluoH’ 
Ixtween the black and vertical tables of granite, the sleep- 
nests of wiiich docs not allow Uiem to remain. A ridge ot 
•shatter', d wrecks divides this glacier lengthwise', and lurn'> 
its most ilevated ])art, being 8538 feet, upward.? of a milo 
till'd a half, aliove tlie level of the sea. 'ibis prospect ho» 
liothuig hi common with what is seen ia other jiarts of tlw 
world, d'he immense masses of ice, surrounded and .sur- 
mounted by iiyrtmiidal roclcs, still more enormous in mag- 
uitude; the contrast between the vrhiteness of tlie saov.s 
and the obscure colours of the stones, moistened by ihit 
water which trickles down their sides ; the purity of the 
air; the dazaling light of the siui, whidi gives to theirf 
