in order to afcertain the height of Mountains. S3 1 ? 
houring alps with, a moil beautiful effect, and the fhadow 
of the mountain we were then upon extended fifteen or 
twenty miles weft. We had now reached the fummit ; and 
there my curiofity finifhed in aftonifhment. I perceived 
myfelf elevated 6000 feet in the atmofphere, and {landing 
as it were on a knife-edge, for fuch is the figure of the 
ridge or top of this mountain ; length without breadth, or 
the leaft appearance of a plain, as I had expe£ted to find. 
Before me an immediate precipice, a pic, of above 1000 
feet, and behind me the very fteep afcent I had juft now 
mounted. I was imprudently the firft of the company : 
the furprize was perfedt horror, and two fteps further 
had fent me headlong from the rock. 
On this fpot, with fome difficulty, we fixed the inftru- 
ments, and commenced our operations, after fome time 
fpent in admiration at the profpedt, and familiarizing my- 
felf to the fcene. Before me, at fome diftance, was fpread 
the plain in which lay Geneva and the lake; behind it 
rofe the Dole, and the long chain of Mont Jura as far as 
the fort La Glufe, which we entirely commanded, as well 
as fome of the country beyond it. A little to the left, and 
much nearer, lay Mont Saleve, which from this height 
appeared an inconfiderable hill : to the right and left no- 
thing but immenfe mountains, and pointed rocks of every 
poflible fhape, and forming tremendous precipices. In the 
Vol. LXV 1 I. 4 A vale 
