glacier, are, by its irresistible though imperceptible motion, carried along its sides, while

had attained, it was no easy matter to climb over it. This was, however, the course which he chose, as the only mode of surmounting what he hoped might prove the last obstacle to his voyage of discovery. A projecting tree afforded him the means of raising and swinging himself up to the top of the crag. But he had scarcely planted himself on it, had scarcely a moment to congratulate himself on seeing, amid a wild chaos of cliffs and wood, the gloomy ruins of Geierstein, with smoke arising, and indicating something like a human habitation beside them, when, to his extreme terror, he felt the huge cliff on which he stood tremble, stoop slowly forward, and gradually sink from its position. Projecting as it was, and shaken as its equilibrium had been by the recent earthquake, it lay now so insecurely poised, that its balance was entirely destroyed, even by the addition of the young man's weight.

"Aroused by the imminence of the danger, Arthur, by an instinctive attempt at self-preservation, drew cautiously back from the falling crag into the tree by which he had ascended, and turned his head back as if spell-bound, to watch the descent of the fatal rock from which he had just retreated. It tottered for two or three seconds, as if uncertain which way to fall; and had it taken a sidelong direction, must have dashed the adventurer from his place of refuge, or borne both the tree and him headlong down into the river. After a moment of horrible uncertainty, the power of gravitation determined a direct and forward descent. Down went the huge fragment, which must have weighed at least twenty ton, rending and splintering in its precipitate course the trees and bushes which it encountered, and settling at length in the channel of the torrent, with a din equal to the discharge of a hundred pieces of artillery. The sound was re-echoed from bank to

C

by the labouring and friction of the ice they are broken, rounded, and heaped up into mounds of considerable height, forming barriers between the precipices and glaciers. This mass of debris, being loosely thrown together, and mixed with ice, is very difficult of ascent.

The wood which was required during our expedition was here collected, each guide taking his share. While this was doing, some of the party rolled immense blocks of granite, numbers of which lie on the Moraines, down a precipice, into a deep and narrow hollow, formed by the glacier and part of the mountain; the noise produced, and its echo many times repeated, very near equalled a lengthened peal of thunder. Continuing our course up the Moraines, we again came upon the rock, and soon arrived at our breakfast station, at the foot of the Aiguille du Midi, and behind a large rock called Pierre Fontanêt, or the Pierre à l'Echelle.

This spot is at some distance from the pasture land of the mountain, but during our repast we

bank, from precipice to precipice, with emulative thunders; nor was the tumult silent till it rose into the region of eternal snows, which, equally insensible to terrestrial sounds, and unfavourable to animal life, heard the roar in their majestic solitude, but suffered it to die away without a responsive voice."

were surprised by a visit from some sheep and goats. They had followed us. That the latter could have made their way over the precipices to reach us was not extraordinary; but I did not believe that sheep would have had the power or courage to climb and leap from rock to rock, passing over many a deep abyss, which they of necessity must have done. At this point there is also a remarkably powerful echo, to prove which Devouassoud fired a pistol. We were almost deafened with the report: at first the loud reverberation produced a wonderful effect; then beating about from mountain to mountain, it died away in the softest sound.

It was near mid-day, and anxious to get in good time to the Grands Mulêts, I hurried the guides, who were dividing the wood, and squabbling in good humour, each desirous of getting as light a burden as possible. None of them had as yet carried any, as their relations or friends, on all such occasions, bring their haversacks to this spot. Here we left half of these auxiliaries; but the remainder, knowing that we intended to come down, if practicable, on the second day, an arrangement which would expose us to very great and additional fatigue, were unwilling to give up their loads, while, by proceeding some distance on the ice, they sought

to preserve the strength of their friends, and keep them fresh as long as possible. One or two of the guides, however, had employed other persons to carry their loads, and paid very dearly for this indulgence to their own shoulders. Indeed this is necessary, the ascending the Moraines and rocks being very fatiguing, even without a load*.

At twenty minutes before twelve we left this station, and ascending a little further, arrived at the edge of the glacier. We had not much difficulty in getting on it, but to an inexperienced eye it would seem impossible to do so, or at all events to proceed any great distance along it, from the masses of ice which are piled on one another, and the deep and wide fissures which every moment intersect the path pointed

* "When we had been some time at rest," writes Dr. Clarke, "I was desirous of examining the rate of the pulse; and found the pulse of one of the oldest porters, Coutet le Chamois, to beat eighty-four; our captain, Coutet, eighty-four; my own, eighty-eight; the guide, Simeon Devouassou, ninetytwo; Pierre Tairraz le jeune, one hundred and two; and Captain Sherwill, one hundred and eight. This result surprised me a good deal; I had expected to find the pulse of the strongest and most muscular subjects least accelerated. This, however, did not appear to be the case. Pierre Tairraz le jeune, a young Hercules in figure and muscle, had a pulse fourteen beats quicker than my own; yet the observation was made with care, and I have no doubt of its accuracy."

out as that which is about to be proceeded in. Here the skill and knowledge of the guide is shown the quickness and ease with which he discovers a practicable part is quite extraordinary; he leads the way over places where one would believe it impossible for human foot to tread. We passed among the remains of innumerable avalanches, which had been long accumulating, and formed a most uneven and tiresome footway.

An extended plain of snow now presented itself, here and there covered with masses of broken ice; sometimes a beautiful tower of that substance raised its blue form, and seemed to mock the lofty pointed rocks above it; sometimes an immense block, its perpendicular front broken into pinnacles, now bearing a mass of snow, now supporting long and clear icicles, looked like some castle, on whose dilapidated walls the ivy, hanging in clustering beauty, or lying in rich and dark luxuriance, was, by the wand of some fairy, changed into the bright matter which now composed it.

From these magnificent scenes, and over this plain, we hurried as speedily as circumstances would allow, to avoid those dangerous avalanches which fall continually from the Aiguille du Midi, sweeping every thing before them.