Wanderings among the high Alps

Front matter

WANDERINGS

AMONG

E HIGH A L

Preface

My aim, in the following pages, has been twofold ; on the one hand, to convey some idea of the glories of the higher and less accessible regions of the Alps, and if possible to stimulate others to seek £hose magnificent scenes amongst which I have myself passed some of my happiest days ; on the other, to point out some few of the more interesting excursions which lie almost at the traveller's door, at such places as Chamouni and Inter - laken ; but which, from the routinism or apathy of the inhabitants, are hardly known to themselves — much less to strangers. I have tried to make my experience practically useful to the pedestrian, by inserting those particulars with regard to guides, expense, and the special vii

PREFACE.

difficulties of each expedition, which it is always his first care to ascertain.

It has always appeared to me that ladies might see much more of the grander scenery of the High Alps than they usually do ; and it will be a pleasure to me, if I have succeeded in showing, by the instances recorded in the following pages, how much it is really practicable, with due care and sufficient precautions, for one of the gentler sex to undertake. The expedition which forms the subject of Chapter II is as feasible for any other lady, as for the lady who actually performed it — -who is a fair, but by no means a particularly good, walker.

On this, as on many other occasions, I was indebted for much of the pleasure and success of the enterprize, to the care, prudence and good management of Balmat. I have no fear that any one who knows him will think that I have spoken in exaggerated terms of his merits ; but it is only due, both to him and to myself, to mention that I have had the amplest opportunity of knowing him, and of testing both his capacity as a guide and his worth as a man. It will be seen that among the Alps we have encountered together both difficulty and danger; and in the winter of 1854-5, he was an inmate of my house, under circumstances very trying to himself, for more than three months. He

PREFACE.

ix had hardly set foot in England, when he was assailed by a very severe attack of ophthalmia. It required the utmost skill of the oculist to save his eyesight, and during the long and wearisome confinement which ensued, I never heard one murmur or one expression of despondency escape his lips. He had the singular advantage of being selected by Professor Forbes, as his attendant throughout his protracted series of observations on the Mer de Glace and in other parts of Switzerland — a companionship by which (as will be seen) he has largely profited — and equally honourable testimony to his intelligence and his character is borne by that distinguished writer, both in his "Travels through the Alps and Savoy," and in the chapters on Switzerland appended to his " Norway and its Glaciers."

The illustrations are from the pencil of my wife. The views of our encampment at the Tacul and from the Gumihorn were taken on the spot. The two views of the final ascent of the Wetterhorn have been drawn from description, with such assistance as I could render, by way of suggestion and correction, during their progress; but they are more successful as accurate representations of nature than could reasonably have been expected, and have caught the exact character of the scenes depicted. Neither is in the slightest degree

X

PREFACE.

exaggerated^ and the view of the actual crest and the overhanging cornice could hardly have been more true to the reality, had it been taken on the spot; though, of course, every attempt to delineate such scenes must fall far short of the grandeur and sublimity of nature.

With regard to the botanical notices occurring in the following pages, as I should be unwilling to affect a kind of knowledge which I do not possess, I must explain that I am no botanist. It has been my habit, however, to make collections of the wild flowers of the different localities, which I have carefully preserved, and which have been named for me by my friend, Mr. James Atkins, of Painswick, a gentleman known in the botanical world, in whose company I had the advantage of travelling for six weeks, in 1852, and who has kindly furnished me with the matter contained in the appendix. As the flowers have been secured in their places as soon as they were dry, and a memorandum made of where they were found, I have the best reason for referring them to the localities to which I have ascribed them : and imperfect as the notices must be, I hope they may still be acceptable to those who are interested in botanical pursuits. If I have sometimes mixed the common and the rare with an unphilosophical want of discrimination, it must be remembered that I have looked

PREFACE.

xi upon nature with the eye of a lover of the picturesque rather than of a botanist, and I have an excuse in the feeling so touchingly expressed by a great poet : —

" While allured Erom vale to hill, from hill to vale led on, We have pursued, through various lauds, a long And pleasant course ; flower after flower has blown, Embellishing the ground that gave them birth, With aspects novel to my sight ; but still Most fair, most welcome, when they drank the dew In a sweet fellowship with kinds beloved Eor old remembrance' sake."*

* Wordsworth.

Chapter I. The Col Du Geant

Regulations of the Chamouni Guides — Col de Vosa — Col cle Balme —Reconnoitring Excursion to the Jardin — Preparations — Night at the Montanvert — Beautiful Moonlight Scene — Start for the Col du Geant — Sunrise upon the Mer de Glace — " Pierre L'Echelle "— " The Difficulties "— " The Dangers "—Fall into a Crevasse — Arrival at the Col — Difficult Descent— Guides- Expense 1 — 32

Chapter II

A NIGHT ON THE MER DE GLACE, AND A LADY^S VISIT TO THE JARDIN.

Giving the " Chef-Guide " the slip — How to carry Cream in the Mountains — Dangers of the Glaciers — Arrival at the Tacul — An Airy Lodging — " Difficulties " of the Col du Geant revisited — Supper on the Moraine — Night among the Glaciers — A Cold Bath — Useful Coffee-Pot — Sunrise on the Mer de Glace — Les

XIV

CONTENTS.

Egralets — The Jardin — Return to the Montanvert — Descent to Chamouni in the Dark — Remarks — Desirable Arrangement 33—60

Chapter III. The Inundations Of 1852

St. Remy — Heavy Rain— German Students and Noisy Italians — The St. Bernard — The Morgue — Descent in the Rain — Swollen Stream — Tidings of Disaster — Broken Bridge. — Night at Sembranchier — Mountain Walk to Martigny — Aspect of the Valley of Trient— Mud Torrent— Col de Balme— Bad Quarters— The Valley of Chamouni — Destructive Ravages of the Flood — State of the Road to Geneva — Bonneville — Rapid Rise of the Waters 61—84

Chapter IV. The Neighbourhood Oe Chamouni Expedition Beneath

THE AIGUILLES OE MONT BLANC.

Beautiful View from the Charmoz — Excursion from the Montanvert to the Glacier des Bossons — Bad Guides, and Dangerous Walk beneath the Glaciers — Wild Mountain Tarn — The Pierre l'Echelle -—Glacier des Bossons — Rain and Snow — The "Reglements" again — New Ground for Explorers ... 85 — 95

CHAPTER V. j

PASS OE THE MONTE MOEO.

La Burca — Marmot for Supper — A Rainy Day — Mending Stockings — Sunrise upon Monte Rosa — The Monte Moro — A Glissade — Arrival at Saas — Remarks — Botany . . . ' ^96 — 107

CONTENTS.

XV

CHAPTEE VI.

THE VALLEY OP SAAS AND THE VALLEY OF PEE.

From Visp to Stalden — Sudden Arrival of Autumn — Butterflies — Sour Bread and Garlic — Stalden to Saas — Change of Climate — Avalanches and Assassins — Saas — The Inn — A Model Kitchen — The Cure — Yalley of Fee — Annual Fete — A "Strapping Woman" — Fee-Gletcher-Alp — Advance of the Glaciers — Flora of the FeeAlp— -La Tete — Glacier of Fee— Ancient Glaciers — The Balfrin — Crossing the Bider Glacier under Difficulties — Dangerous Descent — The Allelein Glacier . . 108 — 138

CHAPTEE VII.

PA.SSAGE OF THE ALLELEIN GLACIER PROM ZAAS TO ZERMATT.

Start by Candlelight — Mountain Sheep — Perilous Scramble — Basin of the Allelein Glacier — Garlic — A Theological Guide — Deep Snow — Precipices of Ice — Kindness of the Cure — Yalley of Tasch — Hunting the Marmot — A Eace — The " Strong Man of Saas"— The Cure's Night-walk— Yalley of St. Nicholas— Yiew of the Matterhorn— Zermatt — Eemarks . . 139 — 154

CHAPTEE VIII.

THE PASSAGE OF THE FINDELEN GLACIER, OR COL IMSENG, FROM SAAS TO ZERMATT.

Pass discovered by the Cure— The Mattmarksee — Tame Chamois — A Night in the Hay — Ascent to the Allelein Glacier — Flowers — Magnificent Prospect— Beautiful Crevasses — The Col Imseng — Vegetation close to the Summit — The Monte Eosa Chain — Intense Cold— Fearful Descent — The Cure on the Eocks — The Cure among the Crevassess — Another Eace — Effect of a Hard Day's Work . 155—187 xvi

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HOCHTHALIGRAT AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OP ZERMATT.

The Biffelberg and its Inn — The Hochthaligrat — Beauty of the Flowers — Sublime Prospect — Monte Rosa — The Matterhorn — Bernese Chain — The Schwarzsee — Curious Optical Phenomenon —Glacier of Zmutt— The Col d'Erin— The Val d'Anniviers— Barbarism of the Inhabitants .... 188 — 201

CHAPTER X.

PASS OF ST. THEODULE, PROM ZERMATT TO CHATILLON.

Ascent to the Glacier — A Fantastic Nook — Taking the Wrong Track — Dangerous Crevasses — Carelessness of the Zermatt Guides — Specks on the Snow — A Sea of Mist — A Dreary Abode — An Extraordinary Character — His Tragical Fate — An Icy Tomb — Val Tournanche — Short Commons and Dirty Quarters — A Long Walk to Breakfast— Chatillon— Remarks . 202—221

CHAPTER XL

THE TORRENTHORN, THE (ESCHINEN LAKE, AND THE DISTRICT OF THE GHEMMI.

Ascent of the Torrenthorn — Startling Approach to a Precipice — All the Alps at one View — A Novel Paint-Brush — The Ghemmi — The Schwarenbach — A " Veritable Voleur" — Glaciers of the Wildstrubel— The (Eschinen Lake— Profusion of Wild Fruits- Force of the Torrent — A Freezing Bathe — Frutigen — Cordial Reception 222—239

CONTENTS.

xvii

CHAPTEE XII.

EXCURSIONS AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OP INTERLAKEN.

Unknown Treasures of Scenery about Interlaken — The Harder — Dangerous Grassy Slopes — Melancholy Fate of a Lady — Magnificent Precipices — An Uncomfortable Seat — Above the Staubbach — The Gumihorn — A Second Jungfrau — Beautiful Woodland Path — Deep Snow — Striking Panorama — An Intractable Steed 240—253

CHAPTEE XIII.

THE PASSAGE OP THE TS CHIN GEL GLACIER PROM LAUTERBRUNNEN TO EANDERSTEG.

The Laueners — Thunderstorm — The Jungfrau by Moonlight — Upper Valley of Lauterbrunnen — A Rough Ladder — The Glacier — Rash Bees and Butterflies — A Herd of Chamois — Another Storm — A Wet Walk — Kandersteg — Frutigen — A Masquerade . 254 — 266

CHAPTEE XIY.

ASCENT OP THE WETTERHORN.

Resolution to ascend the Wetterhorn — ""Sampson" — Lauener — Start from Grindelwald — Description of the Wetterhorn — Bohren — The Enge— The Flag — Salute from Below — Sunset — Night Encampment — Uncomfortable Quarters — Solemn Scene — Early Morning — Rock Difficulties — The Upper Plateau — Pirates — The Last Rocks— Hazardous Ascent — Overhanging Cornice — Startling Arrival at the Summit — Narrow Edge — Magnificent Panorama — Seen from Grindelwald — Planting the Flag and the Fir-Tree — Failure of Previous Attempts — Awful xviii

CONTENTS.

Descent — "To the Health of the Wetterhorn" — A Race on the Rocks and a Roll on the Ice — Troublesome Flock of Sheep — Fen de Joie — Safe Arrival — Black Faces — Excitement at Grindelwald— Remarks 267—315

CHAPTER XY.

HINTS FOR PEDESTRIANS.

Switzerland the Country for Pedestrians — Expense — Outfit — The Knapsack — Shoes — Socks — Elannel — Contents of the Knapsack — Blouse — Ropes — Telescope — Compass — Pressing Mowers — Riding and Walking — Guides, when needed — A Guide for the Tour — Inns in the High Alps — Extortion in Piedmont — Swiss Inns — At Sonceboz — The Schwarenbach — The Engadine — Food — Beds — The Chalet-Elea — When and how to resist— Temper . * 316—347

CHAPTER XYI.

GLACIER ACTION AND GLACIER THEORIES.

Striking Nature of Glacier Phenomena — Activity of Glaciers — Moraines and Glacier Tables — Different Regions of a Glacier — Motion of Glaciers — Hugi — Agassiz — Forbes — Crevasses — The " Gravitation Theory" of De Saussure — The "Dilatation Theory" of Charpentier and Agassiz— Suggestion of Mr. Moseley — "Viscous Theory" of Professor Forbes — Mr. Christie's Experiment — Forbes's Experiments — Geological History of Glaciers — Erratic Blocks — Traces of Glacier Action in Wales —Former Vast Extension of Glaciers . . 348 — 370

373—384

ERRATA.

Page 108 line 6. for " copy " read " spy."

— 114 — 7. for "palustries," read " palustris."

— 127 — 11 from the bottom, for " rosemarinum" read " rosmarinum."

— 129 — 5 from the bottom, for "fimbriata " read " ciliata." [The two varieties

are very much alike, but there is some doubt whether "fimbriata " is a Swiss variety.]

— 130 — 9 from the bottom, for " azoides" read "aizoides."

— 157 — 10 from the bottom, for " azoides" read " aizoides."

— 224 — last line but one. for " mysotises," read " myosotises."

— 232 — 9. for "Monte Rosa" read "the Weisshorn. " I have made a very

common error in mistaking the Weisshorn for Monte Eosa, which is nearly twenty miles further, and effectually concealed by the range of the Weisshorn. — See Forbes's "Travels through the Alps," p. 303.

WANDERINGS

AMONG

THE HIGH ALPS.

Chapter I. The Col Du Geant

There, many a precipice Erost and the sun, in scorn of mortal power, Have piled : — dome, pyramid and pinnacle, A city of death, distinct with many a tower, And wall impregnable of beaming ice.

Shelley.

REGULATIONS OF THE CHAMOUNI GUIDES — COL DE VOSA — ■ COL DE BALME — RECONNOITRING EXCURSION TO THE JARDIN — PREPARATIONS — NIGHT AT THE MONTANVERT — BEAUTIFUL MOONLIGHT SCENE — START FOR THE COL DU GEANT — SUNRISE UPON THE MER DE GLACE — " PIERRE l'eCHELLE " — " THE DIFFICULTIES" — "THE DANGERS" — FALL INTO A CREVASSE- ARRIVAL AT THE COL — DIFFICULT DESCENT — GUIDES — EXPENSE.

I left London on the 15th of August, 1853, and arrived, on the afternoon of the 19th at Sallenches, where my good friend Auguste Balmat met me, and greeted me with a hearty shake of the hand as I descended from the

B

REGULATIONS OF THE GUIDES.

diligence. The guides of Chamouni are a kind of corporation, governed by their own bye-laws, which are capable of being enforced by legal process ; and one of their absurd regulations* was, that any person at Chamouni who wanted a guide, must take the one who was next on the rota. It was in vain that you expostulated — you ha^anl old friend on the list — you did not like the look of the guide thus fortuitously presented — another man had been recommended to you — this had nothing to do with the matter ; superior skill, energy and competency brought no advantage to the good guide; impertinence and incapacity were no disqualification to the bad guide. You must take the man whose turn it was; and you must take him at the regulation price, whether you liked him or not. It was all en regie. There was but one loop-hole ; and only old travellers were acquainted with that. If you engaged your guide out of the jurisdiction of the commune, and if you reached Chamouni with him, by way of a Col, the regulations were suspended, and you could keep him, though out of turn. If you arrived by the carriage road, he could not accompany you the next day. Accordingly, I had written to Balmat to meet me at Sallenches, and to enter the Chamouni jurisdiction by way of the Col de Yosa. We had a beautiful walk up this charming little pass, which is not half so often taken as it deserves to be. Most persons content themselves with ascending to the Pavilion from Chamouni, and returning the same way; whereas, the other side of the pass, between St. Gervais and the summit, is much the most beautiful. The first part of

* There is some chance of these rules undergoing revision this year ; — not before revision is needed.

COL DE VOSA.

the path leads through verdant meadows and fruitful orchards,, after whi|h it turns to the left, and winds steeply round the shoulder of the mountain, amongst luxuriant nut, beech, and chesnut trees, which overhang the track. The roaring torrent of the glacier of Bionnassay is soon left far below. On the opposite side is the beautiful path to Contamines; and, if you turn round, the eye lights upon the lovely and peaceful scene presented by the rich pasturages of Mont Joly. Emerging from the trees, you come to soft and marshy slopes above the woods, traversed by a thousand rills of transparent, gushing water, while in front are the imposing masses of the great glacier of Bionnassay, surmounted by the still vaster snows of the Dome du Goute, and of the Aiguille of the same name, with its shaggy precipices and enormous crags. Towards sunset, we reached the soft turf at the top of the Col, and had a glorious view of the valley of Chamouni, and the glaciers and aiguilles of Mont Blanc, and watched the roseate tints on the snowy summits gradually fade into the cold gray of night. We put up at the little hostelry of the Pavilion, where we slept comfortably, and next morning, rising before the sun, descended over the pleasant turf and flowery pastures, all wet with the heavy dews of the morning, and reached Chamouni before most of the world were astir.

After breakfast, I ascended the Col de Balme, to keep an appointment with my brother, who was to come from Martigny to meet me at the top. It was a strangely different scene from the last view I had had over the valley of Chamouni, the year before, when the floods were out ; but the traces of the inundation were still apparent to

b 2

COL DE BALME.

those who knew where to look for them, and in what to recognize them. The once well-metalled road which led to Argentiere was a mere dusty track, worn by constanttraffic, amongst the stones of all shapes and sizes which had been scattered broad-cast over the plain. The dust was now over our shoe-tops, where, the last year, the water would have reached to our middles. Not a breath of air was stirring, and the heat was intense. We found some huge leaves of coltsfoot, which we dipped in the glacier stream, and lined our caps with them, and let them hang down over our ears and the backs of our heads, so as to form some protection against the fierce glare of the sun. Soon afterwards, we crossed the gigantic moraine which shows where once the Mer de Glace descended right across the plain ; a fact which tradition confirms, by saying that formerly a great lake existed behind it, like the Mattmarksee, in the valley of Saas. Among the firs and larches with which this ancient landmark is clothed, you see well the great blocks of primitive granite, of which the moraine is mainly composed. Then the valley opens, and beautiful green slopes on the right make the spot very dangerous in winter and spring, on account of the avalanches. Presently, we came within the influence of the glaciers of Argentiere and Le Tour, and a cool breeze tempered the intense and almost overpowering heat. I recognized the spot where, the year before, we had helped the peasants in their efforts to save a portion of their landfrom the ravages of the flood. How different was now the scene ! It was hard to believe that we gazed on the stream which we had seen, but a year ago, exerting such a terrible and destructive agency.

RECONNOITRING.

We readied the top about two o' clock, and, in half an hour were gladdened by the sight of my brother and his party, who had kept their tryst faithfully. They had, however, started too late from Martigny, and had paid dearly for the delay. The heat on the Eorclaz had been something awful, and every one of the party was more or less exhausted by it. On the way down, just before we reached the ancient moraine of the Mer de Glace, Balmat pointed out to us a spot where an avalanche had descended, the wind of which had carried a man from a place high above the stream at the bottom of the ravine, to a point nearly the same height on the opposite side. He also showed us a gigantic block of granite, which had been transported from one side of the valley to the other by the blow of an avalanche. These specific instances give a better idea of the enormous force with which the snow rushes down, than any general description could do.

The next day, we visited the Jardin, partly with a view to explore with the telescope the passage leading to the Col du Geant, which we were intending to cross. It was a glorious day, and we made a most successful expedition. While we lay basking in the sun, on the rocks of the Jardin, Balmat took the telescope, and after examining long and anxiously the formidable chaos of crevasses that lay before us on the ascent to the " grand Col," pronounced it to be " passablement mauvais a present but he added, with a quiet smile of confidence, that we should no doubt find some sort of passage. We had started before six; and it was half-past nine at night before we reached Chamouni again ; so we thought it well to make the

VEXATIOUS REGULATIONS.

next a quiet day, in order to prepare for the great expedition. My brother went earl}- to the Mer de Glace with the rest of his party ; and I stayed below, till the afternoon, to complete our preparations, and joined him in the evening at the Montanvert. One of the reglements of the corporation of guides was, that no party of travellers should be permitted to cross the Col du Geant with less than two guides a-piece, under pain of a heavy fine on any guide who should contravene the regulation. We had plotted with Balmat, who had a perfect horror of these absurd and mischievous rules, to make the passage with but two guides, and had concocted a scheme by which we thought we should be able to evade the law ; but it is very difficult in a place like Chain ouni to keep these matters " dark." Many things are necessary for the expedition, which cannot be got together without exciting attention ; and the chief guide, getting scent of our plan, sent for Balmat, and expressed his determination to have the rule carried out. "We were obliged to yield, which we did with a bad grace, and to incur the great expense of four guides. An old friend of mine, Zachary Cachat, had met me at Sallenches, in order that we might be able to secure his services, if we desired them, without the interference of the troublesome reglements ; and Balmat managed, despite them, to secure us two other excellent guides, by being on the watch, and claiming them the moment their turn arrived. One of them, Pierre Cachat, the uncle of Zachary, was entrusted with the preparation of a strong ladder, to help us over the crevasses. Zachary provided a stout ice-hatchet, fitted on to a short alpenstock, and Balmat saw to the requisite stock of cords, and of such little comforts as chocolate,

NIGHT AT THE MONTANVERT.

raisins, a flask of cognac and the like, which we were not likely to get so good at the Montanvert. Chocolate and raisins, it should be remarked, are admirable preventives of thirst and exhaustion ; in a very long day's march, it is a great comfort to have them to suck from time to time. All Alpine mountaineers are familiar with this use of them. I had lost my cap in the dark, as we descended the night before from the Montanvert, and invested in a broad-brimmed straw hat, which is a great protection to the face and neck. When we started in the afternoon, with our ladder, ropes, and hatchet, there was quite a stir at Chamouni ; and we encountered so many questioners on the way to the Montanvert, that it was nearly three hours before we reached it. We met my brother's party returning from the Mer de Glace, and parted from them, hoping to meet in a few days at "Visp or at Zermatt. Our men were all in the highest spirits, and as wild as so many schoolboys. An excursion of this kind is profitable to them ; and, independently of the gain, I believe they enjoy it as much as their employers.

We went to bed early, in the hope of a good night's rest before the morrow. My brother slept well ; but, for some reason or other, I never got to sleep at all. I heard every sound, all the night long, out of the house and in the house, from the rattling of the angry wind which blew almost a gale against my casement, to the jabbering and chattering of the women who were cooking our fowls for the morrow, and the champing of a mule's chain, and the clanking of his shoes in the stable underneath. Such an incessant noise all night, I have seldom heard — heavy feet tramping to and fro, here, there, and everywhere, on the

MER DE GLACE BY MOONLIGHT.

bare wooden floors ; shrill voices pitched high, and nearly always at it, guides lying on the hay in the stable, laughing and joking for hours after we went to bed, and every kind of disturbance. The moon poured in a flood of silver light at my window. I thought it was the light that kept me awake, and rose and fastened the shutters outside, excluding all but a stray beam or two, which found a way through the chinks ; but in vain. I dozed once or twice, but never fairly slept. However, I lay very quiet ; and when, at one o'clock, Balmat summoned me to get up, I was not so little rested as I feared I should be.

It was as beautiful a night as ever gave place to a glorious day. The moon, three days past the full, was shining with cloudless lustre upon the peaks of the Charmoz, the glaciers and crags of the Nant Blanc, the Aiguille du Drupand the Aiguille Yerte, upon the solemn masses of the Jorasses, and upon the wavy sea of ice beneath our feet, upon whose surface the long lines of moraine were distinctly seen, one behind another. The wind was very high ; at times, indeed, it blew quite a gale ; and when we started, we were obliged to tie our handkerchiefs over our hats to keep them on. The stars shone with uncommon brilliancy, and seemed (if I may borrow a phrase, I think, of de Saussure's) to hang out of a sky of ebony. The night was remarkably warm. In spite of the high wind which was sweeping down the glacier, the thermometer, at two o'clock, stood at 58°, by two observations; a temperature which Balmat said was without a precedent in his experience.

It was exactly half past two when, after a hearty break-

THE START.

fast, we got fairly under weigh. Zachary Cachat led off, followed by Balmat, my brother and myself, and the two other guides. Pierre Cachat went last, carrying our ladder, which must have weighed nearly half a hundred weight, as well as a knapsack containing some of the ropes and provisions. They were all in wild spirits, delighted at the prospect of a glorious day, and a difficult expedition ; and made the surrounding rocks ring again with their shouts and laughter. As we filed down the narrow track that leads to the glacier, the rocks about us poured forth one continuous stream of heat. We might have passed the night in the open air, lying near the rocks, and been too hot, rather than too cold. In many places, the puffs of wind, instead of being, as we should have expected, ice-cold from the glacier, burst upon us with the heat and oppression of a sirocco. Had this lasted any considerable time, we should have been exhausted before our day's work was fairly begun ; but, instead of pursuing the track which the guides are fond of taking, continuing by the rocks, and along the moraine beneath the Glacier of Charmoz, which overhangs the Mer de Glace on the right — a track which, though easier, is never safe — we took to the ice before we reached the Angle. Even here, the hot wind pursued us, and often saluted us with stifling and sudden gusts. The ice gave us a good deal of difficulty, from its extreme slipperiness, the consequence of the heat, which melted off all the superfluous snow and softer ice, and left us only the compacter and harder ice to walk upon. The guides, one and all, declared they never had so slippery a walk over the Mer de Glace, and gave utterance to many expressions of unfeigned astonishment,