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THE ANNALS OF MONT BLANC

MONT BLANC FROM THE
BREVENT. THE NORTHERN
FACE.

THE ANNALS
OF MONT BLANC

A MONOGRAPH

Charles Edward Mathews

Sometime President of the Alpine Club
{Membre honoraire du Club Alpin Franfais)

WITH A CHAPTER ON THE GEOLOGY
OF THE MOUNTAIN, BY PROFESSOR
T. G. BONNEY, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S.

BOSTON
L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY

1900

STACK
ANNEX

MY FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES OF THE ALPINE CLUB,

AND TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE

NOW GONE TO THEIR REST,

THIS BOOK

IS CORDIALLY AND

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

PREFACE

^T^HIS book is in no sense a record of personal

adventure. It is a History of Mont Blanc ;

and I have endeavoured to put together within the

compass of one volume everything of interest which

IS knowji in connection with this famous mountain.

For a great number of years I have been a
traveller in every part of the Alps. Every centre
of mountaineering has its own peculiar charm, but
I have found in the chain of Mont Blanc a constant
and irresistible fascination. It has been my good
fortune to have climbed the great mountain twelve
times, and — irrespective of variations — by most of the
different routes by which the summit can be attained.
It is not unnaturaly therefore, that I should have
endeavoured to make myself acquainted with its
traditions and its history ; but here my difficulties
began. No real history of the mountain for Eng-
lish readers exists. Its records are to be found in

ix I*

Preface

isolated publications^ most of them rare and difficult
to obtain ; in miscellaneous articles in English and
Foreign magazines ; and in the forgotten cohimns of
the British and Continental press. For many years
I have made the collection of these fugitive records
the object of my peculiar care, and have succeeded in
gathering together a mass of valuable material

I am well aware that efforts have already been
made to tell the public something at any rate of the
story of the mountain. Albert Smith wrote " The
Story of Mont Blanc " nearly fifty years ago ; but
his brochure is to a great extent a record of his own
ascent, is full of inacctiracies, and is now wholly ottt
of date. Mr. Edward Whymper, a great authority
on mountaineering in general and on the Alps in
particular, has published ''A Guide to Chamonix
and Mont Blanc,'" which contains more accurate and
valuable information on the subject of which it treats
than is to be found in any similar publication. But
interesting as this work is, it is a guide book rather
than a history. M. Charles Durier, the President
of the French Alpine Club, is the only yuan who has
hitherto written a complete history of the mountain.
I have endeavoured to the best of my ability to do for
English readers — though on somewhat different lines
— what M. Durier has already done so admirably
for his countrymeft.

Preface

My task has been rendered less onerotis owing to
the courteo7is and kitidly assistance which I have
received from many friends both at home and abroad,
and ivhich I desire heartily and gratefully to
acknoivledge.

Signor Vittorio Sella, well known not only as a
mountaineer but as an artist, has been so obliging as
to place all his photographs of Mont Blanc at my
disposal, and has also been good enough to prepare
five plates specially for Messrs. Swan & Company,
who have executed the photogravures.

I have also to thank Mr. Eric Greenwood for his
excellent photograph of the Dome Route and the
Aiguilles Grises. I am indebted for the loan of
some rare books to M. Auger d of Bourg, M. T. de
Saussure, M. J. Vallot, Mr. Henry Cockburn, and
Lady Emily Peel. Professor Bonney, formerly
President of the Royal Geological Society, has been
good enough to supply a chapter on the geology of the
mountain, and Mr. J. Ashby Sterry has allowed
me to reprodttce a fine portrait of Albert Smith.
Adolphe Balmat has supplied me with the manu-
script diary, hitherto unknown, written by his cele-
brated great gra7idfather. Dr. Paccar d; and M.J. P.
Cachat, of Chamonix, has placed at my service a rare
portrait of the Doctor which is in his possession.

I have received much valuable information and

Preface

assistance from M. Gabriel Loppe, M. Albert
Barbey, M. T. Dufour, and M. Louis Kurz.
Also from Professor Sonnensckein, Mr. C. T. Dent,
Mr. Henry Pasteur, Dr. Garnett (of the British
Museum), and others. M. Durier has not only
allowed me the use of his }nap, but has given me
from time to time information, sympathy, and
encouragement ; a7td the Rev. H. B. George, Mr.
D. W. Freshfeld, and Mr. G. H. Morse have
taken infinite pains in verifying the details of my
story, and in correcting its pages for the Press.

I have been advised and have determined to give
am,ple particulars of the various ascents of the inoun-
tain from the time of Paccard and Balmat (lySd),
when it was first climbed, down to the time of Albert
Smith (i8^i), when the ascent became fashionable.
Readers who are mountaineers will be glad to have
these details ; and those who are not, will I hope
pardon what may seem to be unnecessary repe-
tition.

My first attempt on Mont Blanc was made in
18^6, and m.y last successftd ascent in August, i8g8.
For thirty-five of these years I have had the -price-
less benefit of the companionship and the services of
Melchior Anderegg, of Meyringen, perhaps the
greatest all-round guide whom, the love of moun-
taineering has ever produced. Whatever moun-

xii

Preface

taineering successes I have achieved, I owe almost
entirely to hini. He has led me in eight of my
ascents of the mojtntai^i, and it is with a peculiar
pleasure and pride that I record that I never heard
him utter a word to which the gentlest woman could
object, and that I have never found him unequal to
any kind of emergency.

I now ask my readers to examine closely the
picture of Mont Bla?tc, taken from the Br^vent,
which forms the frontispiece to this volume, hi the
extreme left corner are the rocks of the Grands
Mulets, and just above them the Aiguille Pitschner.
The ordinary Chatnonix route lies up the glacier
to the Vallot rocks on the extreme right, and
thence by ivay of the Bosses du Dromadaire to
the summit. It was the narrow7iess of the lower
end of this ridge which foiled the early explorers.
On the extreme left is the Corridor, and above the
Corridor, in two lines, are the Rochers Rouges.
Above the higher Rochers Rotiges, and descending
to the right toToards the Grand Plateau, is the
'' ancien passage'' discovered by Jacques Balmat.
On the right of the picture are the slopes of the
Dome. A thorough knowledge of the geography of
the 7nountain is essential to a complete zinderstanding
of much of the history ivhich these pages describe.

No one knows better than myself how muck this

xiii

Preface

volume falls short of the ideal which I hoped to
attain, and yet I a7n not without hope that the
Annals of Mont Blanc may prove of interest not
to mountaineers only, but also to the general reader.

Four Oaks,

Near Birmingham,

'November i8p8.

XIV

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

LEGENDARY AND HISTORICAL

PAGE

The position of Mont Blanc — Konrad Gesner— Josias Simler —
Thomas Coryat — John Jacob Scheuchzer and his dragons —
Les Montagnes Maudites — Early maps — Sherwill's re-
searches— Early visits to Chamonix — The visit of William
Windham, Dr. Pococke, and others — The visit of Peter
Martel — The account of the Glacieres or Ice Alps in Savoy . i

CHAPTER n

HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE — MARC THEODORE
BOURRIT — THE EARLY ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND MONT
BLANC

Nicolas de Saussnrc — Horace Benedict de Saussure — Voyages
dans les Alpes — Saussure' s love of Mont Blanc — His
" Discours preliminaire " — Marc Theodore Bourrit — His
" Nouvelle Description des Glacieres — Saussure offers a
reward to the man who can find a way up the mountain —
Pierre Simond's attempt in 1762 — Four guides make the
attempt in 1775 — The Montague de la Cote — The attempt
of 1783 — The sentiments of Lombard Meunier — Dr. Paccard
and his diary 19

Contents

CHAPTER III

FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND MONT BLANC

PAGE

Dr. Paccard and M. Bourrit investigate the Western side —
Couttet and Cuidet climb on their own account — The
attempt of Couttet and Meunier in 1785 — Saussure's first
attempt from St. Gervais — His failure — Construction of
cabins — The attempt of 1786 — The route from Chamonix
found to be shorter than that from St. Gervais — The Paccard
narrative — Jacques Balmat appears upon the scene . . 36

CHAPTER IV

THE CONQUEST OF MONT BLANC BY MICHEL GABRIEL
PACCARD AND J.\CQUES BALMAT — THE STORY TOLD BY
ALEXANDRE DUMAS

Balmat's opinion of himself — His dreams of conquest — His
bivouac on the rocks of the Grands Mulcts — His first failure
— His interview with Paccard, Carrier, and Tournier — His
attempt with them — He is stopped by the Bosses — His
desertion by his fellows — He passes a night alone on the
Grand Plateau — His return to Chamonix — Balmat consults
Dr. Paccard — They start together and sleep on the Mon-
tagne de la Cote — The following day they reach the summit
in fourteen hours — Their sufferings 54

CHAPTER V

THE CONQUEST OF MONT BLANC BY HORACE BENEDICT
DE SAUSSURE

Jean Pierre Tairraz sends the news to Saussure — Saussure's con-
fidences to Tairraz — Saussure gets as far as the Montagne
de la Cote in 1786, but no further — Balmat's second ascent
with Cachat and Tournier in 1787 — Saussure's victory on
the 2nd of August, 1787 — He emplo)'S eighteen guides —
The excursion occupies four days — His experiments and

observations — His happy return 72

xvi

Contents

CHAPTER VI

PACCARD VERSUS EALMAT

PAGE

The rival merits of the two pioneers — The trustworthiness or
otherwise of the Dumas narrative — The meeting of Dumas
and Balmat in 1832 — Balmat's opinion of Paccard — The
errors in the Dumas narrative — The loss of Paccard' s
printed story — Consideration of Balmat's assertions to
Dumas — The evidence of Saussure, Charles Bonnet,
Bourrit, Coxe, Leschevin, and Michel Carrier — The con-
troversy in the J^ournal de Lausanne — The certificate given
by Balmat to Paccard — The discovery of the "ancien
passage " — Both pioneers entitled to equal honour . . 91

CHAPTER Vn

SUBSEQUENT ASCENTS OF MONT BLANC — SAUSSURE TO
ALBERT SMITH

Ascents — Beaufoy in 1787 — Woodley in 1788— Doorthesen and
Fornerct in 1802 — !Maria Paradis in 1809 — Matzewski in
1818 — Howard, Rensselaer, and Undrell in 1819 — Clissold
in 1822 — Jackson in 1823 — Clark and Sherwill in 1825 —
Hawes and Fellows, and Auldjo in 1827 .... 108

CHAPTER Vni

SUBSEQUENT ASCENTS OF MONT BLANC — SAUSSURE TO

ALBERT SMITH { continued )

Ascents — Wilbraham in 1830 — Barry and Tilly in 1834 — Atkins,
Pidwel and Hedrengen in 1837 — Henriette d'Angeville,
Eisenkramer and Stoppen in 1838 — St. Angelo in 1840 —
Carelli, Nicholson and Caux, Bosworth, Cross, and Blanc
in 1843 — Bravais, Martins, and Le Pileur in 1844 — Bouille,
and Woolley and Hurt in 1846 — Richards and Gretton, and

Gardner, and Galton in 1850 144

xvii

Contents

CHAPTER IX

THE ASCENT OF MONT BLANC BY ALBERT SMITH, THE

HON. W. E. SACKVILLE WEST, MR, C. G. FLOYD, MR. F. .
PHILIPS, AND MR. G. N. VANSITTART, 185I

PAGE

The early life of Albert Smith — His craze for Mont Blanc— His
first journey to Chamonix in 1838 — The labour of the
journey in those days — His lectures in London and its
vicinity — His connection with Punch — The overland mail —
His journey to Chamonix in 1851 — His meeting with Mr.
West and his friends — Preparations for the ascent — Extra-
ordinary commissariat — The successful ascent of the party —
His exaggerated account of the dangers — Newspaper criti-
cism— Burford's Panorama — The entertainment at the
Egyptian Hall 176

CHAPTER X

THE FORMATION OF THE ALPINE CLUB AND NEW
ROUTES UP MONT BLANC

The necessity of Alpine co-operation — The letter of Mr.
William Mathews to the Rev. F. J. A. Hort — The origin of
the Alpine Club and its first members — Kennedy's new
route — Hudson makes the ascent by the Bosses du Droma-
daire — The complete Western ascent first made by Leslie
Stephen and F. F. Tuckett — The route by the Eastern ridge
— The Brenva route — The Rochers du Mont Blanc route —
The Dome route — Modern maps of the Chain — The Brouil-
lard route — Herr Paul Gussfeldt — Summary of routes . . 197

CHAPTER XI

FATALITIES

The causes of accidents — The Hamel catastrophe, 1820 — The
discovery of the bodies of the guides after an entombment
xviii

Contents

\ PAGE

of forty-one years — The accident on the Col du Geant in
i860 — The death of Ambroise Couttet in 1864 — ^^^- Young's
death in 1866 — The Arkwright accident in the same year —
The deaths of Mrs. Marke and Olivier Gay in 1870 — The
loss of eleven lives in the same year — The death of
Fedchenko in 1873 — The deaths of Marshall and Fischer
in 1874 — The deaths of Balfour and Petrus in 1882 — The
death of Rey in 1885 — The death of Brunod in 1890 — Five
other lives lost in the same year — The deaths of Rothe and
Simond in 1891, of Xettleship in 1892, of Poggi in 1893, and
of Cumani in the same year — The loss of three lives in 1895,
and of one in 1898 — The St. Gervais catastrophe . . . 222

CHAPTER XII

THE CHAMONIX GUIDES

Chamois hunters and crystal finders made the first guides —
" Livrets de service " — The organisation of the guides of
Chamonix in 1823 — Oppressive regulations — Results — The
abolition of the Society of Guides in 1892 — The new Syndi-
cate and its effects 248

CHAPTER XIII

THE SUBJECTION OF MONT BLANC — HUTS, REFUGES,
AND OBSERVATORIES

The numbers of French, German, Swiss, and Italian Alpine
Clubs — Surplus funds — Construction of refuges all over
the Alps — The first cabin on the Grands Mulcts — The
first, second, and third "hotelleries" — Marie Tairraz — The
huts on the Rochers du Mont Blanc route — On the Dome
route — On the Aiguille du Gouter, and at the foot of the
Aiguille du Midi — The various shelters on the Chamonix
side — The Vallot Observatory — The Janssen Observatory . 261

xix

Contents

CHAPTER XIV

GLEANINGS AND REFLECTIONS

PAGE

The sufferings of the early explorers and means now taken to
avoid them — Heat and cold on IMont Blanc — Proper clothing
and proper food — The effect of low atmospheric pressures —
The cost of mountaineering in old and modern days —
Perfect physical health necessar>' to due appreciation of
mountain beauty — Conclusion 274

THE GEOLOGY OF MONT BLANC. By Professor

T. G. Bonney, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. . . .286

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MONT BLANC . . . .295

APPENDIX

Table of Ascexts from 1786 to 1851 i\ Order of Date . 321

Table of Fatalities which have occurred ox Moxt
Blaxc, 1 820-1898, IN Order of Date .... 323

Letter from Jacques Balmat, August 31, 1825 . . . 324

Letter from Axgelique Paradis to Mademoiselle d'Axge-
ville, September 3, 1846 324

F.ACSiMiLE of "An Account of the Glacieres or Ice Alps
IN Savoy," published in 1744 — Facsimile of Map from
SAME volume — Facsimile of Certificate given by
the Bureau des Guides to John Auldjo in 1827 . . 327

INDEX 359

MAP

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MoKT Blanx from the Brevent. The northern view.
From a drawmg by Mr. E. T. Compton . . Frontispiece
The Old Refuge at Moxtanvert axd Blair's Cabix.
From a drawing by Edmund H. New . . . Title page
OxE OF Scheuchzer's Dragoxs. Reproduced from " Itinera
per Helvetias Alpinas Regiones," 1723, vol, i. To face page 6
The Old Refuge at the Moxtaxvert, This building,
with its inscription " A la Nature," was constructed near
the site of Blair's cabin (built about 1779), which bore the
motto " Utile dulce." The improved refuge was con-
structed in 1795, at the cost of M. Desportes, the French
Resident at Geneva. From a photograph by Tempest

Anderson To face page 16

Portrait of William Wixdham. Reproduced from the
Literary Life of Benjamin Stillingfleet. The original por-
trait painted by Shackleton . . , To face page 18
Portrait of Horace Bexedict de Saussure, After the
picture by Juehl, in the Library at Geneva. From a photo-
graph by La Croix, of Geneva . . . To face page 24
Portrait of Michel Gabriel Paccard. Reproduced
from an old portrait in the possession of M. J. P, Cachat,
of Chamonix (his great grandson). From a photograph by

Tairraz, of Chamonix To face page 32

Portrait of Jacques Balmat. Reproduced from a
"Notice biographique sur Jacques Balmat dit Mont
Blanc," par Michel Carrier. Geneva, 1854. To face page 54

xxi

List of Illustrations

9. Portrait of Horace Benedict de Saussure. After the
picture by St. Ours. A wood engraving, by Edward
Whymper To face page 72

10. The Statues of H. B. de Saussure axd Jacques
Balmat, at Chamoxix. On the back is the following
inscription : " Erigc en mdccclxxxvii., avec le concours des
Clubs Alpins Frangais, Suisse, Italien, Anglais, L' Appala-
chian Mountain Club of Boston, La Societe des Touristes
Autrichiens, et de I'Academie des Sciences de Paris." From

a photograph by Tairraz, of Chamonix . To face page 90

11. Portrait of Jacques Balmat. Reproduced from an old
lithograph. Original by Wiebel . . . To face page 100

12. The "Axcien P.assage" discovered by Jacques Balmat
in 1786, with the Rochers Rouges. From a wood
engraving by Edward Whymper . . . To face page 104

13. Medallion of Jacques Balmat on block of granite in
front of the old Church at Chamonix, with this inscription :
" A Jacques Balmat, La Societe Geologique de France
avec le concours du Club Alpin Frangais. Aout 1878"

To face page 106

14. The Rocks of the Grands Mulets showing route taken
by the early explorers. Reproduced from " Ascensions aux
cimes De I'Etna et du Mont Blanc," par Le Comte Henri de
Tilly. Geneva, 1835 To face page 150

15. Portrait of Mademoiselle Henriette d'Angeville.
Reproduced from a " notice biographique" by Mary Paillon.
Paris, 1894 To face page 158

16. Portrait of Albert Smith. Reproduced from an old
picture by C. Baugniet To face page 196

17. Mont Blanc from the Summit of the Aiguille du
Midi. The Western ridge, showing the Bosses, the
Vallot rock, the Grand Plateau, the Dome, and the Aiguille
du Gouter. From a photograph by Signer Vittorio Sella.

To face page 204

18. Mont Blanc from the Western Summit of the
Grandes Jorasses, showing the Eastern ridge, the Mont
Maudit, and the Mont Blanc de Tacul. Below are the

XX ii

List of Illustrations

Dome de Rochefoit, the Dent du Geant, and the Mont Mallet.
From a photograph by Signor Vittorio Sella. To face page 208

19. MoxT Blaxc from Mont Herbetet (Gr^vian Alps), show-
ing the Southern view ; also the Corridor, the Mont Maudit,
and the Mont Blanc dc Tacul, with (from left to right) the
glaciers of Brouillard, Fresnay, and Brenva. From a photo-
graph by Signor Vittorio Sella . . . To face page 2 10

20. The Dome Route up Mont Blaxc, showing on right
the Dome glacier, on left the Italian glacier of Bionnassa}',
in centre the rocks of the Aiguilles Grises. From a photo-
graph by Mr. Eric Greenwood . . . To face page 212

21. MoxT Blaxc from the Aiguille Noire, showing also
the Mont Blanc de Courmayeur, with the Aiguille Blanche
de Peteret and the Tour Ronde below. From a photo-
graph by Signor Vittorio Sella . . . To face page 2iS

22. The Ice Lake ix the Glacier of Tete Rousse after
THE Catastrophe of 1892. From a photograph by
Tairraz, of Chamonix To face page 246

23. The Ruixs of the Baths of St. Gervais and the
Gardens, after the Catastrophe of 1892. From a
photograph by Tairraz, of Chamonix . . To face page 246

24. P0RTR.AIT OF Jean P.ayot (the Friend of Jacques
Balm.at). This portrait was taken when Payot was sixty-
four. He was ninety-three in iSgS. From a photograph by
Couttet et Fils, Chamonix . ... To face page 254

25. Portrait of Michel Payot. From a photograph by
Mr. James Eccles To face page 2S4

26. Portrait of Francois Devouassoud at Fifty-six. From

a photograph by Captain Abney . . . To face page 2^^^

27. Portrait of Melchior Axderegg at Sixty-eight. From

a photograph by C. Myles Mathews . . To face page 2$^

28. Mont Blanc from the Summit of the Aiguille du
Midi, showing the Mont Maudit, the Calotte, and the
Bosses. From a photograph by Signor Vittorio Sella.

To face page 260

29. Hut on the Aiguille du Gouter, From a sketch by
E. T. Coleman. From a photograph by C. Mj'les Mathews.

To face page 264
xxiii

List of Illustrations

30. The Old Hut on the Grands Mulets, from a pencil
drawing by Adams Reilly. From a photograph by C. Myles
Mathews To face page 264

31. The Observatory on the Summit of Mont Blanc.
From a photograph by Tairraz, of Chamonix.

To face page 272

32. The Vallot Observatory and the Vallot Refuge,
looking North. From a photograph by Tairraz, of
Chamonix To face page 272

33. Initials Cut by Jacques Balmat on a Rock on the
Grands Mulets: "J9 B. 1786." This fragment of rock
is now in the Mairic at Chamonix. From a photograph by
Tairraz, of Chamonix To face page 272

34. Diagram Illustrating the Geology of Mont Blanc.

Page 294

APPENDIX

35. Facsimile of an Account of the Glacieres, or Ice Alps, in
Savoy, in two letters, one from an English gentleman to
his friend at Geneva ; the other from Peter Martel to the
said English gentleman, as laid before the Royal Society,
London, 1744 327

36. Facsimile of the Map appended to tlie " Account of the
Glacieres, or Ice Alps, in Savoy, 1744," where the name of
" Mont Blanc " appears for the first time on a map.

To face page 356 Appendix

37. Facsimile of the Certificate given by the Bureau des Guides
to evidence a successful ascent of Mont Blanc. This was
given to John Auldjo, and is reproduced from "Narrative
of an Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc," by John Auldjo.
London, 1828 357

XXIV

The Annals of Mont Blanc

CHAPTER I

LEGENDARY AND HISTORICAL

THE noble mountain which dominates the Alps, but
which did not bear its present name till about
one hundred and sixty years ago, rises to a height of
15,782 feet above the level of the sea. It forms the
centre of a group of peaks and glaciers of immense
interest and variety. This group, now known as the
"Chain of Mont Blanc," measures from east to west
about thirty English miles, but from north to south, not
more than ten miles. The beautiful valley of Chamonix
forms for the most part its northern boundary, and the
water from its glaciers flowing north, finds its way into
the river Arve, and thence to the Rhone. Its southern
boundary consists of two Italian valleys, called the
Allee Blanche and Val Ferret, whose waters meet near
Courmayeur and form the river Dora Baltea. On the
west it is bounded entirely by the Val Montjoie, the

I B

The Annals of Mont Blanc

chief villages in which are St. Gervais and Contamines,
and its eastern boundary is sufficiently defined by the
high road extending from Martigny in the valley of the
Rhone, to Orsieres.

Most of the northern and western slopes of this
fascinating chain are situated in Savoy ; the greater part
of the south-eastern slope belongs to the Duchy of
Aosta, and forms part of the kingdom of Italy ; the
eastern end of the chain is in Switzerland ; and although
its area is small as compared with some other mountain
ranges, three languages are spoken on its base.

The chain of Mont Blanc contains more than thirty
peaks, of which many are of the first order, some of the
Aiguille or needle type, composed of slaty crystalline
rocks, varying from ii,ooo to nearly 14,000 feet in height.
It is also the home of twenty great glaciers and many
smaller ones ; and in the centre of this mighty group,
but high above them all, visible from places three
hundred miles apart, soars that " silent pinnacle of aged
snow," known in the middle ages as Mont Maudit, or the
accursed mountain, but in later years as the White
Mountain or Mont Blanc.

It is of stupendous natural beauty. In no other part
of the Alps are the mountain forms of such infinite
variety, or the snow fields so amazing in shape and size.
In no other part of the Alps are the great rock walls more
fantastic or more terrible, or the seracs of more dazzling
splendour. The great summit must have been seen for
countless years, flushed with rose at dawn and sunset,
by thousands of men and women, but there was no

Legendary and Historical

speculation in those eyes. In fine summer dawns it
must have been visible from Lyons and Macon, and
from the distant Italian plains. The peasants must
have often watched it as they garnered their hay on
the sunny slopes of Jura, and from many an elevation
in the still more distant north. To whom did it first
occur to explore the recesses of that great shrine of
nature, and to plant the human foot on the summit of
that " heaven-kissing hill " ?

The love of adventure is as old as the hills themselves,
but the appreciation of mountain beauty is a plant of
modern growth. Old poets and writers have only the
terms terrible and horrible in their Alpine vocabulary,
the glaciers were known only as a difficulty, and the
mountains as a danger. Many men crossed the Alps
between the days of Hannibal and the days of Napoleon,
but they had no eye for the beauties of nature, and
apparently little taste or inclination to record what they
saw. It is true that Petrarch ascended Mont Ventoux,
and Leonardo da Vinci Explored some parts of Monte
Rosa, but their motive was rather curiosity than a desire
of mountaineering for its own sake.

Konrad Gesner of Zurich, however, had the genuine
mountaineering spirit. Mr. W. A. B. Coolidge tells us ^
that in the year 1541, Gesner wrote to his friend Vogel
of Glarus, " I am resolved henceforth that ... I will
ascend several mountains, or at least one, every year,
when the flowers are in their glory, partly for the sake of
examining them and partly for the sake of good bodily

' " Swiss Travel aud Swiss Guide Books," p. 12.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

exercise and of mental delight. For how great a
pleasure think you is it, . . . for a man touched as he
ought to be, to wonder at the mass of the mountains
as one gazes on their vastness and to lift up one's head
as it were amongst the clouds " :

" Good bodily exercise and menial deiiglit."

These words would form a fitting motto for the Alpine
Club. It is remarkable to find here, says Sir Frederick
Pollock, " in the words of a Swiss naturalist, that love
of the sublime and picturesque elements in wild nature
which is often supposed to have been born with
Rousseau, two centuries later, but this is a love of
wild scenery and something more ; there is the love
of earning the sight by one's own muscular toil, the
genuine mountaineering spirit." ^

After Gesner came Josias Simler, who, writing in 1574,
gave advice to travellers above the snow-line that might
have been written yesterday, and who more than three
centuries ago actually recommended the use of the rope
and the "goggle." Thomas Coryat, who wrote in 161 1,
was a great traveller, and crossed the Mont Cenis on his
way to Venice ; but his chief mountaineering discovery
appears to have been that the peaks which divide the
Rhine and the Rhone, are " the highest of all the
Alpine mountains." Bishop Burnett, writing in 1685,
makes an interesting reference to Mont Blanc. There
is, he says, " one hill not far from Geneva called
Maudit, or cursed, of which one-third is always covered

' " Mountaineering." Badminton Series, p. lo.

Legendary and Historical

with snow." The most interesting of the old works
on Alpine travel is undoubtedly that of John Jacob
Sclieuclizer, who was born in 1672. He published his
"Itinera Alpina" in Latin, in 1723. The work is pro-
fusely illustrated, and gives an account of Swiss journeys
taken by the author in the years 1702-1711. According
to the preface, it was designed to supply a guide to
"plain and mountain, to lakes, rivers, valleys, steep
crags, even to the lofty summits of the Alps themselves."
Now Scheuchzer was a Fellow of the Royal Society,
which published at its own expense part at least of his
work, some of the more interesting plates being pre-
pared and executed at the cost of Sir Isaac Newton.
Scheuchzer was thirty years of age when he made his
first journey. He was a Doctor of Medicine and Pro-
fessor of Mathematics in the University of Zurich. His
scientific knowledge was of a very rudimentary kind.
A certain lake, he tells us, has the marvellous property
of swallowing up men who fall asleep upon its banks,
— as the magnet attracts iron. He appears to have
believed everything that was told him on his travels. A
certain huntsman informed him that the chamois was
invulnerable after eating the blue flower of the " Doro-
nicum " ; and that men might enjoy a similar privilege
if they partook of the roots of the same plant before
sunrise. The author gravely assures his readers that
this story must be untrue, as " there is no such thing as
'Doronicum' with a blue flower in the Alps." He devotes
a good deal of attention to the habits of chamois, and
informs us that this animal, which he calls "rupicapra,"

The Annals of Mont Blanc

is fond of licking porous rocks in order to promote
digestion. It is a pity that parts of this work have not
been translated, for it contains some marvellous stories.
Scheuchzer, however, is chiefly remarkable for his dis-
covery of Swiss dragons. Not that he ever saw one
himself, but information as to their habits, appearance,
and places of resort, was brought to him by unimpeach-
able witnesses. His work is embellished with many
drawings of these animals, one of which is reproduced
here ; but let no one be alarmed. Even Scheuchzer does
not assert their existence on the Chain of Mont Blanc,
and if they ever did exist, they have fortunately died
out. Scheuchzer ascended Mont Pilatus (not quite to
the summit), but tells us he has nothing to add to the
description of the mountain given in the monograph of
Konrad Gesner. He was probably not very fond of
climbing. "Very few care," he adds, "for this laborious
kind of pursuit, which is by no means lucrative. It is
.not every one who can take pleasure in climbing hills
which reach the clouds."

His travels were confined chiefly to the Oberland and
the Engadine, and he appears never to have visited Geneva
or to have seen Mont Blanc, but he had a keen interest
in the mountains, and was a true pioneer. Mr. Coolidge
tells us in his learned and admirable work on " Swiss
Travel and Swiss Guide Books," that Scheuchzer was
entitled to be held in honour by all travellers, for whom he
greatly smoothed the way by his labours, though rather as a
painstaking collector of facts than as a sound philosopher."^

■ " Swiss Travel and Swiss Guide Books," by W. A. B. Coolidge. London :
Longmans, 1889.

One of Scheuchzer's Dragons.

[ To fiuc pas^c 6.

Legendary and Historical

Certainly scientific men began to be interested in moun-
tains and glaciers before the beginning of the seventeenth
century, and ascents of some importance were made
and recorded when the eighteenth century was well on
its way.

The city of Geneva has been remarkable for three
hundred years as a school, not of divinity only, but also
of scientific inquiry. The whole chain of Mont Blanc,
though at a distance of sixty miles, can be seen and
studied from the uplands north of the glorious lake, and
from the beautiful summit of the Saleve. Yet it is a fact
that none of the inhabitants, in quest of scientific dis-
covery or of personal adventure, were early attracted
towards the great white heights, on which they must have
so often gazed.

Why did the mountains remain for them so long
" accursed " ? The surplus waters of the lake swept
unceasingly through the ancient city in

" The blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone,"

and were polluted then as now, by the turbid and dirty
river which came direct from those unknown hills.
Possibly the colour of the Arve confirmed the super-
stition so long prevalent, that in consequence of their
crimes, the people of Chamonix were condemned to
live amongst eternal snows. The spirit of adventure
was dormant. The hills remained " Les Montagues
Maudites," and yet maps of the country were not un-
known. A fair map of Switzerland is published in
Scheuchzer's work, and although the mountains are

The Annals of Mont Blanc

represented by the then conventional string of mole-hills,
the valley of the Arve is clearly defined, and " Cluse " and
"Chamrauny" are distinctly marked. I have examined
with great care the magnificent collection of old Euro-
pean maps in the British Museum. In one map, pub-
lished in 1650 by Nicolaus Visscher, the site of Mont
Blanc is marked " Le Mont Maudit," and the same term
is used in another, dated 1657. In one by Justinian
Danckerts, published in 1660, the whole range is de-
scribed as " Les Glacieres," and the same title is given
in maps published in 1703, 1715, 1730, and 1740. In a
map of Switzerland published in 1760 by Abraham
Rouvier, '* Les Glacieres " extend from Valorsine to
" Mont Maley," the only peak in the chain to which a
name is given. Possibly with a single exception to be
noted later, the map appended to " Nouvelle Description
des Glacieres," by Bourrit, published in 1787, is the
first real map to contain the name " Mont Blanc " ;
but no other mountain in the chain is named. Finally,
in a map of Switzerland published by Chretien de
Mechel in 1799, the words Mont Blanc appear on the
proper site. Nevertheless, the great summit was certainly
known by its present name, at least at Chamonix and
Geneva, in the beginning of the last century.

Although the mountain remained so long " accursed,"
the village of Chamonix was not unknown. We are
indebted to Mr. Markham Sherwill, who made an ex-
amination of its archives in 1831, for much valuable
information.! Sherwill's researches have made it clear

I " Historical Sketch of the Valley of Cl)amouni,"by Markham Sherwill. Paris, 1833.

Legendary and Historical

that Chamonix is a place of great antiquity, that a
priory was founded in the valley during the reign of
Pope Urban the Second, probably in the year 1090,
and that the spot was known only as "The Priory"
until 1330, when the few cottages that surrounded the
monastic building assumed the name of Chamonix.
Certain orders to new-comers, "which all must obey or
quit the valley in a month," were issued in this year by
the despotic prior and are still extant.

In 1443 a Bishop of Geneva made his first visit to that
extreme corner of his diocese. His name was " Bartho-
meus," who having visited the Abbot of Sallanches, went
on foot to Chamonix, where he arrived on the fourth of
October, 1443. In July, 148 1, another Bishop of Geneva,
" Jean Louis de Savoie," paid a visit to the Priory, and in
1520 a new code of laws, both for the Priory and for
the new settlers in the valley, was ratified by the Abbot of
the Monastery of Cluses, In 1530 Philippe de Savoie,
Due de Nemours and Comte de Geneve, authorised a
free fair to be held twice a year at Chamonix, and all
persons in going or returning were made free from arrest
for debt, or misdemeanour. In July, 1606, Frangois de
Sales, Bishop of Geneva, arrived at Chamonix on foot
and stayed there several days. He visited the poor and
sick, and preached to the people on the high road on
his departure to Sallanches.

Other bishops of Geneva went to Chamonix in 1649
and 1650, but no record is left of their journeys. Visitors
of some sort could not have been infrequent even then,
for in the last-named year the Prior levied on each in-

The Annals of Mont Blanc

habitant an annual tax of two sous for the repair of the
roads. P'or ninety more years Chamonix had little or no
history, until in 1741 great interest was aroused by the
famous visit of Pococke and Windham, the first English-
men who ever made an excursion to " Les Glacieres." It
is certain that other visitors, actuated by curiosity or love
of adventure, had preceded Pococke and Windham,
notably a Prince of Sulzbach (a near relative by marriage
of Charles Emanuel III., King of Sardinia), who made a
visit to the glaciers in 1727. But Pococke and Windham
left behind them an account of their journey, which
previous explorers did not. Hence old writers erroneously
attributed to these two Englishmen the discovery of the
valley. Mrs. Starke, for instance, writing in 1829, tells us
that " the valley might have been unknown at the present
period if two English gentlemen had not in the year 1741
discovered il, and given to modern Europe details respect-
ing a place which even the natives of Geneva — though
only eighteen leagues distant — had never heard of."
Again, Reichard, the author of the " Guide du Voyageur
en Suisse," writing in 1824, tells us that " it is incredible
that a valley so interesting and at the foot of the highest
mountain of the old world should have remained un-
known " until Pococke and Windham thought of visiting
it ; even so competent an authority as Dr. Ebel fell into
the same mistake, and Michel Carrier, who wrote a
biography of Jacques Balmat in 1854, makes the rash
statement " that not a traveller had visited the valley of
Chamonix previous to 1741." He adds "that it was not
even known at Geneva except as a place exceedingly wild,

Legendary and Historical

peopled by beings who were not less so, and surrounded
by awful mountains, which rendered access to it difficult
and dangerous." It has been shown that the valley was
known to a few travellers, to Genevese bishops, and to
local traders, but no account of it was ever given to the
world. Pococke and Windham were its first real
pioneers.

In 1741 William Windham was living in Geneva. He
was an English gentleman, well known in London as
" Boxing Windham." One Dr. Pococke, who had been
travelling in Egypt and the Levant, arrived in the same
city. Windham asked him to join with him in a
journey to the glaciers, to which he at once agreed, and
they took steps to form a party for the expedition. In
that year Windham wrote a letter to M. Arlaud, a cele-
brated painter at Geneva, giving an account of his journey
to the Glacieres, or Ice Alps, in Savoy. " It is really a
pity," he writes, " that so great a curiosity, and which
lies so near you, should be so little known ; for though
Scheuchzer, in his Iter Alpinum, describes the Glacieres
that are in the Canton of Berne, yet they seem to me by
his description to be very different from those in Savoy."
" They were assured," he continues, " that they would
find no necessaries of life in those parts, so they took
sumpter-horses laden with provisions, and a tent."
Windham "provided several mathematical instruments
to take heights, hoping that Mr. Williamson, an able
mathematician. Governor to Lord Hadington, would
have been of the party," but he declined on account
of the fatigue, and Windham would not take the instru-

The Annals of Mont Blanc

ments himself, as none of his companions were able to
use them. I The party consisted of Windham, Lord
Hadington and his brother the Honourable Mr. Baillie,
Dr. Pococke, and Messrs. Chetvvynd, Aldworth, Price, and
Stillingfleet, eight persons in all. They left Geneva on
the nineteenth of June, attended by live servants. All
were well armed. After six hours' riding they reached
Bonneville, where they put up at an inn, "a tolerable
one for Savoy as to everything but beds." The following
day they proceeded to Cluses, taking three hours and a
half on the road, whence riding three hours further " they
came to St. Martin's bridge, right against Sallanches,
which is on the other side of the Arve." For some
reasons not given they did not visit the town, but pre-
ferred to encamp in a fine meadow in order to refresh
themselves. Thence they proceeded to Servoz, where
their horses were picketed all night in the open air, and
the travellers, finding no beds, obtained some clean straw
from a barn. The third day they started at dawn. The
roads were so bad that their horses lost their shoes,

' Windham was then a young man of twenty-six, and was possessed of attain-
ments of a high order. He was making a European tour with his tutor, Benjamin
StilHngfleet, grandson of the celebrated Edward StilHngfleet, Bishop of Worcester.
When at Rome they made the acquaintance of Mr. Price, Mr. Aldworth, Lord
Hadington, and Mr. BaiUie, and the friendship thus formed was renewed when
they all met again at Geneva in 1741. The Rev. William Coxe, Stillingfleet's
biographer, informs us that the partj' made frequent excursions into Alpine
valleys, and " in particular visited those icy regions which stretch at the foot of
Mont Blanc." He also tells us that the small treatise which Windham afterwards
published "was written chiefly by Mr. Windham and Mr. Price, with the assist-
ance of Mr. stillingfleet," and that " they gave the first impulse to that curiosity
which has since led travellers of every nation into the wildest recesses of the
Alps." — " Life and Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet," by William Coxe ; London,
181 1, vol. i. p. 80.

Legendary and Historical

besides running the risk of tumbling into the Arve, but
at length they came to a pleasant valley where they had
their first view of the glaciers. Continuing their journey,
they reached "Chamouny," "where there is a Priory
belonging to the Chapter of Salanches."

They were shown the " ends of the glaciers which reach
into the valley," but their curiosity being by no means
satisfied, they inquired whether, by going further up the
mountain, they could not discover something more worthy
of their notice. The peasants said yes, but that all
travellers who had hitherto visited the glaciers had been
satisfied with what had already been pointed out.

"The Prior of the place, a good old man," showed
them much attention, but endeavoured to dissuade them
from going further ; they, however, would not be denied,
and at noon on the twenty-second of June succeeded in
setting out, attended by several peasants, some acting as
guides and some as porters. Windham points out that
many maps place the glaciers on the same side of the
Arve as Chamonix, but this, he rightly adds, is a mistake.
The ascent was so steep that they sometimes had to use
their hands " and make use of sticks with sharp irons at
the end " to support themselves. After sights " terrible
enough to make most people's heads turn," and scrambling
for four hours and three-quarters, they reached the summit
" of the mountain," from whence " they had the pleasure
of beholding objects of an extraordinary nature." The
spot reached was, in fact, the Montanvert. The tra-
vellers all descended on to the ice, "partly falHng and
partly sliding on their hands and knees."

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Windham gives a very fair description of this well-
known view. The boiiquetin must then have been
common on the Mer de Glace, for the guides told him
that they went in herds of fifteen or sixteen. The party
saw several chamois and shot at them, but without
effect, as they were at too great a distance. Windham
records one point of considerable interest. The guides
told him that in the time of their fathers the glacier was
but small, and that there was even a passage into the
Valley of Aosta, which could be reached in six hours, but
that the glacier had much increased and was continually
increasing, and the passage was then quite stopped up.
Having remained on the ice for half an hour, they drank,
like true Englishmen, to the health of Admiral Vernon
and success to the British arms, and having regained the
summit (the Montanvert), they descended to Chamonix,
" to the great astonishment of all the people of the place
and even of our guides, who owned to us they thought
we should not have gone through with our undertaking."

On the twenty-third they departed, and resting at
Sallanches, arrived the following day at Bonneville.
Here they ascended the " Maule " and had a delightful
view : on one side Geneva, the Lake, and the adjacent
parts ; ** on the other, high mountains covered with snow,
which rise round in the form of an amphitheatre and make
a most picturesque prospect." Descending the " Maule,"
they slept at Annecy, and the next day returned to
Geneva.

It was an interesting expedition. Too much must not
be made of the arms they carried in their hands. Pro-

Legendary and Historical

bably any party travelling in 1741 in Savoy or elsewhere
would have taken similar precautions, and, as Windham
remarks, " although we met with nothing which had the
appearance of danger, nevertheless I would recommend
going well armed ; 'tis an easy precaution, and on certain
occasions very useful — one is never the worse for it, and
oftentimes it helps a man out of a scrape." They went
out expecting to find a wild and barbarous people. They
found, in fact, a peaceable village presided over by a
good old Prior, and a population industrious and honest,
tilling their fields and storing honey from their bees.

There is one point about Windham's narrative that is
somewhat singular. It is clear that he had a fine view of
the mountains from the Mole, but he does not say one
word about Mont Blanc. It is quite possible that during
his short stay at Chamonix he never saw it — if he did see
it, he would surely have recorded the fact. It was very
early in the season, and there was much snow on the road
to the Montanvert. Probably the weather was cloudy,
and Windham advises others who might be making a
similar journey to set out in the middle of August.

Windham's visit and the circulation of his letter to M.
Arlaud naturally attracted considerable attention. One
Peter Martel, a Swiss engineer, at once determined to
follow his example. Subsequently he wrote a letter to
Windham detailing the results of a visit to Chamonix
which he made in 1742. His party consisted of a gold-
smith well skilled in minerals, an apothecary who was
a good chemist and botanist, and MM. Martin and
Girod. Laden with various scientific instruments, they

The Annals of Mont Blanc

left Geneva on the twentieth of August, halted at Bonne-
ville and again at Cluses, and reached Sallanches in the
evening. The following day they passed St. Gervais and
Servoz, one of their horses losing a shoe, '' and almost all
his hoof," and entered the Valley of Chamonix, " having
on our left the Arve, and on our right a fine hill which
reaches as far southward as the mountain called Mont
Blanc." This I believe to be the first occasion on which
the name of the Great Mountain is ever mentioned in any
existing publication. It will be observed that Martel's
party reached Chamonix in two days from Geneva. On
the morning of the third day they employed seven men
to assist them in climbing and in carrying provisions.
They ascended " the Mountain," that is, the Montanvert,
and looking down into the ice valley, " were struck with
astonishment at so extraordinary a sight." ^

Martel made a plan of the glaciers, being aided by a
guide " who was a very intelligent person, not only
knowing the country, but having also assisted in the
last survey which the King of Sardinia had caused to
be made of Savoy." They regained the Priory at seven
in the evening. The following morning Martel's com-
panions were anxious to return, but Martel " took with
his semicircle the height of Mont Blanc by two different
operations, which corresponded exactly."

The weather was fine and dry, and Martel describes

I In the j'ear 1779 an Englishman of the name of Blair erected a wooden hut
on the Montanvert for the convenience of travellers, and in the year 1795
M. Desportes erected at his own expense an improved refuge of stone, of which
a picture is given. The vignette on the title-page shows the position of these
two refuges.

The " Desportcs " Refuge on the Montanvert.

[To face piv^c l6.

Legendary and Historical

many of the peaks. " 'Tis this point of Mont Blanc," he
says, '' which is supposed to be the highest in all the
Glacieres, and perhaps of all the Alps. Many persons of
the country who have travelled assured me that they had
seen it from Dijon, and others from Langres, which is
135 miles distance." Martel speaks well of the Chamo-
niards. He says : " They are a very good sort of people,
living together in great harmony ; they are robust, live to
a great age, and have very few beggars among them.
Their honey is white, resembling very much that of
Narbonne for colour, but not for taste. The sheep are
left without any one to watch them, there being in this
valley no beast of prey, though bears, wolves, and foxes
abound in the country all about." Martel returned to
Geneva on the twenty-sixth of August "without any
other regret than not having stayed longer at Chamouny
to have considered the beauties of the places there-
abouts."

" Suffer me, sir," he concludes, " to address this
account of our voyage to you, as the person to whom
of right it belongs ; you marked us out a way which
was easy to follow by the help of your directions."

They were both true pioneers — Windham from love of
adventure, and Martel from love of science. Four plates
are added to Martel's letter. There is a picture of the
view from the Montanvert, quite unlike anything in
nature ; a view from the Priory, which no one can now
identify ; good drawings of the bouquetin, the chamois,
and the marmot ; and a map of the course of the Arve
and of the glaciers and high mountains of Chamonix,

17 C

The Annals of Mont Blanc

which will be found reproduced in the Appendix, and
which is a specimen of the cartography of a hundred
and sixty years ago.

The two letters — the one from Windham to Arlaud,
and the other from Martel to Windham — were published
together in 1744, " as laid before the Royal Society." ^

The book was sold for the merest trifle, but is now one
of the rarest in Alpine bibliography. The effect of its
publication, though not immediate, was far-reaching.
The attention of the scientific world was drawn to the
Valley of Chamonix and the wonders that it contained.
Horace Benedict de Saussure was 3^et in his cradle, but
the invasion had begun.

' " An Account of the Glacieres or Ice Alps in Savoy. London : printed for
Peter Martel, 1744, price is. 6d."

Note. — This volume is so uncommon and so extremely interesting that a jac-
siiiiik of it is given in the Appendix. I have stated in the text that three languages
are spoken on the base of the chain of Mont Blanc Of course on the Valais or
Swiss side the language is French as far as Sion, but I have ascertained that many
German-spealcing families live in and near to Martigny.

William Wiiulliani.

ITo /(ICC piigc 1 8.

CHAPTER II

HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE — MARC THEODORE
BOURRIT — THE EARLY ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND MONT
BLANC.

WINDHAM and Saussure were, in a sense, contem-
poraries. It was in 1741, as we have seen, that
the memorable journey of Pococke and Windham to the
glaciers of Chamonix was planned. On the seventeenth
of February in the preceding year Saussure was born at
Geneva. His father was Nicolas de Saussure, a Genevese,
and his uncle, for whom he had a great regard, was M.
Charles Bonnet, a well-known savant of the same city.
The father was an eminent agriculturist, and greatly
interested in science. He occupied a house and farm
at Conches, near Geneva, was a member of the Council
of the "Two Hundred," and took an active part in
public affairs. His attention was mainly directed to the
growth and diseases of grain and farm produce. His
work on " Fecundity in Plants and Fertility in the
Earth," published in 1782, attracted considerable atten-
tion. His son's mind was early impressed by scientific
subjects. His youth was passed at the farm, and his rare
love of nature developed an unusual capacity for obser-

The Annals of Mont Blanc

vation. He worked with his uncle on botanical subjects,
and made the acquaintance of Haller, who bore willing
testimony to his exceptional powers. He received an
excellent training at the Academy at Geneva, wlfere he
was sent, and his studious habits enabled him to make
rapid progress. Shortly after attaining his majority he
was offered the post of Professor of Natural Philosophy,
and rapidly justified his election to the chair, which he
occupied for twenty-five years. He specially devoted
himself to geology and physical geography.

He was a teacher of logic and physics, and founded
the Society of Arts of Geneva in 1772. He elaborated
a system of education for his native city, which, however,
was then deemed of too radical a nature for adoption. In
due course he became like his father, one of the Council
of the "Two Hundred," and later of the National
Assembly. He was also a member of most of the
European scientific societies, and carefully studied
meteorology and the temperatures of rivers, lakes, and
glaciers, having himself invented all kinds of scientific
instruments. His great work on Alpine physiography,
"Voyages dans les Alpes," is the finest of the Alpine
classics. His portrait was twice painted, the first by
Juehl, a Swedish painter, when Saussure was young and
in the prime of his mountaineering career. The best-
known portrait is, hov^ever, by St. Ours, and was painted
in later years. He was something more than a naturalist,
and, as will be seen below, he was a keen observer of
human nature. His life was written by Senebier, by
Cuvier, and by I\I. de Candolle ; he was a man of rare

Horace Benedict de Saiissure

intellectual endowment, and one for whom the mountains
had an irresistible fascination. His life was spent not
in work only, but the best kind of work. All the leading
lights of the time were proud of his intimacy or even of
his acquaintance. He was visited by the Emperor Joseph
the Second in 1777, and by Goethe in 1779. He suffered
greatly from the effects of the French Revolution, and
having invested nearly all his fortune in French funds
lost almost everything. A paragraph appeared in a
French journal in 1795 to the effect that he was reduced
to want ; and it is not generally known that an English
nobleman, Lord Bristol (whose brother, General Hervey,
was an intimate friend), offered in the most delicate
manner not only to settle an annuity upon him, but to
allow him to share his home, and to afford him every
opportunity of pursuing his researches in Natural History.
The offer was declined as gracefully as it was made. " It
is true," he replied, " that nothing is left to me, but my
wife has still sufficient for the needs of my family and
myself ; but your kind offer, nevertheless, will always
remain engraven upon my heart." ' There is little doubt
that his arduous labours shortened his life ; he died on
the twenty-second of January, 1799, at the comparatively
early age of fifty-nine years, and his funeral was marked
by exceptional demonstrations of honour.^ But we are
chiefly concerned with him in his capacity as an early
explorer and passionate admirer of Mont Blanc.

As a boy he had a keen love of the mountains. He

' Rei'iie Suisse, 1S83. Article by Ernest Naville.
' See " Encyclopedia Britannica," vol. xxi. p. 323.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

climbed all the hills about Geneva, and knew the form of
the great white mountain by heart. Later he went to
live in a charming country-house called Creux de Gen-
thod, about four miles from Geneva, on the northern
shores of the Lake, where his grandson still resides. It
was there that he composed his great work ; and his
" Discours preliminaire," which bears date the twenty-
eighth of November, 1779, is worthy of the most attentive
perusal. He tells us that " Humanity in the Alps is not
less interesting than physical nature. Though man is at
bottom everywhere the same, plaything of the same
passions, stirred by the same needs, still it is only in the
Alps, if anywhere in Europe, that one may hope to find
men civilised enough not to be savage, and yet natural
enough not to be corrupt. It is only in those elevated
valleys where there are no landlords, no men of wealth,
no throng of foreigners. Those who have only seen the
peasant in the neighbourhood of towns have no idea of
the true man of Nature. There he has a master, he is
obliged to render unpleasing services, he is crushed by
the disdain of the great, corrupted and at the same time
despised by degraded menials, so that he becomes as
abject as those who corrupt him. The Alpine peasant,
seeing only his equals, forgets that there exist men more
powerful than himself ; his soul is ennobled and elevated ;
the services that he renders, the hospitality he offers, have
no servile or mercenary taint ; he exhibits that noble
pride which is the companion and stay of all other
virtues. How often have I, arriving at nightfall in some
lonely hamlet where there was no sort of inn, knocked

Horace Benedict de Saussure

at the door of some cottage, and there been received,
after answering a question or two about my purpose,
with a hospitahty dignified, cordial, and disinterested,
such as it would be hard to find elsewhere. And will
you believe that in these lonely wilds I have found true
thinkers, men who, by the mere strength of natural
reason, have risen far above the superstitions which the
lower classes in towns so greedily swallow.

'' From my childhood the mountains powerfully at-
tracted me. I still remember the thrill which went
through me when I first touched the summit of the
Saleve and could feast on the views stretched out before
me. At the age of eighteen I had more than once ex-
plored the mountains nearest to Geneva. The next year
I spent fifteen days in one of the highest chalets on the
Jura that I might explore the Dole and the neighbouring
mountains, and the same year I made my first ascent of
the Mole. My curiosity and ardour, however, were but
imperfectly satisfied by these moderate exploits. I longed
to see at close quarters the great Alps which appeared in
such majesty from the heights I had attained.

" In 1760 I went alone and on foot to visit the glaciers
of Chamonix, which were then rarely frequented, and
W'Cre considered difficult and dangerous of approach.
I returned the following year, and since then have let no
year pass without serious expeditions, even long journeys
in pursuit of mountain study. During this time I crossed
the main chain of the Alps fourteen times by eight
different routes, besides making sixteen excursions into
the centre of the chain. I visited the Jura, the Vosges,

The Annals of Mont Blanc

and the mountains of Switzerland, of part of Germany,
of England, Italy and Sicily. I have explored the
extinct volcanoes of Auvergne and of Vivarais, and the
mountains of Forez, of Danphin6 and of Burgundy.
I have made all these journeys with a miner's hammer
in my hand, merely for the purpose of studying natural
history, climbing all accessible sum.mits which seemed
to promise interesting observations, and always carrying
off specimens from the mines and mountains, especially
those which threw any light on physical theories, in
order to examine them at my leisure. I even made a
rigid rule to take notes on the spot, and to enlarge
and transcribe them during the following twenty-four
hours." I

Such was the kind of man who was mainly responsible
for the first conquest of Mont Blanc.

Another native of Geneva, of far humbler origin and
no scientiiic pretensions, shares with Saussure the credit
of having drawn the attention of Europe to Mont Blanc.
He was Marc Theodore Bourrit. He was something of
an artist and a great deal of an enthusiast. Saussure
employed him to illustrate his great work and gave him
his best title to fame. He was a prolific author on his
own account, and his well-known "Nouvelle Description
des Glacieres," profusely illustrated from his own drawings,
and dedicated by permission to Louis the Sixteenth, first
appeared in 1781. A third edition, containing an account
of his subsequent travels, was published in 1787.

I "Voyages dans les Alpes," 1787-1796, 8vo, Geneve and Xeuchatel ; 1796-
1804, 4to, Neuchatel.

Saussure, from a picture by Juehl.

[ To face page 24.

Marc Theodore Bourrit

He certainly would not now be deemed a competent
mountaineer, and although he made several attempts,
never succeeded in reaching the summit of the great
mountain. His drawings of mountain scenery, though
somewhat rough, are fairly accurate. His style is stilted
and verbose, and is altogether deficient in humour. On
one occasion he had arranged to rest for a night at the
" dreadful village " of Contamines, in a house containing
but one small chamber. He was agreeably surprised at
meeting a young and beautiful girl from Chambery, who,
though unappalled by the wildness of the scenery, was
greatly frightened at the sight of M. Bourrit, and although
he was a Precentor of the Cathedral of Geneva, she
promptly ran off in great alarm. " I was offended at her
fears," he says. " I ran after her, and implored her to
form a more favourable idea of us — and had the good
fortune to induce her to listen to me. We took supper
together, and I placed at her disposal the accommodation
which had been reserved for me, and sought another
place of repose." ^

Saussure and Bourrit were the real pioneers who
created a mountaineering interest in Mont Blanc. But
for them, its conquest would have been indefinitely
postponed.

Saussure visited Chamonix in 1760 and 1761, and on
both occasions offered a large reward to any one who
could find a way to the summit of the mountain.^
Indeed, he went even further, for he offered to pay those

» '• Nouvelle Description des Glacieres," 1787, vol. i. p. 335.
» "Voyages dans les Alpes," 1786, vol. iv. p. 389.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

whose attempts might prove unsuccessful. But nothing
came of these offers. The peasants of Chamonix hunted
chamois and searched for crystals, but were not moun-
taineers in the true sense, for they had no love of the
mountains for their own sake ; who were they, that they
should attempt an expedition so long believed impos-
sible ? But yet there were some wlio were not deficient
in the spirit of adventure. One Pierre Simond made two
desultory attempts, one on the east side, by the Glacier
du Geant, and one by the Glacier des Bossons, but he
returned with no hope of success.

It was not unnatural that a first attempt should have
been made from the Glacier du Geant, although the route
by the Montague de la Cote and the Glacier des Bossons
was apparently the easier of the two. It is certain that this
part of the mountain was very imperfectly known, whereas
the Mer de Glace and part of the Glacier du Geant
were constantly traversed by all the Chamonix hunters.
The first object of every casual visitor was to cross,
or at least to see the Mer de Glace. Chamois hunters
and crystal finders were well acquainted with it, and with
its affluents, and the Couvercle and the Jardin were well
known. From the latter the whole of the Glacier du
Geant can be seen apparently (but not really) stretching
to the summit of the mountain on its eastern side.
Moreover, tradition said that a pass existed from the Mer
de Giace into Italy — a pass of great height, on the very
shoulder of Mont Blanc. It was reasonable enough,
therefore, that Pierre Simond should have explored in
this direction, and that Jacques Balraat should himself

Early Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

make one of his early attempts by this route. Probably
both explorers were stopped by the great ice ridge which
stretches from Mont Blanc to the Aiguille du Midi. The
bare facts only of Pierre Simond's attempts in 1762 have
been recorded.^

Thirteen vears elapsed before any further efforts were
made. Many persons had visited the valley in the interval,
and made various excursions on the glaciers. The great
mountain was becoming better and better known.
Saussure's offer being still open, was no one bold enough,
or adventurous enough, to try for the promised reward ?

In 1775 four Chamonix peasants made a determined
effort by the Montague de la Cote. This well-known
ridge separates the glaciers of Bossons and Taconnay,
and the highest point of it, about 8,500 feet above sea
level, appears from the valley, almost to reach the rocks
of the Grands Mulcts. As a matter of fact, it takes
nearly three hours to climb from the one point to the
other. Probably in the past the rocks of the Montague
de la Cote extended in one unbroken line as far as
the Grands Mulcts and the Aiguille Pitschner. An
exquisite drawing of this beautiful ridge appears in the
fourth volume of Mr. Ruskin's " Modern Painters," and
is there described as the Crest of la Cote. It was by
this route that most of the early attempts were made, and
by which the mountain was ultimately climbed. The
pioneers determined to take the Montague de la Cote as
a starting-point. Saussure tells us that it abuts upon the
ice and the snow, which stretch without interruption to

' Auldjo, •' Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc," 1828, p. 30S.
27

The Annals of Mont Blanc

the summit of Mont Blanc, and that the first obstacles
being once surmounted, there remains only the length of
the route and the difficulty of making the ascent and the
descent in one day. " I say in one day," he adds,
"because the country-folk believe that it is impossible
to pass the night amongst the snows." ^ Up to this time
every one had been discouraged, but strangers hearing
of Saussure and his offers were naturally interested.
Amidst some excitement in the valley, the four would-be
discoverers started on their journey. They were Michel
Paccard, Francois Paccard, Victor Tissay, and a young
adventurer described by M. Bourrit as "the son of the
respectable Couteran," a widow who kept an inn in the
village.2

The Rev. William Coxe, in his most interesting "Travels
in Switzerland," published in 1789,3 gives the name of
Marie Couttet as one of the three guides, but M. Bourrit,
who received his information from young Couteran him-
self, was probably the better informed.

At eleven o'clock at night, on the thirteenth of July,
they started from the Priory, hoping to be the first to
enjoy the view from the summit. In two hours and a
half the party arrived at the foot of the glacier of Tacon-
nay, and finding a suitable sleeping-place — no doubt
on the base of the Montagne de la Cote — and being
somewhat fatigued, rested until morning. Rising at
break of day, and in perfect weather, they climbed the

■ " Voyages dans les Alpes," 1786, vol. iv. p. 390.

* Bourrit, " Nouvelle Description des Glacieres," 1787, vol. i. p. 159.

3 Vol. ii. p. 2.

Early Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

ridge, notwithstanding " the perpendicular rocks and the
abysses which the eye dare not gaze upon." As a matter
of fact, the route thus far contains at the present day no
particle of difficulty or danger. They heard the shrill
cries of the marmots, and saw "a quantity of chamois
rushing pell-mell amongst the sheep and the goats."
Alas for the progress of civilisation, Chamonix is not now
so highly favoured ! They then entered upon the great
ice-field, from which flow the glaciers of Bossons and
Taconnay, and proceeded higher and higher towards the
Grand Plateau. On their left was a high rock, which
they compared, not inaptly, to one of the pyramids of
Egypt. This was the Grands Mulcts, or possibly the
Aiguille Pitschner, almost the culminating point of
the Grands Mulcts ridge, in the centre of the great ice-
field. Couteran and Tissay determined to reach it, not-
withstanding the reiterated warnings of the brothers
Paccard, who thought the peril too great. The two
gained these rocks with as much pleasure, Couteran
observed, as a mariner dry land after a long time afloat.
After finding some crystals they rejoined their com-
panions, who were not far from the summit of the rock,
and proceeded upwards. They were sufficiently high to
look over the Brevent, and the chain of the Aiguilles
Rouges — which bounds the Valley of Chamonix on the
north. They saw the summit of the Buet and the Lake
of Geneva, which was compared to a piece of linen lying
in a field. The snow became extremely steep when they
reached two ice-walls of prodigious height, flanked by
symmetrical towers and crevasses, like the loopholes of

The Annals of Mont Blanc

an ancient fortress." These difficulties proved too great
for the exploring party, but they were not all ; the heat
was so great that they covered their hats with snow to
avoid sunstroke, and a lassitude overcame them which
could not be conquered "without the aid of liquor."
The summit appeared to be close — they thought about
the distance of a league ; a very palpable mistake.
Clouds drifted over the mountain, and soon enveloped
them and forced a hasty retreat, the fear of being lost
giving a great impetus to their descent. The Priory was
regained at ten at night, when they were able to tranquil-
lise their friends, who feared that after twenty-two hours'
absence they were entombed in the snows of Mont
Blanc.

So ended the first real attempt. Had they slept on the
summit instead of at the base of the Montague de la
Cote, and the weather been fine, they might have suc-
ceeded. It was a creditable performance, but possibly
the stimulants which they called in aid served only to
retard. But we must be gentle with the pioneers, and
never forget that they were in a new world, and that they
had the dread of the unknown before them, as well as its
charm. While all suffered more or less from their exer-
tions, there was at least the satisfaction of knowing that
they had been nearer the summit than any previous
adventurers.

It is not easy to fix the exact point reached, but Sir
George Shuckburgh, who visited Chamonix the month
following the expedition and had every opportunity of
talking with the explorers, and who had taken the height

Early Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

of Mont Blanc from the summit of the Mole, fixed it at
about 13,000 feel, but this was clearly an error. The
point gained was probably about midway between the
Grands Mulcts and the Grand Plateau.

The Montagne de la Cote is now rarely visited, but
the ridge is the home of rare and beautiful ferns and
flowers, and the view from its summit is grand in the
extreme. Glaciers flow to the right and to the left, the
great ice-field stretches to the Grands Mulcts, which seems
to be distant but a " stone's throw," while the mighty
dome of Mont Blanc is exactly in front with its attendant
Aiguilles from the Verte on the one side, to the Goiiter
on the other.

Eight years passed before a second attempt was made.
In 1783 three other guides of Chamonix, Jean Marie
Couttet, Lombard Meunier, and Joseph Carrier, ti'ied
again by the same route, passing the night on the summit
of the Montagne de la Cote, and early on the following
morning entered on the great ice-field and went in the
direction of the Grand Plateau. They attained a con-
siderable elevation, but whether or not as high as their
immediate predecessors is not known. One of them, said
to have been the most hardy and robust of the party, was
suddenly seized with such an " exposition of sleep " that
further progress was impossible. He implored his
companions to continue the journey without him, but
they feared to leave him sleeping on the snow ; so the
enterprise was given up and the party returned to Cha-
monix. The eminent author of the "Voyages dans les
Alpes " describes this incident with a naivete which is

The Annals of Mont Blanc

perfectly charming. This desire to sleep, he says,
is produced by the rarity of the air. Now low pressures
produce very remarkable results, but an insurmountable
desire to sleep is certainly not one of them. It would
perhaps be more profitable to inquire whether the " most
hardy and robust of the party " had not sought to sustain
his faltering steps by the too frequent use of that supposed
remedy to which his predecessors admit that they had
recourse — a remedy al\va3^s useless, and generally worse
than the disease — and which at least in these days is
known to produce that insurmountable desire for sleep
which the great Saussure attributed to the rarity of the
air ! It was after this expedition that Lombard Meunier
uttered the sentiments which have since become historical.
He said, " It is of no use to take any provisions for the
journey ; all that is wanted is an umbrella and a scent
bottle " — a statement which had a great effect upon
Saussure, and led him to believe that the ascent of Mont
Blanc was more hopeless and impracticable than ever.

About this time the village doctor of Chamonix was
Michel Gabriel Paccard, who was born in 1757 and
was then just twenty-six years of age.^ He was reported
to be a good mountaineer, and certainly had some
scientific attainments, for he was a corresponding member
of the Academy of Turin.^ He had, moreover, one

' Note. — 1 am fortunately able to present to my readt-rs a likeness of Dr. Paccard
It was taken when he was an old man, and is reproduced from a picture by an
unknown painter, now belonging to M. J. P. Cachat, of Chamoni.K, who was a
great-grandson of the Doctor.

' Leschevin, " Voyage ii Geneve et dans la Vallee de Chamouni, i8ij, Paris,
P- 245-

Michel Gabriel Paccard.

[To face page 32.

Early Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

cardinal virtue ; being greatly interested in the attempts
on Mont Blanc, he was in the habit of recording the
various excursions as they took place, keeping a book, in
his own handwriting, of particulars of the early expedi-
tions, and carrying it on down to 1825, where he records
the ascent made by Clark and Sherwill. In some of
the expeditions, as we shall see, he took an active part.
The Doctor, when not writing from personal knowledge,
manifestly had access to the best sources of information,
for he was not only a pioneer himself, but he lived
amongst them. Having felt for years that sufficient
justice has not been done to the memory of Dr. Paccard,
I endeavoured in the year 1896 to trace out his descen-
dants.

The Doctor left two children, a son named Ambroise
and a daughter named Josephine. The daughter married
Julien Devouassoud, one of the guides who survived the
catastrophe of 1820 of which we shall hear. The son,
Ambroise, a doctor like his father, left a daughter named
Marie Caroline, who married Jean Michel Balmat, of
Chamonix, who had a son named Adolphe Balmat (now
one of the Chamonix guides), and who is, therefore,
great-grandson of Michel Gabriel Paccard.

This precious volume was in Balmat's possession, and
was considered by the members of his family to be a great
treasure. He has courteously placed it at my disposal.
It is not only extremely interesting as a specimen of
mountaineering archajology, but it adds greatly to our
knowledge, confirming as it does contemporary accounts,
and giving dates and names not previously recorded.

33 ^

The Annals of Mont Blanc

The second attempt on Mont Blanc which I have
already narrated, is thus described in Dr. Paccard's
diary : —

" Second attempt on Mont Blanc by the Montagne de
la Cote (see the first in the work of M. Bourrit). July 12,
1783. ' Grand Joras ' (a nickname for Lombard Meunier),
Joseph Carrier, and Marie Couttet started for Mont
Blanc. They slept on the Montagne de la Cote, had a
good crossing of the Glacier des Bossons, but they found
the rocks difficult and rotten. They went up the snow
arch which covers the first rocks at the foot of the little
or second Mont Blanc, where Marie Couttet was taken
ill. As they were exposed to the sun, about eight or nine
o'clock they came down again. They suffered a good
deal and got blistered whilst going up. The snow was
hard, but softened about noon when they were coming
down. They reached the Montagne de la Cote and had
some sleep."

Many quotations will be made from this interesting
manuscript, which I am informed no person out of the
family — certainly no person interested in the story of
Mont Blanc — has ever previously perused.

In the same year the enthusiastic, but always unfor-
tunate, M. Bourrit followed in the same tracks. He, too,
slept on the summit of the Montagne de la Cote, but when
he thought that he was on the point of success a sudden
storm drove him back. Poor Bourrit always derived
some consolation even from his misfortunes. At five in
the morning he was grappling with the snow and ice.
" He was surrounded by horrible crevasses and great

Early Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

frozen cliffs." His companions, whose names other than
that of Dr. Paccard he does not give, did their best to
find a way for him, but without success — they were
enveloped in a thick, black veil ; rain followed, but the
bad weather, he says, " was succeeded by a ravishing
view." Above the clouds they saw Mont Blanc suspended
in the air like a shining light, and the great Aiguilles
appearing above the tempest, brilliant and beautiful.
" Such were the magnificent scenes which compensated
us for not having attained the summit of Mont Blanc." ^

This excursion can scarcely be included amongst the
serious attempts to gain the summit, as bad weather set in
before any real effort was made. It appears that the
expedition took place on the fifteenth of September,
1783. Dr. Paccard was one of the party, and the following
is his account, which, it will be observed, does not quite
coincide with that of Bourrit :

"I started with M. Bourrit, the miller Marie, and Jean
Claude Couttet ; we went and slept at La Tournelle, but
arrived only at the glacier, which was much crevassed.
Mont Blanc was covered with clouds, and M. Bourrit
did not dare to go on the ice."

Saussure declared that from information which he had
received from all those who had tried the mountain from
the Valley of Chamonix, he looked upon success as
wholly impossible, and that all sensible persons in the
village were of the same opinion.

' Bourrit, " Xouvelle Description des Glacieres," 17S7, vol. i. p. 167.

CHAPTER III

FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND MONT BLANC

^"^HE mountain had now been unsuccessfully attempted
from two sides. Bourrit, who, according to
Saussure, had taken still greater interest in its conquest
than himself, now proposed to try it from a third. He
had heard that two chamois hunters from the neigh-
bourhood of St. Gervais had attained a great elevation on
the ridge which stretches from the Aiguille to the Dome
du Gouter, and he made his arrangements accordingly.

But, before describing this particular expedition, we
must again have recourse to the story of Dr. Paccard.
It has always been thought that Bourrit was the first to
suggest the ascent from the St. Gervais or western side.
But it is not so, as Dr. Paccard's manuscript will show.

" Journey by the Gouter to Mont Blanc with ' Henri.'
On the ninth of September, 1784, we started at 3 p.m.
for Bionnassay, which we reached half an hour after
night had set in by Vausa (Col de Voza). We had
supper, having to wait for Pierre Perroux' son, who led
us to Jean Baptiste, son of Joseph Jaquet at Villette.
They took us to the Grua, to Guillaume Jaquet known as

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

the 'Malin' (crafty), who was on the Miage Mountain,
and although it was past eleven p.m. we started to go up.
My guide, Henri Pornet, fell ill, owing probably to
fatigue and the brandy he had taken, so we did not
arrive until three a.m. On crossing the Bionnassay
stream, I broke my barometer, and Joseph Jaquet de
Villette gave me his. ... It took us three hours full to
get up from the flat at the foot of the Bionnassay glacier.
The rock is rotten, and more difficult to climb than it
appears. . . . We went up by Pierre Ronde, the Roc
Rosset, and all along the side of the glacier over the
snow . . . and reached at night a small level place close
to the glacier of Bionnassay, where Henri was waiting.
We crossed without crampons by a steep slope, and
arrived at Chamonix at three o'clock. I again broke the
barometer."

This statement proves beyond all reasonable doubt
that Dr. Paccard and not M. Bourrit first prospected from
the west side.

Bourrit then started for St. Gervais. What is now
known as the St. Gervais route commences at that
village and proceeds, by way of the hamlet of Bionnassay
and the right bank of the glacier of that name, to the
foot of the Aiguille du Gouter. Bourrit had WTitten to
Lombard Meunier and to Marie Couttet to meet him
at St. Gervais, and had also engaged the two experi-
enced local hunters on whose knowledge and services
he greatly relied. One Maxime of Sallanches also
accompanied him, a willing and honest man, whose
mountaineering experience was, however, limited to

The Annals of Mont Blanc

conducting strangers along the mule-path to Cha-
monix.

This party of six started from St. Gervais on the night
of the sixteenth of September. After stopping for
refreshment in the upper part of the valley of Bionnassay,
they resumed their march at midnight aided by the light
of a torch, a plan not without its advantages, as Bourrit
says "one does not see the precipices on the line of
route, and the journey seems shorter than by day." They
walked four and a half leagues admiring the purity of the
sky and the countless stars, but a cold wind began to
blow which troubled them a good deal. At half-past five
in the morning they came to the foot of a wall " which
looked like the last rampart of Mont Blanc" — on their
right was the glacier of Bionnassay. Bourrit stopping to
put on his crampons and some warm clothes, Marie
Couttet and Frangois Cuidet went on climbing without
his knowledge, and were soon lost to view.

Some time later he saw them at the end of the glacier,
a spectacle, he says, which filled him with admiration,
though the two guides were doing a little climbing on
their own account. The cold became so bitter and
penetrating that Bourrit and the three remaining men
were unable to proceed. First Maxime of Sallanches,
and then Bourrit himself, became ill. To add to their
troubles, the two guides in front carried all the wine of
the party ! Hence there was nothing to do but to aban-
don the enterprise. Meantime the two leaders had been
climbing up the rocks of the Aiguille du Gouter, and
Bourrit had the melancholy pleasure of seeing them

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

arrive on that summit and disappear towards the sky.
The point where Bourrit stopped was no doubt the Tete
Rousse, a headland of steep rocks, about 10,000 feet above
the sea, which stretches nearly to the base of the Aiguille
du Gouter, and divides the Glacier de la Griaz from that
of Bionnassay. He consoled himself as usual with the
beauty of the scenery, and with the thought how far they
were above Chamonix. But, as M. Durier writes, the
imagination of Bourrit was always two or three thousand
metres higher than his body. He descended to the
chalets at the foot of the glacier, a little anxious about his
advanced guard, but not seriously so, as it would appear,
for he at once went to sleep .

The two men returned at eleven o'clock, aroused him
from his slumbers, and startled him with the information
that, "Thanks to God, they had returned from Mont
Blanc without accident."

They spoke, of course, in general terms, not having
been on the summit of the mountain, or indeed near it,
but they had made an important discovery. They told
Bourrit that from the time when he lost sight of them
they continued climbing along the snows for four hours
and a half, and reached the Dome du Gouter, the snows
from which descended towards the Allee Blanche ; that
from this great elevation all the Alps were at their feet,
and instead of feeling cold they were as in a furnace.
The snow was in good order, but they suffered from the
rarity of the air. They then proceeded in the direction
of the Bosses du Dromadaire, whence they might have
climbed Mont Blanc if the sun, which was then setting,

The Annals of Mont Blanc

had permitted. At this point it seemed better to return.
They had, in fact, gained the rock ridge between the
Dome and the Bosses on which the Vallot Refuge now
stands, a height exceeding 14,300 feet, the highest point
yet attained, but still some 1,450 feet below the summit.

Marie Couttet told Coxe that he passed the middle
Dome and walked along the ridge between it and the
summit as far as some high rocks which from Chamonix
looked like small points rising out of the snow ; so that
there can be no doubt as to the real point gained.^

Such is Bourrit's account.^ To what extent is the
record verified by Dr. Paccard ?

"On September fifteenth, 1784, Le Grand Joras (Lom-
bard Meunier) and Marie Couttet started to join M.
Bourrit at the Grua. His other guides were Frangois
Gervaix, Cuignet or Cuidet, from La Grua, and another,
having with him Maxime and Francois of Sallanches.
They had supplied themselves with food from Chamonix
and Sallanches, and went to sleep on the sixteenth at the
highest huts near the Bionnassay glacier, and on the left
bank of the stream. They crossed it at 1.30 a.m. by the
light of a candle carried in a paper bag, and went up to
the foot of Pierre Ronde, where a fire was lighted, and
there waited for day. At daw-n Marie Couttet and Fran-
9ois Gervaix separated from the rest, and turning to the
left in the direction of Chamonix, went on the arete
behind the one seen from our halting place. They then
crossed a snow couloir, and went up the next following

' "Travels in Switzerland," William Coxe, 1789, vol. ii. p. 13.

== Bourrit, " Nouvelle Description des Glacieres," 1787, vol. i. c. 27.

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

arete, reaching its summit. They could not have ascended
by the first arete on account of the overhanging rocks of
the Aiguille du Goiiter. When at the top of the second
arete they were seen against the snow, and dislodged a
large number of stones — at that moment the clock at
Les Ouches was striking twelve. Le Grand Joras (Lom-
bard Meunier) saw them from the top of the rognon
which is above the glacier of La Gria (Griaz).

" AL Bourrit was on the top of Pierre Ronde at the
foot of the glacier. He came to the side of the glacier of
La Gria at the foot of the Aiguille du Gouter, which the
others had ascended. He had a headache, felt extremely
cold about eight a.m., and was very pale. He made a
sketch of the valley of Chamonix, and after an hour came
down again to Pierre Ronde to rest. Joras thinks he saw
the two travellers again in the hollow which is behind the
Aiguille du Gouter ; they appeared to be ascending the
slope which joins the snow summit of the Glacier de
Bionnassay. They say they were six hours above the
Aiguille du Gouter, but this is wrong, as they returned by
daylight to the foot of Vausa (Voza) ; that they were
within ten toises of the rock (60 feet) at the base of the
Grand Mont Blanc behind the second ; that they rounded
the Grand Mont on the Bonhomme side, where the
slope is too steep and would require step cutting" ; that
the slope at the head of the Glacier des Bossons is good,
but that one cannot get up the snow crests of the peaks
of the central chain towards the Aiguille du Midi ; that
they did not suffer from heat at all, and came down like
birds ; and that it would be possible to erect a hut

The Annals of Mont Blanc

on the Aiguille du Gouter, which is composed of flat
slates.

" M. BoLirrit descended to Bionay, having taken some
milk at Bionnassay ; Franfois Gervaix joined him at half-
past seven, and related his adventures. Marie Couttet
went straight home, while M. Bourrit waited at Sallanches
to hear what Couttet had to say, and then set out for
Geneva."

Now the accounts of Bourrit and Paccard are practi-
cally identical. There are some small discrepancies of
little importance. Bourrit says that it was eleven p.m.
when he was roused by the return of the two adventurers
from Mont Blanc ; Paccard, that it was half-past seven.
Bourrit that his party consisted of six persons ; Paccard
of seven, and gives the name, not of Maxime only, but of
Francois of Sallanches. If the expedition had been suc-
cessful both Chamonix and St. Gervais would have shared
in the triumph, for both places were adequately repre-
sented. It is clear that each thought the ridge of the
Bosses impracticable, because it required step cutting, a
process with which all the pioneers of that time were
very imperfectly acquainted ; and it is interesting to note
that both were of opinion that a hut might be built on
the summit of the Aiguille du Gouter, a suggestion which
was in fact carried out, but not until seventy years later.

The expedition was remarkable, and the height attained
might well have given the pioneers a reasonable hope of
ultimate success. Bourrit went into raptures about it.
It was manifest that the explorers were getting on. The
great mountain might be ascended both by the northern

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

and western sides, but as yet it was unconquerable and
unconquered.

Bourrit wrote to Saussure from Sallanches, and the
Genevese physicist immediately determined to undertake
the enterprise. He was not an easy man to move, being
before all things a man of science ; barometers, ther-
mometers, and all kinds of scientific instruments were as
the breath of his life. Again, the season was getting late,
and he dreaded the short days. However his usual guides,
Pierre Bahnat and Jean Marie Couttet, were to make
some preliminary investigations. The winters of 1784
and 1785 having been extremely severe, and the summer
of the latter year cold and stormy, an immense quantity
of snow had fallen, and hence the attempt was postponed
till the autumn.

On the fourth of September, 1785, Jean Marie Couttet
and Lombard Meunier made a further journey of dis-
covery. They slept high up on the rocks on the north
side of the Bionnassay glacier, and the next morning
reached the summit of the Dome, as Coxe tells us ; or
the Aiguille du Gouter only, according to IM. Durier,
where terrible wind and hail storms forced them to
return. Saussure then took the matter in hand. It is
clear that he desired to be accompanied only by his
guides, but Bourrit insisted on being one of the party,
and Saussure, in consideration of Bourrit having dis-
covered the St. Gervais route,^ agreed. Bourrit also
brought his son with him, a young man of twenty-one,

• But see p. 36.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

"whose scientific attainments were of no ordinary
character." ^

On the tweh'th of September, 1785, the whole party
arrived at the chalet of Battandier, a comfortable peasant
of Bionnassay, who received them with the utmost cor-
diality. Science, as M. Durier truly says, "is a great lady
who cannot travel without much baggage." On the
morning of the thirteenth a caravan of seventeen persons
started from the village, carrying thermometers, baro-
meters, hygrometers, electrometers, and all the various
munitions of mountaineering warfare. Saussure intended
the party to sleep in tents at the highest possible elevation,
but Bourrit had ordered some of the guides to construct
a stone cabin at the foot of the Aiguille du Gouter (really
on the summit of the Tete Rousse), in and near which
the whole party passed the night. The remnants of this
cabin still exist, for I used it as a sleeping place in August,
1856, and again spent some hours in it in August, 1896 —
forty years later. It is, however, rarely used in these
days, travellers by the St. Gervais route having been able
for many years to pass the night in the hut on the summit
of the Aiguille du Gouter. Saussure gives a charming
account of his expedition. The party climbed from
Bionnassay by the right bank of the glacier, and reached
their new cabin in eight hours, where fresh water was
found. Above them rose the Aiguille du Gouter, by
which they hoped to gain the summit. Two of the
guides had already climbed it, and pointed out the route.
On their right was a great snow summit (clearly the

I Albert Smith, 1853, P- z^-

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

Aiguille de Bionnassay), from which masses of ice fell
from time to time. The leader spent the afternoon and
evening in making scientific observations, the weather
being brilliant, and the temperature two and a half
degrees above freezing point. They had a good fire,
branches of fir formed the roof of their sleeping place, an
open umbrella served as a door, and they had carried up
mattresses from Bionnassay.

Bourrit and his son were troubled with the rarity of
the air, were unable to digest their dinner, and had no
appetite for supper. Saussure, on the other hand, passed
an excellent night, and watched from his bed a glorious
moonrise. The following morning a start was made at
six o'clock with every hope of success. It would have
been indeed but poetical justice for Saussure to have
obtained his own reward. The Aiguille du Gouter
seemed to him to be inaccessible, but the guides re-
assured him, saying that the ascent from Bionnassay to
the cabin was more difficult and perilous than from the
cabin to the summit of Mont Blanc, so he proceeded full
of hope and courage.

He tells of a rapture almost puerile when recognising
the Lake of Geneva. On attacking the Aiguille they were
surprised to find a stranger also climbing in their direc-
tion, but they recognised with a cry of joy the guide
Cuidet, who had accompanied Bourrit the previous year,
and who with Jean Marie Couttet had got so near the
summit. Cuidet was so anxious to form one of the party
that he had climbed all the night alone to be able to join
them ! He took his share of the baggage and his place

The Annals of Mont Blanc

ill the caravan. The travellers appear to have rehed upon
the guides to a far greater extent than the modern moun-
taineer. Each walked between two guides and between
two alpenstocks, " a barrier whicli advanced with them,
and kept them from any kind of danger." They traversed
the now well-known couloir and took to the rocks, where
they found their task laborious enough, the rocks being
very loose, and Saussure was at times obliged to seize the
leg of the guide in front, the climb being so steep that it
was on a level with his head.

Things became worse on nearing the summit of the
Aiguille, the snow was soft, and the party took a rest and
sent Pierre Balmat forward to reconnoitre. He returned
in an hour and reported that the fresh snow was so great
that it was impossible to reach the summit without danger
and extreme fatigue, so with great regret this expedition
also was abandoned. The party descended to the cabin,
and Bourrit and his son to Bionnassay, but Saussure
spent another night there, and made several interesting
observations before returning to Geneva.^

Coxe says that the party reached the summit of the
Dome du Gouter,^ but this is manifestly a mistake.
Saussure's narrative makes it clear that even the summit
of the Aiguille du Gouter was not reached ; but this was
the first occasion when a scientific ascent was made, and
any observations of real value either attempted or
obtained.

An effort of such importance naturally engaged the

' "Voyages dans les Alpes," 1786, 8vo, vol. iv. c. 52.
' William Coxe, " Travels in Switzerland," vol. ii. p. 14.

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

keenest attention of the observing Paccard, and the
following record is perhaps the most careful and the
most valuable to be found in his volume of manu-
script : —

" Voyage de M. de Saiissiire. — On September nth, 1785,
Marie Couttet, Jean Michel Tournier, and Fran9ois Folli-
guet, started to construct a hut at Pierre Ronde. The
weather was bad, and in the evening snow fell near the
hut. The bad weather continued on Monday until noon,
when they had completed the hut, which faces the lower
side of the vertical part of the Glacier de la Gria where
M. Bourrit went the previous year. The next morning
they started at 6.20 to meet M. de Saussure at Bionnassay
at the house of Battandier, which they reached at eight
o'clock. Thence they started again, reaching the hut at
five p.m. They carried two palliasses. Two other men
carried about fifty pounds weight of wood, sufficient for
a moderate fire for two nights. Two others carried six
sheets, five blankets, and three pillows. Two carried
provisions, and one the roof of the hut. The latter one
with the wood carriers went down, leaving twelve who
ascended the Aiguille, namely. Professor de Saussure,
MM. Bourrit, father and son, Pierre Balmat, Marie
Couttet, Joras, Jean Michel Tournier, Fran9ois Folliguet,
Jean Pierre Cachat, Fran9ois Cuidet of the Grua, Nicolas
Gervaix, and another of Bionnassay. There is room for
five in the hut, which is covered with flat stones. The
others spent the night outside ; a fire was lighted about
eighteen feet from the hut. After M. de Saussure had
retired to bed the others spent the night quietly, with the

The Annals of Mont Blanc

exception of young M. Bourrit, who suffered from moun-
tain sickness. They started the next morning (the four-
teenth) at 6.20, reached the foot of the Aiguille du Gouter
at 8.30, and ascended until eleven o'clock by the arete
which is seen from Chamonix, and thence by the arete
which is behind, towards the glacier of Bionnassay after
crossing two couloirs. There the Aiguille is much
steeper. M. de Saussure sent off at eleven o'clock two
men (Pierre Balmat and Cuidet) to find out the way.
The}^ were absent one hour and fifteen minutes. Pierre
Balmat shouted from the top that there were two feet of
fresh snow on the ground. M. de Saussure, who has
always shown a dislike for snowy tracks — though he was
a good walker on rocky ground — decided to make ex-
periments where he was. All were glad of it except
young Bourrit, who so far had only taken a little brandy
and water, and wished to go on higher. M. de Saussure
observed the barometer several times. It gave him a
height of 1,900 toises above the sea (1,905 toises accord-
ing to a letter he wrote to me). This appears to me
strange, as it left but 526 toises more for the height of
Mont Blanc, whilst from the level of the Brevent to
where the party were there would be 617 toises, and 100
toises more to the top of the Gouter, whilst from the top
of Brevent, which is 1,287 toises above the sea, die height
of Mont Blanc above the Gouter appears to be at least
double that of the Gouter above the Brevent. Perhaps
Mont Blanc is higher than is generally believed ; its dis-
tance may make it appear deceptive. M. de Saussure
also observed the electrometer. They came down about

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

noon, and were seen at four p.m. crossing a snow slope
at the base of the Aiguille, where rocks pierce through
the snow, behind and above the glacier of la Gria. M.
de Saussure was tied like a prisoner in coming down,
with a rope under the arms, to which Francois Folliguet
was attached in front and Pierre Balmat behind. Couttet
was in front to mark the steps. M. Bourrit was held by
the collar of his coat by Tournier, and was leaning on
the shoulder of Gervais. In the difficult places a barrier
was made by a baton, on which M. de Saussure was able
to lean, both going up and descending. Young M.
Bourrit, almost ill, ascended by holding to Cuidet's coat.
They ate bread and drank wine and water coming down,
and reached the hut at six p.m. Accounts were settled,
and the two Bourrits started with the guides, who brought
down the luggage to Bionnassay. The next day they
reached Chamonix about ten a.m. M. de Saussure
remained with Pierre Balmat, Couttet, Cachat, and with
all the bedding and clothing. M. de Saussure made
barometric and thermometric observations on the
fifteenth. The hut is a little lower than the Buet. He
took levels and collected more than forty lbs. weight of
stones from the lAiguille du Gouter and Pierre Ronde,
and four or five plants. They left at seven o'clock, going
down leisurely to Bionnassay, which was reached at one
o'clock, where they had a good dinner. M. de Saussure,
with Pierre Balmat, went on to sleep at Sallanches, and
the others to Chamonix. Each guide had six francs a
day, and M. de Saussure, who paid everything, spent 15
louis (25 francs each). He had come incognito from

49 E

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Geneva, pretending that he was going to the little Saint
Bernard."

This account of Dr. Paccard is invaluable for its direct-
ness, simplicity, and truth, being no doubt written after
careful conference with the guides. It tallies in almost
every detail with that of Saussure, but gives, which the
latter does not, the names of all but one of the guides
employed.

It shows that the early explorers were provided not
only with blankets, but also with sheets and pillows,
luxuries unknown to the modern mountaineer ; and the
length of time that a large and unwieldy party took to
attain moderate elevations. It is also an amusing picture
of the extraordinary bodily assistance which the guides
were then called upon to render to their employers.

The interest taken in the ascent now became keener
and keener. Saussure having assaulted the mountain in
person, men began to believe that the end was not far
distant. The illustrious adventurer ordered another cabin
to be constructed on the western side at a higher eleva-
tion than Bourrit's hut. He still believed the summit
inaccessible ; but if it were ever to be attained it would
be by the western route and no other. But here the
jealousy of the Chamoniards came in ; no way could
possibly be easier than that which commenced at their
own doors ! Why should a route be attempted which
involved going by the Col de Voza to Bionnassay before
the ascent could be begun ? Again, was not the moun-
tain their exclusive property ? What business had the
St. Gervais hunters to interfere with their vested rights ?

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

Would that this ignoble jealousy had distinguished the
men of Chamonix only at that time ! They got anxious
and even angry. True it was, unhappily, that the St.
Gervais men had first discovered the western route by
which, and by which only according to Saussure, the
summit could be conquered. The prize should not slip
from their grasp without an effort. To begin with, which
route was the shorter ? To satisfy themselves six guides
of Chamonix determined to solve the problem. Opinions
differ as to the date of this adventure. Saussure says the
eighth of June, 1786. M. Durier gives the thirtieth of
June, 1786, and says that "all other writers have copied
the date given by Saussure, which is not only unlikely as
being too early in the season, but is contradicted by the
evidence of Jacques Balmat." But Paccard's manuscript,
which ought to be conclusive, gives the eighth. The
tryst of the two parties was the summit of the Dome
du Gouter. It is certain that those who started from
the Chamonix side reached the rendezvous an hour
and a half sooner than those who started from the
western side, and therefore the question of time was
decided in favour of the former. The whole party
then proceeded towards the Bosses du Dromadaire, but
were stopped by the sharpness of the arete which had
foiled their predecessors; and it is remarkable that this
celebrated ridge was not traversed, at least by travellers,
until the expiration of seventy-three more years,i but it
is now the ordinary route from the Chamonix side. The

' Note. — M. Durier says that the arete of the Bosses was followed to the
summit by Chamonix guides about the year 1839.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

party were disconsolate at finding the arete so narrow
and the precipices so steep that it was impossible to pro-
ceed in that direction. They carefully examined the
different approaches to the summit, and unanimously
concluded that by the side of the Dome du Gouter it was
absolutely inaccessible. With one exception they all
immediately returned to Chamonix by the Montague de
la Cote, utterly discontented, and to add to their troubles
encountered a storm of snow and hail on their way down.
Dr. Paccard's record is as follows : —

"On June yth, 1786, Joseph Carrier, Jean Michel
Tournier, and Francois Paccard left Chamonix to go
and sleep in a hole on the Montagne de la Cote, where
they were joined by Joseph Balmat des Baux (a mis-
take in the Christian name). They started very early
in the morning for Mont Blanc. On the same day
Pierre Balmat and Marie Couttet had slept at the
Pierre Ronde above Bionnassay and started also on
the same eighth of June to go up Mont Blanc from the
Bionnassay side. Those who started from the Montagne
de la Cote were the first to reach the rock which they say
is to the rear at the base of the summit of Mont Blanc.
They state that it is impossible to go from there up to
the last summit. On one side precipices above the Alice
Blanche ; on the other, straight slopes cut off sharply and
protected by chasms. It would seem that from that spot
one would be able to go more easily from behind the
Aiguille du Midi. A stone cairn was erected on the
rock near the top of the second Mont Blanc (Dome du
Gouter). . . . They did not find the stone man which

5; 2

Further Attempts to Ascend Mont Blanc

Cuidet and Couttet were supposed to have erected; on
the contrary, not a single stone appeared to have been
shifted out of its place on the rock which Couttet pointed
out as the one on which the stone man had been built.
They arrived before those from Bionnassay, whom they
saw on the Aiguille du Gouter looking like two chamois.
They called out to them and heard their answers, but
they were evidently very tired, nearly all experienced a
kind of faintness. One of them got better after drinking
a little fresh water found on the rocks. The others went
down, as the weather turned out bad and hail was falling.
They arrived at ten p.m., going down almost from the top
of the Montagne de la Cote in the dark. The one from the
Baux, ivho lagged a good deal behind, was on the snow
still when darkness came on, and was following the steps
of the others who went down to their knees in the snow,
which was hard in the morning. Having noticed by
means of his baton a crevasse which the others had
jumped, he did not dare to go on, but putting his bag
under his head, lay down and spent the night on the snow ;
his clothes were quite frozen the next morning. Most
of them were burned by the sun, Tournier being as red
as fire. The skin peels off after a few days like scales."

So ended the unsuccessful attempts to climb the great
white mountain. It had foiled the ablest guides of
Chamonix and of St. Gervais, and there was no claimant
for Saussure's reward. Man was beaten by the mountain
but his victory was very near. The period of endeavour
was drawing to a close. The time of conquest was
setting in.

CHAPTER IV

THE CONQUEST OF MOXT BLAXC BY MICHEL GABRIEL
PACCARD AND JACQUES BALMAT

The Story told by Alexandre Dumas

JACQUES BALMAT was born on the nineteenth of
January, 1762. An account of the circumstances
which led him to attack the mountain, of his various
unsuccessful attempts to gain the summit, and of his
ultimate victory, was not made public until nearly half a
century after the victory was gained. How this account
came to be written we shall see further on. It was in fact
dictated by Balmat to the illustrious Alexandre Dumas
when he visited Chamonix in 1832. The narrative is so
graphic and, as will be seen, dramatic, that whether it
can be absolutely relied upon or not, it must be given as
it stands, freely translated from Dumas' " Impressions de
Voyage Suisse."

" In those days I really was something worth looking
at. I had a famous calf and a stomach like cast-iron,
and could walk three days consecutively without eating,
a fact I found useful to me when lost on the Buet. I

Jacques Bulmat, from Michel Carrier's book.

[To nur p.itic 54.

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

munched a little snow — nothing more. Every now and
then I cast a sidelong look at Mont Blanc and said to
myself, * My fme fellow, whatever you may say or whatever
you may do, I shall get to the top of you some day. You
will not escape me I' Night and day this thought kept
running in my brain. By day I used to climb the
Brevent, whence Mont Blanc can be seen to such ad-
vantage. I passed hours there searching with eagerness
to discover a route. * Bah ! ' said I, * if there is no way
up the mountain I must make one, for up I must go.'
At night everything was changed. No sooner were my
eyes closed than I found myself *en route,' and went
along as gaily as if there had been a royal road to the
summit. ' Upon my word,' 1 would say to myself in my
dream, * I was a fool to think Mont Blanc was a difficulty.'
Then little by little the way would get narrower, but still
there was a good footpath like the one up the Flegere. I
would keep on and come at last to where there was no
road at all, and then stumbling on in unknown regions,
the ground would move and swallow me up to the knees.
* Never mind,' I would say, and go struggling on — how
stupid one is in a dream ! — I should get out at last, but
have to go on all fours as the way became steeper and
steeper and everything worse and worse. I would plant
my feet on pieces of rock and feel them shake like loose
teeth, and the sweat would fall from me in great drops.
I felt stifled and as if I had nightmare. Never mind, keep
going ! I was like a lizard on a wall. I saw the earth
sinking away beneath me. It was all the same, I only
looked at the sky. All I cared for was to reach the top ;

The Annals of Mont Blanc

but my legs, my grand legs, failed me, and I could nc
longer bend them. I would catch at the stones with my
nails and feel that I was going to fall, and then would say
to myself, ' Jacques Balmat, my friend, if you don't catch
hold of that branch your time has come.' I shall always
remember that accursed branch ; one night I touched it
with the tips of my fingers, and drawing up my legs as if
I were rowing, clutched it, saying, ' Now I have you !
now all will go well.' At that moment I was awakened
by a vigorous box on the ear by my wife, and, would you
believe it, I had caught hold of her ear and was tugging
at it as if it were indiarubber.

" After that awakening I felt that the time for action
was come, and I determined on leaving my bed to set to
work in earnest. I began by putting on my gaiters.

* Where are you going ? ' said my wife. ' To look for
crystals,' I replied, * and don't be uneasy if I don't come
back to-night ; if I am not home by nine o'clock I shall
be sleeping somewhere on the mountains.' I did not
want her to know my intentions. I took a stout alpen-
stock tipped with iron, double the length and thickness
of an ordinary one, filled my gourd with brandy, put
some bread in my pocket, and set off.

" I had already made several attempts to climb the
mountain by the Mer de Glace, and had always been
stopped by the Mont Maudit. I would sometimes try
by the Aiguille du Gouter, but thence to the Dome there
was a kind of arete about a quarter of a league long and
one or two feet wide and more than i,8oo feet in depth.

* Nq, thank you, not that way,' I said. 1 therefore deter-

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

mined this time to change the route, and went by the
Montagne de la Cote. At the end of three hours I
reached the Glacier des Bossons. No great difficulty
there. Four hours after that I arrived at the Grands
Mulets. ' Well,' I thought, ' now I deserve some break-
fast,' and I took a bit of bread and a sup from my gourd.
That was good !

"At this time there was no level ground at the Grands
Mulets, and you may fancy it was not over comfortable.
I was getting uneasy as to finding a place higher up to
pass the night and was alarmed at seeing none, so deter-
mined to go further and trust to Providence. At the end
of two hours and a half I found a capital place, hard and
dry, where the rocks came through the snow and gave
me a space of about six or seven feet to lie on, not to
sleep however, but to sit upon and wait for daylight, with
rather more comfort than lying on the snow. It was
now about seven o'clock in the evening, so I broke off my
second piece of bread, drank another drop of Cognac,
and settled myself on the rock where I should have to
pass the night. It did not take long to make my bed.
About nine o'clock the mist began to rise like a thick
smoke from the valley, and in half an hour it reached
and enveloped me ; but I was still cheered by the light
of the last rays of the setting sun, which had scarcely left
the highest summit of Mont Blanc. I followed them
with my eyes as long as I could, but at last they disap-
peared and the day was done. My face was turned
towards Chamonix. At my left lay a huge plain of snow
which reached up to the Dome du Gouter. At my right,

The Annals of Mont Blanc

and only a few paces distant, was a precipice of about
800 feet. I did not dare to sleep for fear of rolling down
this abyss in a dream. I seated myself on my knapsack and
began to knock my hands and feet together to keep them
warm. Soon the moon rose, pale and surrounded by
clouds which nearly hid her till eleven o'clock. I saw
at the same time a hateful cloud come rolling down from
the Aiguille du Gouter, which no sooner reached me
than it lashed my face with snow.

" I covered my face with a handkerchief and said, * All
right, go on ; don't mind me.' I heard the falling
avalanches rolling and grumbling like thunder. The
glaciers cracked, and at every crack it seemed to me as if
the mountain moved. I felt neither hungry nor thirsty,
but had a violent aching in my head which began at the
top and reached to the eyebrows. All this time the fog
was as thick as ever. My breath was frozen and my
handkerchief and my clothes were soaked with snow, and
soon I felt as if I were stark naked. I moved my hands
and feet faster, and began to sing to drive away the
thoughts that were seething in my brain. My voice
seemed to die away in the snow, no echo replied ; every-
thing was dead in this ice-bound world and the sound of
my own voice almost terrified me. I became silent and
afraid. At two o'clock the heavens grew white towards
the east, and with the dawn my courage revived. The
sun was fighting with the clouds which covered Mont
Blanc, and I hoped every moment that he would disperse
them, but about four o'clock they grew thicker. The sun
was blotted out, and I began to fear that my enterprise

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

must be abandoned for that day. In order to make some
progress, even if the ascent should prove impossible, I
began to explore the neighbourhood of my rock and
spent the whole day on the glacier looking for the best
routes. As evening approached, and with it the mist, I
descended as far as the Bee a I'Oiseau,! where night over-
took me. This night was passed more agreeably than the
last. I was not on the ice, and was able to sleep a little ;
but 1 awoke quite benumbed, and as soon as daylight
appeared I crept down to the valley, having promised my
wife that I would not be away more than three days. My
clothes did not thaw till I reached the village of La Cote.
I had hardly gone a hundred steps past it, when I met
Fran9ois Paccard, Joseph Carrier, and Jean Michel
Tournier, three guides ; they had their knapsacks and
alpenstocks with them and wore their climbing clothes. I
asked where they were going, and they said in search of kids
which had strayed from the children who had been watch-
ing them. As these animals are of little value, I felt that
the men were trying to deceive, and at once surmised that
they were about to attempt the journey which I had just
failed to achieve. M. de Saussure had promised a reward
to the first man who should gain the summit. Paccard
putting one or two questions to me, such as where one
could sleep on the Bee a I'Oiseau, my surmise was con-
firmed. I replied that snow lay everywhere and to find a
good sleeping place was not possible. I saw that he
exchanged signs with the others, which I pretended not to
notice. They turned aside and consulted together, and

' A rock high up on the Montagne de la Cote.

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ended by proposing that I should join them and that we
should all ascend the mountain together.

" I agreed, but said that I must first go home, as I had
promised, so as not to break faith with my wife. I went
and told her not to be uneasy at another absence. I
changed my stockings and gaiters, took some provisions
and started at eleven o'clock the same night without
taking any rest. At one o'clock I found my comrades at
the Bee a I'Oiseau, about four leagues below the place
where I had slept. They were sleeping like marmots. I
awoke them, and all four began the march upward. That
day we crossed the glacier of Taconnay and reached the
Grands Mulcts, where two days previously I had passed
such a dreadful night. We turned to the right, and at
three o'clock were on the Dome du Gouter. One of us
(Paccard) had begun to be out of breath after the Grands
Mulcts, and now lay down on one of our coats. On
reaching the top of the Dome we saw something black
moving on the Aiguille du Gouter, and could not tell
whether it was a man or a chamois. We cried out and
some one replied. Then after a minute we kept silent,
and then words came, ' Hallo, you fellows, stop a bit, we
want to climb with you.' We waited for them, which
enabled Paccard to reach us, having recovered his powers.
At the end of half an hour the others joined us. They
were Pierre Balmat and Marie Couttet, who had made a
bet that they would be on the Dome du Gouter before
my companions. The}' lost their wager. Meantime I
had been using the time to explore, and had gone nearly
a quarter of a league, almost sitting astride on the top of

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the arete which joins the Dome du Gouter to the top of
]\Iont Blanc. It seemed a path fit only for a rope-dancer,
but I did not care, and I believe that I should have
reached the top if the Pointe Rouge had not barred the
way. As it was impossible, however, to get past that, I
returned to the spot where I had left my companions ;
but found nothing but my knapsack. Convinced that
the}^ could not get up Mont Blanc that day, they had
gone down to the valley, no doubt saying ' Balmat is very
active and will soon overtake us.' Finding myself alone, I
hesitated for a moment between the desire of following
them and the longing to attempt the ascent by myself. I
was vexed at their departure, but felt that this time I
might be successful, so determined to try. I shouldered
my knapsack and started. It was now four o'clock. I
crossed the Grand Plateau and came to the Brenva
glacier, from which I could see Courmayeur and the
Valley of Aosta in Piedmont. Clouds being on the top
of Mont Blanc, I did not attempt to climb up, less from
the fear of getting lost, than from the certainty that the
others, unless they could see me, would never believe that
I had reached the summit. I profited by the little day-
light still left to seek some place of shelter, but after an
hour's search found nothing, and, remembering my
recent experience, determined to return. I began my
descent and reached the Grand Plateau. As I had not
then learnt, as I have since done, the use of a veil to pre-
serve my eyes, they became so fatigued by the constant
glare of the snow that I could distinguish nothing, but
seemed to see patches of blood around me. I sat down

The Annals of Mont Blanc

to rest, shut my eyes, and let my head fall between my
hands. After half an hour my sight was restored, but
night was setting in, and as there was no time to be lost
I got up and set off. I had not gone many steps when
my baton showed that there was no ice below me. I had
come to the edge of the great crevasse in which three men
had died and out of which Marie Couttet had been pulled
up. 'Ah!' I said, * is that you?' We had, in fact,
crossed it in the morning on an ice bridge covered with
snow. I searched for it, but as the night became darker
could not find it. My sight became worse, the aching in
my head returned, I felt no desire for food or drink and
was miserably sick and ill.

" Obliged to remain near the crevasse till daylight, I put
my knapsack on the snow, covered my face with my
handkerchief and prepared as best I could to pass another
dreadful night. As I was now about two thousand feet
higher the cold was more piercing. A fall of fine snow
froze me, irresistible drowsiness came over me and
thoughts of death passed through my mind. These were
evil signs, and I knew that if I had the bad luck to close
my eyes they might never re-open. From my perch I
could see, ten thousand feet below me, the lights of
Chamonix, where my late comrades would be sitting by
their firesides or lying snugly in bed, and said to myself,
' Very likely not one of them has a thought to spare for
me ! Perhaps one may say, while he is poking his fire
or drawing his bedclothes over his ears, " That fool
Jacques is very likely knocking his feet together up
there ! " ' I felt no lack of courage, only of strength. No

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man is made of iron, and I felt far from cheerful. During
the short intervals between the crash of avalanches I
heard distinctly the barking of a dog at Courmayeur,
though it was more than a league and a half to that
village from the spot where I was lying. The noise
served to distract my thoughts, for it was the only earthly
sound that reached me. About midnight the barking
ceased, and nothing remained but the deathly silence of
the grave. The noise of the glaciers and avalanches could
reassure no human being, they could only frighten him.
At two o'clock appeared on the horizon that same white
line I had formerly observed, and the sun followed as
before. Mont Blanc had his nightcap on, and when
such is the case he is in a bad temper and no one dare
approach him. I knew his disposition and was sufficiently
warned, and began my descent into the valley. I was
despondent, but not disheartened by these two vain
attempts, but felt quite certain I should be more fortunate
a third time. Five hours more and I was back in the
village. It was eight o'clock. All was right at home ; my
wife gave me something to eat, but I was more sleepy
than hungry. She wanted me to lie down in the bed-
room, but I was afraid of being tormented by the flies, so
I went into the barn, stretched myself upon the hay and
slept without waking for twenty-four hours.

" Three weeks passed without any favourable change in
the weather taking place, and without in the least lessen-
ing my desire to try again. Dr. Paccard, a relative of the
guide I have spoken about, desired this time to accom-
pany me, and we agreed to set out on the first fine day.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

At last, on the eighth of August, 1786, the weather seemed
sufficiently settled to venture. I went to Paccard and
said, ' Well, Doctor, are you determined ? Are you afraid
of the cold or the snow or the precipices ? Speak out
like a man.' * With you I fear nothing,' was his reply.
'Well then, the time has come to climb the molehill.'
The Doctor said that he was quite ready, but just as he
shut the door of his house I think his heart failed him a
little, for he could not get the key out of the lock and kept
turning it first one way and then the other. * I say,
Balmat,' he said, ' if we did the right thing we should
take two guides.' ' No,' I replied ; ' either you and I go
together, or you go with the others. I want to be first,
not second.' He thought for a moment, drew out the
key, put it in his pocket, and with his head bent down
followed me mechanically. In about a minute he gave
himself a shake and said, ' Well, I must trust to you,
Balmat.' * Forward,' said I, * and let us trust to Pro-
vidence.' He tried, but could not sing in tune, which
annoyed him. I took him by the arm, and said, ' This
project must be known to ourselves only.' We were
obliged, however, to take a third person into our con-
lidence. This was the shopkeeper from whom we bought
some syrup to mix with the water we should carry.
Brandy and wine would have been too strong for such
an expedition. As the woman was suspicious we told her
everything, and asked her to look out next day on the
Dome du Goiiter side about nine o'clock in the morning,
as we hoped to be there then. We made all our arrange-
ments, took leave of our wives, and set off about live

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o'clock in the evening, one taking the right and the other
the left side of the Arve so that we might not attract
attention. We met again at the village of La Cote. The
same evening we slept on the top of La Cote, between the
glaciers of Bossons and Taconnay. I carried a rug and
used it to muffle the Doctor up like a baby. Thanks to
this precaution he passed a tolerable night. As for me, I
slept soundly until half-past one. At two the white line
appeared, and soon the sun rose without a cloud, brilliant
and beautiful, a promise of a glorious day ! I awoke the
Doctor and we began our day's march. At the end of a
quarter of an hour we were struggling with the glacier of
Taconnay, a sea full of great crevasses whose depth could
not be measured by the eye. The snow bridges gave way
under our feet. The Doctor's first steps were halting and
uncertain, but the sight of my alertness gave him con-
fidence, and we went on safe and sound. Then began
the ascent to the Grands Mulcts, which was soon left
behind. I showed the doctor where I had passed the
first night. He made an expressive grimace, and kept
silent for ten minutes ; then, stopping suddenly, said,
' Balmat, do you really think we shall get to the top of
Mont Blanc to-day ? ' I saw how his thoughts were
drifting, and laughingly answered him, but gave no
promise. Ascending for about two hours we came to the
Plateau, where the wind became more and more boisterous,
and arrived at last at the projecting rock known as Les
Petits Mulcts, when a gust of wind carried off the Doctor's
hat. I turned round on hearing his cry, and saw the felt
hat careering down the mountain towards Courmayeur.

65 F

The Annals of Mont Blanc

With his arms stretched out he looked after it. 'We
must go into mourning for it/ I said ; * you will never
see it again for it has gone to Piedmont, and good luck
be with it ! ' It seemed as if my little joke had given
offence to the wind, for my mouth had scarcely closed
when a more violent gust obliged us to lie down on our
stomachs to prevent our following the hat. For ten
minutes, rise we could not. The wind lashed the
mountain sides and passed whistling over our heads,
driving great balls of snow almost as big as houses before
it. The Doctor was dismayed, but I only thought of the
shopwoman we had told to look out for us about this
time on the Dome du Gouter. At the first respite I rose,
but the Doctor could only follow on all fours ; we then
came to a point from which we could see the village.
Taking out my glass, there, twelve thousand feet below,
was our gossiping friend and fifty others snatching a
glass from hand to hand to look at us. Considerations of
self-respect induced the Doctor to stand up, and that
moment we saw that we were recognised, he by his big
coat, and I by my ordinary clothes. They made signs to
us by waving their hats. I replied by waving mine, but
alas, the Doctor's had already taken leave. Having used
up all his strength in getting on his feet, neither the en-
couragement from below, nor my own earnest entreaties
could induce him to continue the ascent. My eloquence
exhausted, I told him to keep moving so as not to get be-
numbed. He listened, without seeming to understand,
and replied, ' All right.' I saw that he was suffering from
the cold, while I also was nearly frozen. Leaving him the

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

bottle, I went on alone, saying that I should very soon
come back to find him. He answered, ' Yes ! yes ! ' and
telling him again to be sure not to stand still, I went off.
I had hardly gone thirty paces when, on turning round, I
saw him actually sitting down on the snow, with his back
turned to the wind as some precaution. From that time
onward the route presented no very great difficulty, but
as I rose higher the air became much less easy to
breathe, and I had to stop almost every ten steps and
wheeze like one with consumption. 1 felt as if my lungs
had gone and my chest was quite empty. I folded my
handkerchief over my mouth, which made me a little
more comfortable as I breathed through it. The cold got
worse and worse, and to go a quarter of a league took
an hour. I kept walking upward, with my head bent
down, but finding that 1 was on a peak which was nev/ to
me, I lifted my head and saw that at last I had reached
the summit of Mont Blanc !

" I looked round, trembling for fear that there might
yet be further some new unattainable aiguille. But no !
no ! I had no longer any strength to go higher ; the
muscles of my legs seemed only held together by my
trousers. But behold I was at the end of my journey ; I
was on a spot where no living being had ever been
before, no eagle nor even a chamois ! 1 had come alone,
with no help but my own will and my own strength.
Everything around belonged to me ! 1 was the monarch
of Mont Blanc 1 I was the statue on this unique pedestal !
Ah, then I turned towards Chamonix and waved my
hat on the end of my stick. I could see through my

The Annals of Mont Blanc

glass the response. My subjects in the valley perceived.
The whole village was gathered together in the market-
place.

*' When my first moments of exultation were over, my
thoughts turned to my poor Doctor, and I went towards
him as quickly as I could, calling out his name and
getting greatly alarmed at hearing no reply. In a quarter
of an hour, I saw him far off rolled up like a ball, but he
was quite immovable and made no reply to the shouts
which he must certainly have heard. I found him
doubled up with his head between his knees, just like
a cat when she makes herself into a muff". Tapping him
on the shoulder, he raised his head, and I told him that I
had been on the top of Mont Blanc. Even this did not
interest him ; he only asked, ' Where can I lie down and
go to sleep ? ' I told him he had started to go to the
top of the mountain and there he would have to go. I
lifted him up from the ground, took him by the shoulder
and forced him forward several steps. He seemed quite
torpid, and to care neither whether he went up or down.
However, his blood seemed to circulate a little more
freely after my efforts, and he asked if there were more
gloves like those on my hands, which were of hareskin
and made especially for this excursion, without fingers.
At that moment I would not have parted with both of
them even to my brother, but I gave him one. Shortly
after six o'clock we were on the summit and, though the
sun shone brilliantly, we saw stars shining in the deep
blue sky.

" Beneath was nothing but gaunt peaks, ice, rocks, and

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snow. The great chain which crosses the Dauphin6 and
stretches as far as the Tyrol was spread out before us, its
four hundred glaciers shining in the sunlight. Could
there be space for any green ground on the earth ? The
lakes of Geneva and Neuchatel were specks of blue on
the horizon. To the left lay the mountains of my dear
country all fleecy with snow, and rising from meadows
of the richest green. To the right was all Piedmont, and
Lombardy as far as Genoa, and Italy was opposite.

" Paccard could see nothing, but I felt no fatigue and
scarcely noticed the difficulty of breathing which had an
hour before so oppressed me. We stayed thirty-three
minutes, until seven o'clock in the evening, and as there
would only be two hours and a half more daylight, I
began to descend, taking Paccard under his arms, and
waving my hat as one last signal to those in the valley.
There was no track to guide us, and the wind was so
piercingly cold that the snow remained frozen, and we
could only see the little round holes which the iron
points of our Alpenstocks had made. Paccard was like
a child, no energy or will. I guided him along the good
places, and pushed, or carried him, along the bad.
Night came on, and when we had crossed the crevasse
at the foot of the Grand Plateau we were in the dark.
Paccard stopped every few minutes, saying he could go
no further, and I had to make him, not by persuasion
only, but by brute force. At eleven o'clock we left the
ice and set foot on solid ground, having lost all the sun's
reflected light for more than an hour. Then I allowed
Paccard to stop, and was just going to wrap a rug around

The Annals of Mont Blanc

him when I saw that he could not move his hands. I
asked him about them, and he repHed that they were
useless and with no feeling in them whatever. I took
off his gloves, and found his hands were dead white,
and my own hand also from which I had taken the glove
was quite numb. I said, 'Well, we have three frost-
bitten hands between us.' He did not mind, but only
wanted to lie down and sleep. He told me, however, to
rub them with snow, and that was easily done. I began
by rubbing his hands and finished by rubbing my own.
Soon sensation returned, but accompanied by pains as
sharp as if every vein had been pricked by needles. I
rolled my baby up in his rug and put him to bed under
the shelter of a rock ; we ate and drank a little ; pressed
as close to one another as possible, and fell fast asleep.

" In the morning at six o'clock I was awakened by
Paccard. ' It is funny, Balmat,' he said ; * I can hear
the birds singing, but can see no daylight. Perhaps
because I cannot open my eyes ; ' and yet they were
glaring like those of a horned owl. I replied that he was
under a delusion and that he ought to see very well.
Then he asked for a little snow, and melting it in the
hollow of his hand with a little brandy, rubbed his eyelids
with it. This done he saw no better, but his eyes watered
profusely. ' Very well,' he said, ' having gone blind,
how shall I be able to get down ? ' * You must hold on
to the strap of my knapsack,' I said, * and walk behind
me,' and in this way we descended to the village of La
C6te. There I had to leave the Doctor, as I feared rny
wife would be uneasy, and he managed to get home by

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

feeling his way with his stick. I returned home, and then
saw what I looked like. I was quite unrecognisable.
My eyes were red, my face black, and my lips blue.
Every time I laughed or yawned the blood spouted out
from my lips and cheeks, and in addition I was half
blind.

" Four days afterwards I set out for Geneva to inform
M. de Saussure that 1 had succeeded in scaling Mont
Blanc. He had already heard the news from some
Englishmen. He came at once to Chamonix and tried
the ascent with me, but the weather only allowed us to
get as far as the Montague de la Cote, and it was not till
the following year that he carried out his great project."

Such is the statement of Jacques Balmat, which makes
light of the mountaineering capacity of the Doctor, and
in which the narrator poses as complete master of the
situation. Further on I propose to examine Balmat's
story in detail — a story open to much obvious criticism —
and to consider it in the light of other records ; but before
doing so, however, it will be better to proceed with the
account of the ascent of Mont Blanc made in the follow-
ing year (1787) by the eminent and indefatigable Saussure.

CHAPTER V

THE CONQUEST OF MONT BLANC BY HORACE BENEDICT
DE SAUSSURE

SAUSSURE heard with joy of the successful ascent
recounted in the last chapter.^ The report reached
him at Geneva on the following day, Jean Pierre
Tairraz, who kept one of the little Chamonix inns,
having sent a messenger with the news. It was after-
wards detailed to him at greater length by Jacques Balmat
himself when he had recovered from the effects of his
excursion ; and who, no doubt, was not backward in
claiming the reward promised for six and twenty years.
Saussure at once determined to go to Chamonix and
endeavour to repeat the ascent. He was by no means
hopeful of the chances of success, being then forty-six
years of age. However, he at once made arrangements,
and on the thirteenth of August, 1786, wrote to Tairraz : —
" I am very much obliged for the trouble you have

' Note. — In the year in which this ascent was made Saussure published at
Geneva (chez Barde Manget & Compagnie) a short account of his ascent. It is
an 8vo pamphlet of thirty-one pages, a copy of which has been courteously placed
at the author's disposal by M. Augerd of Bourg. The narrative is included in
Saussure's " Voyages dans les Alpes " with many interesting additions, and from
these two sources this chapter has been compiled.

Saussurc, from a picture hv St. Our:

[To face page 72

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taken in sending me an express with your letter an-
nouncing Dr. Paccard's fortunate expedition. I am
delighted to hear of this, on such good authority. I gave
two new crowns to the bearer, which he said was quite
sufficient for his trouble.

"And now I am going to confide a httle affair to you,
which must be kept quite secret : I wish to attempt the
same route. Not that I flatter myself that I shall be able
to reach the summit, for neither the youth nor the agility
of the doctor are mine, but I can at all events get high
enough to make some observations and experiments of
great importance. As it appears they had a great deal of
trouble to cross the glacier above the Montague de la
Cote, I wish you would send ofT five or six men at once
to level the route as much as possible. Pay them good
days' wages. I leave the sum — which shall be repaid at
once — to your discretion. It is most essential to procure
trustworthy and hard-working men. Put Jacques Balmat,
who accompanied Doctor Paccard, at the head, and pay
him better than the others. They must begin by building
a hut at the top of the Montague de la Cote, which will
serve them for a resting place at night and in bad weather,
and it will also serve me.

" As the task will be too great for me to go at once from
the top of the Montague de la Cote to the summit, I also
wish them to build another hut higher up, on some rock
in the middle of the snow.

*' But, in all this business, I positively forbid you to
mention my name. Say everything has been ordered by
a great Italian personage who wishes to be unknown, I

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have most important reasons for this, and for no one to
imagine that I am thinking of the attempt.

" I expect to arrive at Chamonix on Thursday or
Friday next, and hope all will be ready, or at all events
very forward ; and that there may be no difficulties.
Enclosed are two double louis to pay for the few first
days' work and the wine for the men.

" I should have been indeed pleased to have lodged at
your house, if my old associations with the good dame
Couteran had not established engagements which I
cannot break. But rest assured you shall not be a
loser. If you execute my commissions with promptitude,
and attend upon me as I wish, you shall not be forgotten.

" Moreover pray order, at once, a flat-sided ladder
twelve or fifteen feet long. This laid down will help
us in crossing the crevasses ; and when set up, in scaling
rocks or cliffs of ice. It must be very firm, but light
enough for one man to carr}'. With its aid the workmen
will have no need to make long detours, nor to cut the
ice, wherever the ladder is longer than the crevasses, so
let them take one of this length at starting. They may
decide whether its poles and steps be round or otherwise,
but my own must have flat steps as they will be easier for
me to walk on.

" If the weather be indifferent they can still begin to
build the lower hut, which should be as near to the edge
of the ice as possible. In case there are no flat stones
near, it can be built of pine branches with the leaves on.
When these are well and thickly set, they will keep out
not only the cold but also the rain.

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

" I could entrust this commission to several others at
Chamonix, but well knowing your zeal and intelligence
my confidence will not be misplaced. Moreover should
success crown my attempt, I shall publish an account of
it, and shall not fail to give due honour to your own
important share in it, which will add not only to your
reputation but to that of your inn.

" I am, my dear Jean Pierre, your affectionate

"DE Saussure, Professor.

"Gexeva, Sunday, Aug. 13, 1786.

" The commission then, you will recollect, is on behalf
of an Italian nobleman.

"i. To order a portable ladder with flat sides and
fifteen feet long.

" 2. To choose at once a sufficient number of brave
workmen to build a good hut on the summit of the
Montague de la Cote, close to the glacier, in stone, or
pine branches with the leaves on.

"3. They are to take a common ladder with them,
fifteen feet long, and when the hut is finished, must try
and ease the crossing of the glacier, by levelling the ice
ridges or cutting steps where the crevasses are too large
to allow them to be crossed on the ladder.

**4. After they have arranged this, let them build another
hut upon some rock two-thirds or three-fourths of the
distance between the first hut and the top of the mountain.

" N.B.— Settle beforehand with the workmen about
their daily wages, and promise a good trinkgeld if the
nobleman be content with their work."

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Saussure arrived at Chamonix shortly after his letter
was written. He reached the Montagne de la Cote on
the twentieth of August, a few days after the memorable
first ascent, but bad weather setting in, obliged him to
return. Snow and rain fell continuously during that
season, and any further attempt was necessarily
abandoned. Saussure, however, instructed Balmat to
inspect the mountain in the following June and to
advise him of the moment when the ascent might seem
practicable. He then went to Provence to make ex-
periments on the seashore for the sake of comparison
with others which he hoped later on to make on Mont
Blanc.

The following year (1787) Balmat watched continuously
and wrote to Saussure that he had been unsuccessful in
the month of June, but expected better fortune in the
early days of July. Saussure started for Chamonix and
met Balmat at Sallanches, who told him that he had
again been on the summit of Mont Blanc on the fifth of
July, accompanied by Jean Michel Cachat and Alexis
Tournier, a statement confirmed by Dr. Paccard's manu-
script. On his arrival at Chamonix, Saussure was
greeted by heavy rain, which lasted for nearly a month,
but his mind was made up, and he resolved to wait the
entire season rather than run the risk of failure. At
length the weather cleared, and the favourable moment
arrived on the first of August. The Professor was ac-
companied by his servant Tetu, and by eighteen guides,
who carried his scientific instruments and the various
other articles which he thought necessary for his ex-

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pedition. His head guide was of course Jacques Balmat,
the others Pierre Bahiiat and Marie Couttet, his com-
panions on the previous attempt from the western side,
Jean Michel Cachat and Alexis Tournier (who with
Jacques Balmat had gained the summit on the fifth of
July), Jacques Balmat, a servant of Madame Couteran
the innkeeper, our old friend Jean Baptiste Lombard,
Alexis Balmat, five guides of the well-known name of
Devouassoud, Frangois Couttet, Francois Ravenel, Pierre
Francois Favret, Jean Pierre Cachat, and Jean Michel
Tournier. De Saussure's eldest son was earnestly
desirous of accompanying him, but it was thought that
he was not strong enough for so arduous an enterprise,
and he was left by his father to make observations at
the Priory corresponding with those intended to be made
on the mountain.

The unwieldy party started for the Montagne de la
Cofe on the first of August, 1787. A tent was carried for
Saussure, who desired to spend the first night on the
summit of the Montagne de la Cote.

In the month of August as a rule this ridge is free from
snow, and the whole party arrived safely at the sleeping
place in five or six hours without the slightest difficulty
or danger, and passed a comfortable night. Saussure
had ridden a mule nearly as far as the foot of the ridge,
the rest of the party going on foot. He calls particular
attention to the rock known as the Bee a I'Oiseau, and
says that he was told that a shepherd had once laid a
wager that he would sit upon the point of the beak. He did
-so, but, losing his balance fell, and was killed on the spot.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Their sleeping place was of course the spot utilised by
Paccard and Balmat on the evening previous to their
first ascent. They here bade adieu to dry land, and
embarked on the great solitudes of snow which stretch
continuously to the summit.

Three of the guides having gone on to explore the
glacier, one of them — Jean Marie Couttet — according to
Saussure, nearly lost his life through a snow bridge
breaking and letting him fall into a deep crevasse, but
fortunately being roped to the two others he was drawn
up without injury. On their return, particulars were
eagerly asked for, "as if from spies, as to the movements
of an armed enemy." Couttet quietly told his story,
which made some of the guides grave. The braver
members made light of it, but to the others the matter
seemed too serious for jesting.

The following morning they started at half-past six.
They had all wished to start earlier, but were delayed by
the guides disputing as to the weight each was to carry.
They then crossed the glacier in the direction of the rock
ridge in the centre of the snow-fields, then and now
known as the " Grands Mulcts." The glacier they found
difficult and dangerous — filled with deep and irregular
crevasses which could only be crossed by snow bridges.
In some cases where crevasses were large and open they
went to the bottom of them, and cut steps in the hard ice
to mount the opposite side.

The three leading guides were roped together, but the
others were unroped, each stepping exactly into the
footholes of the guide in front. All the guides were now

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

in the highest spirits, talking, laughing, and jocosely
defying one another.

Saussure passed the place where Couttet had fallen the
previous evening, and was horrorstruck at the danger
which in hio opinion the guide had incurred, the hole in
the snow being six or seven feet wide, and revealing a
chasm of unknown depth. They found the passage of
the glacier so tortuous and difficult that it took them
three hours to go from their sleeping place to the lower
rocks of the Grands Mulcts ridge, although the distance
was not more than a quarter of a league in a direct line.
A long halt was here made for breakfast, some of the
guides desiring to put off their departure as long as
possible. But Saussure was inexorable, and they started
again at eleven o'clock, not reaching the highest rocks in
the chain until half-past one. They recognised the town
of Nyon and the range of the Jura, each sight such as these
filling the whole caravan with joy, being good evidence
of the progress made. Regaining the snow, they stopped
on the brink of a great abyss which seemed to bar their
progress. While inspecting this difficulty, an unfortunate
accident happened, for Tetu, Saussure's servant, dropped
the foot of the barometer which he was carrying, and it
shot like an arrow into the crevasse. The Professor was
terribly disappointed, for the article in question was
useful for several purposes. Some of the guides offered
to descend into the crevasse and search for the missing
object. Saussure hesitated to subject them to any risk,
but one of them took a rope while the others lowered
him down, and he soon discovered the article and brought

The Annals of Mont Blanc

it up in triumph. Saussure was, however, uneasy on
another account, for he knew that his party could be
seen through the Chamonix telescopes, that his move-
ments were being watched, and he feared that his family
would imagine that one of the party, and not a scientific
instrument, had been entombed. However, it seems that
this incident was not even noticed from below.

They then reached the last rock of the isolated ridge,
where they all dined with good appetites, but there was
no water, an inconvenience which was soon remedied,
for the guides stuck great pieces of snow on the rocks
exposed to the sun, the snow soon melted, and each
member of the party had as much water as he wanted.
The guides could not for some time be induced to leave,
for why should not they sleep where at least moderate
comfort was to be found ? But Saussure said No ! The
guides remonstrated, but he insisted, fearing that other-
wise the third day's work would be too laborious. He
had fully determined to camp out in the middle of the
snow, and camp out he would. The guides thought that
the cold at night would be frightful in those upper
regions, and some of them, notwithstanding Balmat's
experiences, really believed they would perish. But
Saussure stuck to his guns, and declared that he would
go on at any cost with those who would follow him,
that there was no real danger in sleeping on the snow,
that if they kept together they would be quite warm, and
that by digging a hole in the snow and covering it with
the tent all risk would be averted. At length reassured,
they set out. Passing the first plateau soon after leaving

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

the rocks, they found the remains of enormous avalanches
which had fallen from the Dome du Gouter. At four
o'clock they reached the second of the great snow
plateaux, which had to be crossed. In fact they had
arrived at the spot now known as the Petit Plateau, some
twelve thousand feet above sea level, or as Saussure tells
us, "ninety toises higher than the Peak of Teneriffe."
Here the tent was pitched for the night, after a com-
paratively easy day, for they had taken less than ten
hours from the Montague de la Cote, including numerous
halts. The modern mountaineer in fine weather and
good conditions of snow would make the same journey
in half the time 1 They feared to go higher because of
avalanches, the remains of which, as we have seen, had
been encountered on their way up ; some had fallen
since Balmat's last journey on the fifth of July, and these
lay around the sleeping place. The great difficulty was
to pitch the tent so that they could brave the night cold,
which some of the guides imagined would be terrible.
They had passed avalanches too, of which traces were on
all sides, and were afraid that the weight of so many men
in so small a compass, and the heat of their bodies,
would melt the snow and entomb them in the middle of
the night. At length a place was found which appeared
free from all ordinary dangers, and the guides began to
dig out a hole wherein to pass the night. But soon the
effects of the rarity of the air were felt. They could do
little or nothing ; one man after working for two or three
minutes had to give up, and his place taken by another.
One of the guides who had gone to fill a barrel with

8i G

The Annals of Mont Blanc

some water which they had seen in a crevasse, came
back without the water and passed the night in great
suffering. The experience was a novel one for most of
the party, and Saussure says that, accustomed as he was
to mountam air, his fatigue in making observations was
extraordinary, that he had a burning thirst and could get
no water to quench it, as what they carried with them
was frozen, and their little brazier was insufficient to melt
snow enough for so large a party. It was a striking
sleeping place. In front was Mont Blanc ; on the east
the great heights of the Midi, the Maudit, and the Tacul
— on the west the Dome du Gouter, snow everywhere of
dazzling brightness contrasting strangely with the black
sky. No living thing to be seen — no trace of vegetation
—the home of cold and silence. '' When I thought of
Paccard and Balmat being the first to reach these
solitudes at the close of day, without assistance, without
shelter, without being certain even that men could live
there, and yet resolutely pursuing their journe}^, I was
full of admiration at their courage and strength of
mind."

The Professor did not altogether like his surroundings.
It was agreeable enough, he says, to find oneself at the
end of a day at a good sleeping place, where the fresh-
ness of the evening only dissipated fatigue ; but on these
elevated snow-fields, at the end of a laborious day, in an
extremely low temperature, affected by the rarity of the
air, hardly knowing what to do, the strength and courage
born of exercise seemed to vanish.

Saussure's pledges to his guides were amply redeemed.

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

From fear of the cold, the tent was fixed with scru-
pulous care, and he suffered so much from heat and
the bad air that he had to go outside to breathe ! The
moon was brilliant in a sky of ebony, the planet Jupiter
radiant behind the peaks to the east of Mont Blanc, and
the reflected light from the snow-fields was so dazzling
that only stars of the first and second magnitude could
be seen. At last they tried to sleep, but could not for
the noise of a great avalanche rolling over part of their
previous route. It was not very cold, however, for at
daybreak the thermometer marked only three degrees
below freezing point.

The next morning they did not start till late, having to
melt snow for their breakfast and their journey. It was
drunk as soon as melted, and the men, who took special
care of the wine, constantly stole the water which should
have been kept in reserve. They then began to climb
towards the third and last plateau (the Grand Plateau),
on reaching which they turned to the left to gain the
rock, now known as the Rochers Rouges, to the east of
the summit. A hut is now erected here which can be
seen distinctly from Chamonix in clear weather. Saus-
sure calls the Rochers Rouges the left shoulder, or the
second staircase of Mont Blanc. There are other rocks
cropping out between the Rochers Rouges and the
summit, but these appear to have received but little
attention. The snow was very steep, 39 degrees in some
places, and abutting on precipices, and was so hard that
the leaders had to cut steps to ensure a foothold. The
ascent of this bit took two hours, "although only 250

The Annals of Mont Blanc

toises high." It was the famous " ancien passage "
which Balmat had discovered and which, lying to the
south of the "Corridor," gives a steep and sometimes
very dangerous access from the Grand Plateau to the
summit of the Rochers Rouges. Coming to the last
rock, they turned to the right and climbed the final ridge,
which is inclined at an angle of 28 or 29 degrees and is
not dangerous, but the air was so rare that their strength
was soon exhausted, and Saussure could not walk more
than fifteen or sixteen paces without stopping to take
breath. From time to time he almost fainted, and was
obliged to sit down, but as soon as regular breathing
returned he regained strength, and on beginning to walk
again it seemed as if he could rush to the summit. All
the guides, whatever pains they took, were similarly
affected. Saussure took every possible precaution to
avoid fatigue. Two guides used the utmost efforts to
ensure his safety and comfort. The inevitable alpen-
stocks, eight or ten feet long, were held by one guide
in front and another behind, while the Professor walked
between the two, resting on the barrier from time to
time as occasion required. He now knew that success
was certain, the weather being magnificent, and the
climb before him neither steep nor dangerous. They
took a little food, sitting on the rocks, but both bread
and meat were frozen.

After a prolonged halt at nine o'clock they resumed
their march. Saussure went very slowly, constantly
resting on the alpenstocks ; his limbs almost refused to
aid him, and he lamented the time that was being lost

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

while he might have been making observations. The
only thing that cheered him was the cool breath of the
north wind. About halfway up the last slope they came
to the final rocks which protrude through the snow.
The last elfort was the most fatiguing of all, but at
length with infinite difficulty he realised the dream of
a lifetime and stood upon the summit of Mont Blanc.
He confesses it to have been without the pleasure he had
hoped for ; the chief joy was that his anxiety had ceased ;
the recollection of his suffering caused a feeling of irrita-
tion. At the very moment when his efforts were crowned
with success, he admits he was more angry than pleased !
The summit was gained at eleven o'clock.^ He at
once turned and looked down to Chamonix, where he
had left his wife, his son, and his two sisters-in-law.
He knew that they had watched him, following his steps
with the greatest anxiety, and he rejoiced to see the flag
flying which they had promised to unfurl the moment
they saw him on the summit. He then devoted his
mind to those observations and experiments which
alone gave any real value to his enterprise. He feared,
however, to be unable to do more than a fraction of
what he had intended, remembering that even where he
had slept every experiment had caused great fatigue,
partly because, without thinking, a man held his breath,
and as the rarity of the air had to be counterbalanced
by more frequent respiration, he was obliged to stop and
breathe after he had observed, as if he had been running.

I Note. — Paccard says 10.50. Also that Saussure started with nineteen guides
He evidently included the sei vant Tetu.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

He then turned his attention to the view, and particularly
to the peaks which greeted him from the Italian side.
He satisfied himself, as many subsequent observers have
done, that the Mediterranean could not be seen from the
summit, but in the opposite direction he had no doubt
that Dijon was visible, and even Langres.

A keen north wind was blowing and the cold was
severe, but descending a little towards the south the
whole party found the temperature extremely pleasant,
and most of the guides slept peacefully in the sunlight,
whilst the Professor at last made his observations.

One of the most interesting was on the real colour of
the sky. Every one knows that the skj as seen from
great elevations appears of a much deeper blue than as
seen from below. Saussure had caused pieces of paper
to be painted with sixteen different shades of blue, and
these papers u^ere left both at Geneva and at Chamonix,
and also brought to the summit. At noon on the day
of the ascent the colour of the sky at Geneva was of the
seventh shade, at Chamonix between the fifth and sixth,
and on Mont Blanc between the first and second — or the
deepest blue, " du roi."

Saussure made interesting experiments on the boiling
point of water, on the temperature of the snow, and on
the quickness of the pulse. The pulse of Pierre Balmat
gave 98 beats a minute, that of his servant 112, and his
own 100 ; whilst at Chamonix, after rest, the same pulses
beat 49, 60, and 72 respectively. All were feverish,
and had no desire for wine, spirits, or even food.

He remained on the summit for three hours and a

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

half, but some of the guides descended earlier to seek
a denser air. He reached the Rochers Rouges in three-
quarters of an hour from the top. The descent of the
"ancien passage " was easy and pleasant, the snow being
in excellent order. They passed the Petit Plateau where
they had slept, and reaching the first rock of the Grands
Mulcts chain, which Saussure appropriately christened
" Le Rocher de I'heureux retour," determined to spend
the third night there. Here they had a cheerful supper,
and Saussure slept well on a little mattress that formed
part of his baggage. It was then, for the first time, that
he felt the rapture of having accomplished the task which
he had set himself twenty-seven long years ago, a task
which he had given up and resumed, and which had
been a source of constant trouble and anxiety to his
family. His design had become indeed a madness ;
he could never look upon Mont Blanc without grief
and pain, and when at last the summit was gained his
satisfaction was incomplete. It was still less when he
turned to descend, for he thought only of the unaccom-
plished. But in the silence of the night, resting at his
happy rocks, his mind turned to the observations which
he had made, to the mighty panorama he had seen
from the summit, and he felt for the first time how
true and unalloyed was his satisfaction.

On the fourth of August, the fourth day of the journey,
they started at six in the morning and threaded their way
through the seracs and crevasses of the glaciers of
Bossons and Taconnay ; so many changes had taken
place, even in the short space of forty-eight hours, that

The Annals of Mont Blanc

they could not recognise the route by which they had
ascended, and were often obliged to retrace their steps.
A great ice-fall took place on the glacier, which filled
them with consternation, but at half-past nine they were
again on the solid ground of the Montague de la Cote,
and all difficulty and danger was at an end. In about
three hours more they regained the Priory, every member
of the party safe and sound.

The pertinacious M. Bourrit was anxious to have
shared in this expedition, but Saussure insisted upon
going alone. The day before he started he had made
a pledge to Bourrit that he would leave his tent and eight
of his guides on the plateau, but the guides were tired
and declined. Bourrit had gone to meet the descending
party. He does not tell us where the meeting took
place, but he records that he was obliged to return with
Saussure after " fifteen leagues of useless walking " — an
absurd exaggeration — but he determined to start again
on the following day. He made arrangements accord-
ingly and reached the summit of the Montague de la
Cote, but the weather changed and again he failed. He,
however, succeeded in crossing the Col du Geant into
Italy, reserving Mont Blanc for the following year.

The Professor and his party had a touching reception
on their return. The various guides were embraced by
their families and friends, who assembled in crowds to
congratulate them on their safe arrival. Madame de
Saussure, her son, and her sisters, were relieved at length
from their long and painful anxiety, and many of the
Professor's friends came expressly from Geneva to share

The Conquest of Mont Blanc

in his triumph. The whole village was en fete. The
victory was a memorable one and was well deserved.
Saussure returned to his home at Genthod, and recorded
that he could now look on Mont Blanc with true delight,
without experiencing the trouble and anxiety which the
sight of the mountain had hitherto given him.

In reflecting upon this celebrated ascent in the light
of modern knowledge, the chief surprise is that so large
a party ever succeeded in reaching the summit. No
chain is stronger than its weakest link, and in this case,
though many suffered, no individual succumbed. But
none of the four days during which the expedition lasted
made undue demands upon the staying power of the
party. Again, the weather was throughout exquisitely
beautiful, as so often happens after a long period of mist
and storm. The snow was in excellent order, and the
atmosphere was as perfect as could have been desired.

No true mountaineer will ever undervalue this great
achievement ; not though in these later days men have
crossed the mountain over the summit from Italy into
France ; not though they have climbed it without
guides, nor even in rare cases from base to summit and
back again in a single day. The real glory must always
rest with the Pioneers. If we go more easily than they
did, what wonder, for have we not the benefit of their
experience'? If we see further, what wonder; do we
not stand on their shoulders ?

So ended this memorable struggle with the hitherto
unknown forces of nature. The Peasant, the Doctor, and
the Philosopher had alike been successful. The grand-

The Annals of Mont Blanc

son of Saussure now occupies the old house at Genthod,
where, as his guest, I have handled the coat and the
shoes and the alpenstock used by his illustrious relative
on his ascent more than a hundred years ago. Jacques
Balmat lived until 1834, ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^"^ ^^^^ seventy-third
year from a fall whilst searching for legendary gold
among the cliffs of the Fer a Cheval above Sixt. A
handsome bronze medallion has been erected to his
memory by the French Geographical Society in front
of the old church at Chamonix, and two most admirable
statues of Saussure and Balmat, the latter with out-
stretched hand pointing to the summit of Mont Blanc,
now stand in the village by the banks of the rushing
Arve, as a perpetual record of their common triumph.
Poor IMichel Gabriel Paccard, the village doctor, lies
buried in the ancient churchyard without even a stone
to mark the place of his rest.

StatUL'Siof Siiussure and Halmat bv Salmson.

[To face page 90.

CHAPTER VI

PACCARD VERSUS BALMAT

IT is difficult to ascertain with accuracy the exact
amount of credit to be attributed to Dr. Paccard
and Jacques Balmat respectively in connection with the
first ascent of Mont Blanc. Balmat, as we have
seen, took all the credit to himself. It was he who,
according to his own story, allowed the Doctor to
accompany him. It was he who wanted a witness to his
own triumph. It was he who, having first ascended
alone, returned to seek the half -frozen and helpless
Doctor at the foot of the Calotte, and dragged him by
force to the summit. But is the story of Balmat to be
relied upon ?

It has been shown that the account of the ascent,
which has been generally accepted as authoritative, was
dictated by Balmat to Alexandre Dumas in 1832, forty-
six years after the event took place. In the interval
Balmat had become a great man, and the story was
not likely to have lost colour by the lapse of time.
Dumas tells us that when he arrived at Chamonix
at night, after walking eight leagues, he only thought
of three things, which he recommended to all who
followed the same route : " To take a bath, to get

The Annals of Mont Blanc

some supper, and to send an invitation to dinner to
M. Balmat who is called Mont Blanc," and whom
he further described by a characteristic hyperbole
as the " Christopher Columbus of Chamonix." An
invitation was duly sent, and on returning from
an excursion to the Mer de Glace, Dumas saw an
old man of about seventy seated on a bench. He at
once came to the conclusion that the stranger was the
guest he was expecting, and went up to him holding out
his hand. He was right ; it was Jacques Balmat, " that
intrepid guide who first set foot on the summit of Mont
Blanc and who prepared the way for Saussure, courage
in this case preceding science." They had a little feast,
the novelist's own guide being one of the party. At
dessert, Dumas referred to Balmat's exploits, and the old
man at once became talkative. He required no pressing,
and wished nothing better than to relate the details of his
perilous journey. The other guide remained silent, he
had probably often heard the story before. Dumas took
out his notebook and his pencil, and wrote down the tale
already presented to the reader. When he had finished,
Dumas asked, "And Doctor Paccard, was he really
blind ? " " Well, I can only tell you that when he died,
at the age of seventy-nine, he could read without spec-
tacles, but I must confess his eyes always remained
horribly bloodshot." " From the effects of the ascent ? "
asked Dumas. " Oh, no ! " was the reply ; " to tell you
the truth, the honest gentleman became somewhat
addicted to ' lifting his elbow.' So saying, Balmat
finished his third bottle."

Paccard versus Balmat

It is a great pity that the poor Doctor was not also
a member of the party, in which case the details of the
story would probably have been varied.

It is clear that Balmat was an intense egotist. His
boasts of his famous calf, his grand legs, his stomach like
cast-iron, and his ability to go three days without eating,
are proof enough of that. Between the desire of the
guide to make the most of his recitation, and the novelist
of his story, the account is full of inaccuracies. " I had
come to the edge of the great crevasse in which three
men had died," says Balmat, " and out of which Marie
Couttet had been pulled up. Ah ! I said, is that you ? "
Now these three men perished in the Hamel catastrophe
which happened in 1820, whilst Balmat's climb was made
in 1786. He must have confused his own recollections
with the knowledge which he ultimately gained. Again,
the shopkeeper who was taken into confidence was told,
says Balmat, to look out on the following morning on
the Dome du Gouter side of the mountain. This was
absurd, as their intended route was not by way of the
Dome du Gouter but by the Rochers Rouges, not by the
western but by the eastern side of the summit. This,
however, is a point on which Dumas might have fallen
into error. According to Balmat's account, he treated
Paccard almost like a child, and speaks slightingly of
his personal capacity. But Paccard was then five years
older than Balmat, being at the time of the ascent
twenty-nine years of age, whilst Balmat was only
twenty-four. Paccard was known to be a competent
mountaineer, and there is no evidence, save Balmat's

The Annals of Mont Blanc

word, to justify the assumption that Paccard was less
competent than his companion. Balmat was again
wrong about the Doctor's age. According to the
Chamonix registers he was born on the first of Feb-
ruary, 1757, and died on the twenty-first of March,
1827, so that he was only seventy years of age, and
not seventy-nine.

What is needed is to find out the story as told by
Paccard, and to compare it with that dictated by Balmat
to Dumas. That Paccard's story was written and printed
is beyond all doubt, but, unfortunately, it has been
irretrievably lost. Probably it was printed for private
circulation and not for sale. The most careful search
has been made at Geneva and Lausanne, at Chamonix,
Bonneville and Annecy, but v/ithout success. It is not
in the possession of any member of the family of
Saussure, it cannot be heard of in Oxford or Cambridge,
in London, Paris or Turin. Saussure writing in 1787,
says, "The success of the enterprise is known to the
public by the accounts which have been given by
Doctor Paccard and M. Bourrit." And M. Leschevin,
in 181 2, gives the exact title of Paccard's publication,
" Premier voyage fait a la cime de la plus haute
montagne du continent, 1786, in 8vo." He adds that
his portrait was painted by M. Backler d'Albe with
this inscription :

" Scandit inaccessos brumali sidere monies,
Nil hyemis coelive memor," '

' " Voyage a Geneve et dnns la Vallee de Chamouni," P. X. Lesche\'in, Geneve
chez Guers, 1S12

Paccard versus Balmat

It is singular that though prints from this portrait are
well known, Paccard's story has disappeared.

The question is whether it is true that Balmat com-
pleted his ascent alone, and then returned to where
he left the Doctor, and dragged him up afterwards.
In the first place the story is highly improbable. The
wind on the day of the ascent was extremely cold. It
was blowing from the north, otherwise the Doctor's
hat could not have " careered towards Courmayeur."
Even on the Grand Plateau " the wind became more
and more boisterous," and on arriving at the " Petits
Mulets," " a more violent gust obliged us to lie down on
our stomachs to prevent our following the hat." Clearly
it was at the Petits Mulets, or about an hour from
the summit, that Balmat, according to his own account,
left the Doctor and continued his journey alone, "telling
him to be sure not to stand still." " I had hardly gone
thirty paces," he adds, "when, on turning round, I saw
him actually sitting down on the snow." Now Balmat
admits that in continuing the ascent " he had to stop
every ten minutes and vcheeze like one with consumption.
The cold got worse and worse, and to go a quarter of
a league took an hour," He then says that after another
quarter of an hour he saw the Doctor far off and shouted
to him but could get no reply, but that ultimately he
forced him to the summit, where they arrived soon after
si.\ o'clock, and, "though the sun shone brilliantly, we
saw the stars shining in the deep-blue sky." The latter
statement was probably a flourish of Dumas. It may be
assumed, therefore, that from the time Balmat left his

The Annals of Mont Blanc

companion to the time he returned to him, was at least
an hour and a quarter, more probably an hour and a half.
The cold was excessive, and their hands must have been
already frost-bitten. Paccard always stated that he and
Balmat did not part company, and arrived on the summit
together. It is scarcely credible that the Doctor could
have survived an hour and a half's exposure whilst sitting
alone on the snow in the bitter cold, still less that after
such an interval he could have resumed his journey with
success. Even a benevolent critic, on carefully con-
sidering Balmat's story, must feel disposed to put the
tongue of incredulity into the cheek of derision.

The contemporary evidence is very interesting, but it
gives no support to Balmat's assertion. Paccard's own
statement in his diary is, '' Our journey of the 8th of
August, 1786 ; arrived six hours twenty-three minutes
evening ; set out six hours fifty-seven minutes ; rested
thirty-four minutes." He was evidently in good condition
enough to make a very careful note upon the summit,
and it is known that he observed the barometer.

When Balmat went to Geneva to convey to Saussure
his news of the first ascent, one would think that he
would have informed the Professor of the exact details,
and certainly of the incompetency of the Doctor if such
had been really shown. But Saussure says not a word
about the double ascent of the Calotte, and evidently was
under the belief that the Doctor was the originator of the
successful expedition. In his memorable letter to Tairraz
he says, " I wish to attempt the same route ; not that I
flatter myself that I shall be able to reach the summit, for

Paccard versus Balmat

I have neither the youth nor the agihty of the Doctor.
Put Jacques Balmat, who accompanied Dr. Paccard, at
the head of the expedition and give him a good payment."
It is perfectly clear that any account of his companion
given by Balmat to Saussure within a week of the ascent
is far more trustworthy than that which he gave to
Dumas after an interval of forty-six years.

Again, Saussure, in his brochure published in 1787,
tells us " that in the previous year two inhabitants of
Chamonix, M. Paccard, a Doctor of Medicine, and the
guide Jacques Balmat, had first reached the summit."
In the library at Geneva are contained copies of several
letters written by Charles Bonnet, the uncle of Saussure,
to various persons between 1786 and 1792. One of these
etters was WTitten to Count Bielke of Stockholm, from
Genthod near Geneva ; it bears date the eighteenth of
August, 1786, and contains this passage : "You know,
M. le Comte, that no one has yet reached the summit of
Mont Blanc. On the eighth instant a young Doctor of
Savoy, accompanied by a single Montagnard, had first
the glory of attaining that summit, and of reaching the
highest point of our ancient continent. His name is
Paccard. The new route which he has discovered is not
dangerous, and it is very different from the one which
my nephew Saussure had followed last year, and which
had brought him to a height of 1,932 toises only. The
Doctor thus has reached 2,426 toises above the
Mediterranean. My nephew has received a ver}'^ careful
map of the new route, which he showed me a few days
ago, and he is preparing to take advantage of it shortly,

97 H

The Annals of Mont Blanc

in order to follow the steps of the Doctor and to make
more precise observations.

M. Bourrit also adds to our information on the subject.
He saw Balmat at Geneva when the latter visited Saussure
to bring the news of his success. Bourrit wrote to a
friend on the twentieth of September, 1786. This letter,
which was printed, but which is extremely rare, gives the
first published account of the expedition. Bourrit says
that " the first news of the ascent was brought to Geneva
by MM. les Barons de Gersdorff and de Meyer, who
were at Chamonix at the time and witnesses of the
enterprise." He describes his meeting with Balmat,
"who still carried on his face the honourable marks
of his intrepidity."

He goes on to refer at great length to his own previous
expeditions, and to Balmat's discovery of the right route
to the summit. He says that after the discovery, Balmat
was attended by Dr. Paccard, to whom he confided his
hopes of success ; then he describes the enterprise, how
they slept at La Cote, and how on the following day,
starting at four in the morning, they slowly but steadily
ascended the glacier ; how the distance made them
despair ; how they feared that the day would not be
long enough for their purpose ; how the Doctor began
to lose breath, and how his more hardy companion
encouraged him ; how they expected to fail ; how at
length the summit came in sight; how they dreaded that
the real summit might be further still ; how Balmat
advanced alone to make certain, and found that they were
only a few steps from it ; how he shouted to announce

Paccard versus Balmat

his triumph ; /ioii' he descended to meet Paccard, and how,
aiding and animating him, final success was achieved.
Then adds Bourrit, "Chamonix contemplated them,
strangers from below saw them through their glasses ;
they had followed them on their march with inquietude,
and they rejoiced at the sight of the two little beings
upon so lofty a pinnacle of the globe." Now here is a
story told personally by Balmat to Bourrit within a week
after the ascent occurred. There is not a word in it
about the poor Doctor being left by himself for an hour
and a half sitting half-frozen in the snow !

Again, in the year 1787 the Rev. William Coxe spent
some time at Chamonix. He took great interest in the
early attempts to ascend the mountain, and must have
known every detail of this expedition. His visit was
only one year after the event happened, when the cir-
cumstances were fresh in the minds of the villagers. He
says that "about six in the afternoon they at length
attained the summit of Mont Blanc, and stood trium-
phantly upon a spot of ground which no one had reached
before. They remained on the summit no more than
half an hour, the cold being so intense that the provision
was frozen in their pockets, and the ink congealed in
their inkhorns. Dr. Paccard had just time to observe the
state of the barometer." ^

M. Leschevin not only gives Paccard equal credit with
Balmat, but he tells us that the former had determined on
the expedition for three years previous to his ascent, that
he had three routes in view, but that Balmat induced him

' ''Travels in Switzerland," William Coxe, London, 1789, vol. ii. p. 16.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

to accept that which was ultimately followed. Balmat's
portrait was subsequently painted, and as if to turn all
doubt into certainty the following statement is set out at
the foot of the portrait :

"The eighth of August, 1786, at six in the evening -the
Doctor Paccard, accompanied by Jacques Balmat, crystal
hunter of the Valley of Chamoiiix, reached the highest
summit of Mont Blanc till then inaccessble, after fourteen
hours of walking on the ice."

" Balmat ought to have an honest reward," says Bourrit.
" Strangers have often promised something handsome to
the man who first ascended the mountain, but from what
I hear I fear that they have forgotten it ; at present he is
without recompense. He has exposed his life or at least
his health, and perhaps he is already much altered. His
companion has no need of reward, his father is one of
the richest men in the valley ; besides, it is not the same
with an amateur as with a guide."

Balmat was, in fact, well rewarded. He received not
only a considerable sum from M. de Saussure, but a large
gift from the King of Sardinia (fifty pistoles of Piedmont),
another from the Baron de Gersdorff, and a public sub-
scription was opened in his honour, to which a great
number of persons contributed.

The very year of Saussure's expedition Balmat built
a house at the village of Les Pelerins out of the moneys
he so received. The house still exists, and now bears
this inscription : — " Jacques Balmat a fait batir cette
maison en 1787, il I'a habitee jusqu'a sa mort en 1834."

It was not long, however, after the ascent before

100

,-^i#;-

':l^

Jacques Balmat, by Wichel, from an old lithograph.

[7\) fihc piigi- loo.

Paccard versus Balmat

Balmat claimed all the credit for it. An expostulation
from an anonymous writer which appeared in the
Journal de Lausanne on the twenty-fourth of February,
1787, was evidently an answer to some statements con-
tained in the first account written by Bourrit, and above
referred to. In this communication it was asserted that
Paccard really discovered the true route, and that both
arrived together on the summit. Bourrit defended Balmat
in the same journal in the month following, but Paccard
retorted by producing a certificate signed by Balmat in the
presence of witnesses, which amply bore out all Paccard's
assertions. The certificate appeared in the Journal de
Lausanne on the twelfth of May, 1787. It is given in full
by Mr. Whymper in his " Guide to Chamonix and Mont
Blanc," and need not be repeated. Mr. Whymper, who
properly takes for granted the fact that the certificate was
signed by Balmat, asks " whether he knew what he was
signing." The "old wolf of the mountains" was not
very likely to have given praise to Paccard if it had not
been due to him. These personal recriminations and the
antagonism which gave rise to them, form a blot on a
story otherwise honourable to both men. Unfortunately
they cannot be ignored, if we would do equal justice
to the heroes of the most famous of all the feats of
mountaineering.

We must revert once more to the Dumas narrative.
There is no doubt that Balmat discovered the first route
to the summit, and that this discovery was made after
he had been deserted by the other guides under the
circumstances already stated. He invented the "ancien

lOI

The Annals of Mont Blanc

passage," which he cHmbed alone ; and on reaching the
Rochers Rouges, he found that there was no real difficulty
between that point and the summit. He was not on
good terms with his fellows, and kept his discovery to
himself, hoping that he would ultimately profit by it.
But it is somewhat remarkable that not one word of the
discovery of the " ancien passage " appears in the account
which Dumas took down from Balmat's dictation.

Payot's " Guide Itineraire au Mont Blanc," published
in 1869, reproduces the story of Dumas almost verbatim,
but contains in addition the following passage :

" At last, when daybreak came, I was frozen, but
by dint of friction, and practising the most absurd
gymnastics, my limbs became more supple, and I was
able to begin exploring once more. I had observed
when descending to the Grand Plateau that halfway
down there was an incline, steep it is true, but every-
where accessible, and leading straight to the top of the
Rochers Rouges. I decided to scale it ; but found it
so steep and the snow so hard, that I could only hold
on by making holes with the iron point of my stock.
I succeeded in clinging to it, but I felt extreme weari-
ness and fatigue. It was not an amusing thing to be
suspended by one leg, so to speak, with an abyss under
one, and to be obliged to cut the ice with the already
blunted point of an alpenstock. At length, by force of
patience and perseverance, I gained the Rochers Rouges.
' Oh r said I, 'from this spot to the summit there is
nothing more to hinder you ; all is joined together like
one piece of ice.' But I was again frozen through and

102

Paccard versus Balmat

through, and almost dead with hunger and thirst. It was
late, I must descend, but this time with a certainty of
succeeding during the first spell of propitious weather."

Why was not this paragraph, intimating so important a
discovery, included in the Dumas narrative. And when
was it first made public ? Precisely the same story is
given in " Les Pastes du Mont Blanc " by Stephen
d'Arve, published in 1876 ; and d'Arve states that it was
" textually transcribed from the notes left by Balmat to
his heirs." No such notes were ever printed, though
some were undoubtedly written. Indeed, I have a letter
addressed to M. Gabriel Loppe by the w^U-known guide,
Auguste Balmat, and dated from the Eagle's Nest at Sixt
on the twenty-eighth of May, 1862, in which he says
"that he has found nearly the whole account of the first
ascent of Mont Blanc written by the hand of Jacques
Balmat."

These accounts are genuine, for there is another bio-
graphy of Jacques Balmat of great interest and rarity to
which attention must be called, and of which I am
fortunate enough to have a copy in my possession.
Let us see what Michel Carrier has to say.^

Michel Carrier was a well-known guide of Chamonix,
and the son of that Joseph Carrier who made the attempt
in 1783. He was a great friend of Balmat, and he tells us
that the account which he afterwards wrote, he obtained
from Balmat's own mouth.

According to Carrier, Balmat was one of the most well-

' " Notice biographique sur Jacques Balmat dit Mout Blanc, par Michel Carrier.'
Geneve, Gruaz, 1S54.

103

The Annals of Mont Blanc

tO"do amongst the agriculturists of the valley. He was
gifted with a lively imagination and great courage, and
was an intrepid crystal hunter. He tells us that Balmat
and Marie Couttet tried to find a way to the summit from
the side of the Col du Geant, and also from the side of
the Glacier de Miage ; he relates at length the attempt to
find out whether the route from the western side was as
short as that from Chamonix, and how the other guides
deserted Balmat when he went forward to inspect the
Bosses route. How he passed the night alone on the
Grand Plateau, and how he discovered the " ancien
passage," and then he gives the full story of Balmat's
discovery, omitted, as we have seen, in the Dumas narra-
tive. So far as I am able to ascertain. Carrier's is the
first printed account of the discovery of the "ancien
passage."

But Carrier also throws great light upon the doings
of Paccard and Balmat. He tells us that Paccard " was
fond of all hazardous excursions," and that " he was not a
doctor only, but a philosopher and naturalist of no small
repute." His description of their ascent is, in the main,
perfectly harmonious with that given by Dumas, but he
concludes his account as follows :

" They crossed the Petit Plateau without accident, and
reached the Grand Plateau towards midday. From the
Grand Plateau, verging towards the south, they arrived
at the foot of the steep slope of snow where Balmat had
been compelled to cut so many steps on his previous
expedition. Although the surface of the snow was then
softened by the sun, it took them at least two hours to

104

■ciO

Paccard versus Balmat

scale it, and to arrive at the Rochers Rouges. Up to this
time the rarity of the atmosphere and fatigue alone had
incommoded them, but when they arrived at this point a
very cold and violent wind from the north-east added to
their discomfort. It was so strong that it tore away
Paccard's hat, although it was firmly fastened with strings.
However, hesitation was impossible. They must go on
tuider penalty of being frozen on the spot. From this
point to the summit, although the slope was not very
steep, they panted painfully for breatli, which, added to
the fatigue and the death-like cold which they endured,
and to the violence of the wind, which forcibly retarded
their progress, made their position infinitely perilous. In
spite of such powerful reasons for discouragement their
indomitable energy surmounted everything, and at four
o'clock in the afternoon they reached the summit of the
Colossus of the Alps."

No evidence could be more weighty than that given by
Carrier, and communicated to him, as he says, by Balmat
himself. Carrier is wrong in giving four, instead of six,
as the hour when the summit was attained, but that is a
small matter.

After this evidence the details of the ascent seem to be
satisfactory and complete. The story that Balmat left
Paccard on the snow and made his final effort alone, and
then returned and took his companion to the top, must
be abandoned, as a piece of Chamonix "blague," not
uncommon in the village even in these days, but invented
after the ascent by a man greedy for praise. The position
of the Doctor must be rehabilitated. The two men

105

The Annals of Mont Blanc

ascended the mountain for the first time together. No
doubt Balmat was the stronger man of the two, probably
he led all the way ; no doubt he inspired the Doctor with
that animation of which he stood in need ; no doubt he
was a few steps in advance on reaching the summit ; but
every reasonable man must now admit that both the
pioneers were equally entitled to the honour and credit
of the undertaking.

All praise must be given to Balmat for his discovery of
the true route. He was alone. He was only twenty-four.
The exertions he made when deserted by his companions,
and his lying out in the open on the Grand Plateau at a
time when it was believed that to sleep on the snow was
certain death, form one of the finest pieces of moun-
taineering on record. The first, ascent, too, was a
brilliant and memorable performance. The mountain
was practically unknown, the men were insufficiently
equipped and clothed, whatever they had with them was
carried on their own backs, they had no ice-axes, spec-
tacles, or veils. As they started at four in the morning,
they had fourteen hours of continuous ascent, an
immense effort even when judged by modern standards.
They set a noble example of courage, tenacity, and perse-
verance, under adverse circumstances, and the story will
be told, not without pride, to our children's children,

" Far on in summers which we shall not see."

Men now gaze with delight on the two beautiful statues
of Jacques Balmat and Horace Benedict de Saussure with
which Chamonix is adorned. They peruse with interest

io6

4*7 - ■ • ' ■'■r\.

Tlic Medallion of JaC4UL'> Halinat at Chamoiiix.

[7"i) /<7cf pn^e icX).

Paccard versus Balmat

the lineaments of the great guide on the medallion which
faces the main street of the village. Is it too much to
hope that tardy justice may yet be done to the Doctor,
and that some similar memorial may keep green the
memory of Michel Gabriel Paccard ? ^

' Note. — It will be remembered that in Paccard's account of the attempt of the
seventh of June, 1786, he makes the mistake of calling Jacques Balmat "Joseph
Balmat des Baux," and that " the one from Les Baux lagged a good deal behind."
Probably at that time Dr. Paccard knew but little of Balmat. Of course it was
Jacques Balmat who joined the other guides, and who lagged behind — to good
purpose, as we have seen. Jacques Balmat was alwaj's known as of Les Baux, that
being the name of the upper part of the village of Les Pelerins, where he resided.

107

CHAPTER VII

subsequent ascents of mont blanc — saussure
to albert smith

Colonel Mark Beaufoy, 1787

THE fourth success on the mountain was gained by
an EngHshraan, Colonel Mark Beaufoy. He was
at Chamonix immediately after the ascent of Saussure, and
hastened to follow so good an example. The Colonel was
a well-known man. He was an officer in the Coldstream
Guards, was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and is described
in the first volume of Blackwood's Magazine as being a
"Philosopher of considerable eminence." He was 1 the
author of several books of some scientific interest, and
late in life wrote a valuable work on Mexico.

Four days after Saussure's return from his expedition
the Colonel arrived at the foot of the great mountain. He
had with him a few scientific mstruments, but was unable
to obtain others which he required, in such a village as
Chamonix. He was warned by the guides against the
difficulties and dangers of the undertaking, and was told
that the season was too late to hazard another attempt.

108

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

Saussure had left, but Bourrit, who was still at Chamonix,
and who had again, as we have seen, unsuccessfully
attempted the climb, added his warnings to those of the
guides. Colonel Beaufoy was not easily daunted ; he sent
round the village to inquire who was willing to assist him,
and ten guides responded favourably to his appeal. He
engaged all of them, but does not record their names
except that of Michel Cachat, " a fellow of great bodily
strength and great vigour of mind, who had accompanied
Saussure, and who desired to take the lead." It is clear,
therefore, that Jacques Balmat was not a member of the
party. The Colonel had a Swiss servant with him, and
his caravan of twelve persons started on the eighth of
August, 1787, with provisions for three days. They
carried also a kettle, a chafing dish, a quantity of charcoal,
a pair of bellows, a couple of blankets, a long rope, a
hatchet, and a ladder.

At seven in the morning the whole village assembled to
see them off. The route taken is by no means clearly
defined in the account of the expedition published thirty
years afterwards by Colonel Beaufoy. The end of the
first hour, he says, " brought us to the Glacier des Bossons,
at which place the rapid ascent of the mountain first
begins." Pursuing " their course along the ridge of rocks
which forms the western side of this frozen lake," they
arrived in four hours more at the second glacier " called
the glacier of La Cote." There is no glacier of that name,
but the point attained must undoubtedly have been the
summit of the Montagne de la Cote, where previous ex-
plorers had passed the first night of the excursion. The

109

The Annals of Mont Blanc

route taken was the ordinary one, and Colonel Beaufoy
states, as the fact is, that " the journey so far is neither
laborious nor exposed to danger, unless that name should
be given to the trifling hazard that arises from the stones
and loose pieces of broken rock which the goats in leap-
ing from one projection to another occasionally throw
down." Here they rested for a time, and then crossed
the glacier, all the party being well roped. They used
their ladder to bridge over the crevasses, and with such
assistance they made light of their difficulties, "some-
times stopping in the middle of the ladder to look down
in safety upon an abyss which baffled the range of vision,
and from which the sound of the masses of ice that we
repeatedly let fall in no instance ascended to the ear."

Most of the party suffered from illness, some of the
guides had disheartening sickness, and the Swiss servant
was the most unfortunate of all. In four and a half hours
from their halting place, they gained the new hut on the
rocks of the Grands Mulets, which Beaufoy says " had
been erected the previous year by the order and at
the expense of M. de Saussure," so that it took nine hours
and a half of actual walking to get from Chamonix to the
Grands Mulets, not an unreasonable time for so large
a party travelling by way of the Montague de la Cote.
They then prepared for rest. Two of the guides preferred
the open air, and throwing themselves down at the
entrance of the hut, slept upon the rocks. Beaufoy was
anxious to sleep also, but his thoughts were troubled with
the apprehension that " although he had now completed
the half of the journey," the vapours might collect upon

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

the summit of the mountain and frustrate all his hopes. At
two o'clock the Colonel threw off his blankets and went
outside the hut to be greeted by a brilliant star-lit sky, and
to lind that the temperature was only eight degrees below
freezing point. At three the party started, and after using
the ladder to good purpose they made great progress, but
suffered severely from an intolerable thirst. At seven they
breakfasted, having passed the place where de Saussure
slept on his second night, namely the Petit Plateau.
Beaufoy tells us that their route was across the snow, but
that " the chasms which the ice had formed, though less
numerous than those which they had passed on the pre-
ceding day, embarrassed their ascent." After a difficult
climb, during which the hatchet was constantly employed,
they reached the Grand Plateau. An almost irresistible
desire to sleep came on. Beaufoy's spirits left him, he
became quite indifferent, he wished to lie down, he blamed
himself for attempting the expedition, and thought of
turning back without accomplishing his purpose. Many
of the guides seemed to have lost all strength both of mind
and body. At last, " with a sort of apathy which scarcely
admitted the sense of joy," they reached the summit about
half-past ten.

Six of the guides and the Swiss servant fell flat upon
their faces and were immediately asleep. Beaufoy envied
them their repose, but his anxiety to obtain a good obser-
vation for ascertaining the latitude of the mountain
conquered his wishes for a similar indulgence. The view
was magnificent, the day being absolutely fine and not
a single cloud in the sky. The Colonel fixed the latitude

III

The Annals of Mont Blanc

at 450,49'', 59" north, made some further interesting
observations, and carefully observed the mountains of
Lombardy, "one of which (Monte Rosa) appears of an
altitude but little inferior to that of Mont Blanc."

He remained two hours upon the summit and was
(from some unexplained cause) nearly six hours in
regaining his sleeping place. In the morning he suffered
terribly from inflamed eyes, and was rebuked by the
guides for not having followed their advice and worn
a crape mask. At eleven o'clock on the tenth of August
the whole party safely regained the village.

Beaufoy read a paper upon this expedition before the
Royal Society on the thirteenth of December, 1787.

Dr. Paccard records in his manuscript, that Beaufoy
" went as well as a guide, that he slept at the Grand
Cabane and arrived at ten a.m. upon the summit, where
he remained for two hours and a half, that the sky was
dark blue, and that he suffered — like myself — from the
want of a veil."

Albert Smith, who gives a brief reference to this expedi-
tion, says that " Beaufoy slept at the Cote, as Saussure
had done, but starting very early the next morning he
reached the summit by two p.m. This, however, was
a forced march." Probably he had not access to Beaufoy's
narrative, which states explicitly that he took five hours
from Chamonix to the first halting place, and then put on
his crampons and crossed the glacier, taking four hours
and a half more to get to the sleeping place, which must
necessarily have been the Grands Mulcts. Again, from
three to ten o'clock (or ten-thirty) is very good walking

112

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

for a party of twelve persons from the Grands Mulets to
the summit, and the fact that they arrived at ten or ten-
thirty is proved conclusively by Beaufoy's statement,
verified as it is by Dr. Paccard.

It would have been impossible for the travellers to have
gone from La Cote to the summit of the mountain in so
short a time as seven or seven and a half hours, and it is
obvious that if Beaufoy had slept at La Cote he would not
have "completed the half of the journey."

The chronicles of Mont Blanc are full of mistakes and
errors of this kind, but if we waited until everybody was
agreed upon all the details of successive expeditions, no
history of the mountain could ever be written. ^

Mr. Woodley, 1788

In the following year the ever active and ever unfortu-
nate Bourrit was again at Chamonix, accompanied by his
son. At the same time an English gentleman of the name
of Woodley, and a Dutch gentleman of the name of
Camper, were also in the village, and they all agreed to
try the ascent together. They engaged twenty-two guides,
and the leaders were Jean Baptiste Lombard and Jean
Michel Cachat, both of whom had accompanied Saussure.
The use of the rope was now getting better understood,
and the party was amply supplied with this necessary
material. They also carried two tents and a long ladder,
and provisions for six days. According to Albert Smith

' Bourrit," Description des Cols," 1803, c. 7 ; "Annals of Philosophy," February
1817 ; Blackwood's Magazine, April, 1817

113 I

The Annals of Mont Blanc

they "slept as usual the first night on La Cote, and
attempted to reach the summit the next day as Colonel
Beauf oy had done." As a matter of fact they did nothing
of the kind. Bourrit tells us that they did not sleep on
La Cote, but four leagues (hours) above, ^ in other words
at the Grands Mulcts. The guides had discovered that it
was waste of time to sleep at La Cote, and may have
surmised that if the first night was passed at the Grands
Mulcts rocks, it might even be possible to ascend the
mountain and to return in two days, whereas Saussure
had taken four days and Beaufoy three.

The following morning, the fifth of August, they started
before daybreak, following the same route as Saussure,
not, however, without anxiety, and their fears were
increased by the guides insisting on the whole party
being roped as the only guarantee against death or
disaster. The procession must have looked funereal
indeed, as the face of each member of the party was
covered with black crape. They did not arrive until
about nine at the Petit Plateau, where Saussure passed
his second night, so the pace was funereal also. Several
of the guides, as might have been anticipated from their
number, gave up altogether, and remained stretched upon
the snow, and poor Bourrit, according to his own account,
occupied himself continuously in cheering on the stronger
members of the party and in observing the beauties of
nature. Unfortunately a storm broke out, "and the
summit had the appearance of a volcano." Bourrit tells
us that he continued to advance with courage, although

' Bourrit, " Description des Culs.," 1S03, c 7.
114

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

only three guides remained with him, Jacques des Dames,
Jean Baptiste Lombard, and Tournier. The travellers
were of course roped in different parties to their respective
guides, and Woodley was a long way ahead, followed by
Camper, who was also considerably in advance of Bourrit.
The cold, says Bourrit, became excessive. The snow
blown up by the wind nearly blinded him, the tracks
were becoming obliterated, and his son was taken ill.
Meanwhile Woodley persisted in defying all obstacles and
pushed on. Camper gave up in despair and hastily beat
a retreat, " terror imprinted upon his countenance," telling
Bourrit that he believed the first detachment had been
lost. Bourrit pictures that he was seized with a desire to
succour the Englishman and his guides, and actually got
as far as the last rocks on the calotte, but the storm con-
tinued, his son became worse, and he had no alternative
but to return. He tells us that he descended to a spot
which the storm had not reached, from which he saw very
distinctly those parts of the Mediterranean which had
escaped the observation of Saussure. Of course this was
pure imagination — the chain of the Apennines and the
range of the Maritime Alps prevent any portion of the
Gulf of Genoa from being visible from Mont Blanc.

Bourrit hastened down, the thermometer marking
thirteen degrees below freezing point. He passed some
of the guides still lying on the snow, others had already
arrived at the sleeping place. His son had recovered,
and he tells us that it was a happy moment when he
perceived the Englishman — who had attained the summit
— safely descending with his guides.

115

The Annals of Mont Blanc

There is no doubt that Woodley and his guides
suffered severely from the effects of the expedition.
The whole party spent another night at the Grands
Mulcts. Woodley's feet were badly frostbitten, and
" had to be kept in snow and salt for a fortnight, one
of the guides was blind for three weeks, and Cachat
suffered a long time from frozen hands."

Bourrit never tried Mont Blanc again. His greatest
feat was the first recorded passage by a traveller of the
Col du Geant. As a mountaineer he was a failure, but
he must have his due ; as a mountain explorer and
mountain lover he was one of the two persons primarily
responsible for the conquest of the mountain, and his
journeys in the Pennine Alps and his numerous publica-
tions aroused a genuine interest in all persons who loved
natural scenery, and particularly the scenery of the High
Alps. He visited Charaonix for the last time in 1812,
when he was eighty years of age. He then suffered from
paralysis, but, always faithful to his first love, spent his
last days in a small country-house near Geneva, from the
windows of which he had a fine view of the great
mountain in which he took so great an interest, but
which he was destined never to climb. ^

M. DOORTHESEN AND M. FORNERET, l8o2

The summit of the mountain was not reached again
until after the expiration of fourteen years. The affairs

'■ Thierry, " Le Mont Blanc," Paris, 1896.
116

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

of Europe in the interval were of such a nature that
philosophers and tourists had other things to think of
than making pilgrimages to the glaciers. But on the
temporary restoration of comparative tranquillity many
visitors arrived at Chamonix in 1802. Amongst the
number were M. Le Baron Doorthesen, a German,
and M. Forneret of Lausanne. They had previously
gained some mountaineering experience, and thought
Mont Blanc would be within their powers. They set
out on the tenth of August, accompanied by seven guides,
a great improvement in point of numbers as compared
with the twenty-two who had accompanied Woodley and
his companions. They followed the ordinary route,
and slept at Saussure's cabane on the Grands Mulcts.
The following day they pursued the usual route under
the Dome du Gouter, but about ten o'clock a violent
storm arose, accompanied by a raging wind. Notwith-
standing these drawbacks, they redoubled their efforts
and reached the summit at half-past twelve. Here the
wind was so strong that the party had to sit together for
fear of being blown away. They had no view, and stated
on their return, that on no possible inducement would
they again undertake such an enterprise. They saw
several great avalanches, but safely regained the hut at
live in the evening. They returned from the Grands
Mulcts by a new route. Finding the glacier extremely
difficult they did not go at all to the ridge of La Cote,
but keeping to the base of the Aiguille du Midi they
descended to Chamonix by the right bank of the Glacier
des Bossons, that is by the route now invariably followed

117

The Annals of Mont Blanc

in climbing the mountain from the Chamonix side.
They stated that they had suffered severely from low
pressures, and one of them told Bourrit that he felt as if
his lungs were being violently torn from his bodyJ

Jacques Balmat and other guides, and Maria
Paradis, 1809

In the year 1809, Mont Blanc was first ascended by a
woman. Some of the guides wished to make the expedi-
tion for their own amusement, and on the thirteenth of
July, Jacques Balmat, Payot, Victor and Michel Tairraz,
Edouard Balmat and Frasseron set out. As they were
on the point of starting, they were astonished at being
joined by two women, Euphrosine Ducroz and Maria
Paradis. The guides would have nothing to say to
Madame Ducroz, but Maria was unmarried, and Jacques
Balmat, taking her by both hands, asked her if she had
really made up her mind. She said yes. Well, he replied,
" I am an old wolf of the mountains, and even I will not
promise to succeed. All I ask of you is to be courageous."
Maria clapped her hands with joy, and they all started
together. They reached the Grands Mulcts without
difficulty, and on the fourteenth of July at daybreak they
started again. The party went too fast for Maria, and she
whispered to the leader, " Go more slowly, Jacques, my
heart fails me — go as if you were tired yourself." Then
two guides took her by the arms, and partly by pushing
her, and partly by carrying her, they arrived at the

' Bourrit, " Description des Cols," 1803, c. 7.
118

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

Rochers Rouges. After considerable difficulty the guides
succeeded in getting Maria to the summit, but her strength
was utterly exhausted. The following day on reaching
Chamonix all the women in the village came out to
welcome the young adventuress, and to ask for details of
the journey ; but she replied she had seen so man}' things
that it would take too long to recount them, and that
such of them as were very curious upon the subject could
make the journey for themselves.

Maria, however, did give details of the expedition to
Captain Markham Sherwill on his return from Mont Blanc
in 1825, and also to Mademoiselle d'Angeville. She said
that she was very ill on the Grand Plateau and lay down
upon the snow, that the guides dragged her up, that
on reaching the Rochers Rouges she begged them to
drop her into a crevasse and go their own way, but they
insisted on her continuing to the bitter end, on reaching
which she was unable either to speak or to breathe.

She was known for the rest of her life as " Maria de
Mont Blanc," and travellers who subsequently made the
ascent record how on approaching Chamonix they found
a clean cloth spread under a tree near Les Pelerins and a
refection of milk, cream, and biscuits provided for them,
and dispensed with the utmost courtesy by the gallant
Maria.i

Count Matzewski, 1818

The summit was very nearly attained in 18 16 by the
Count de Lusi, of the Prussian army, who only succeeded,

' Dumas. " Impressions de Voyage," Edit. 1885, vol. i. ; " Ascension du Clark et
Sherwill," French translation, 1827.

119

The Annals of Mont Blanc

however, in reaching the " derniers rochers." Lusi was a
Knight of the Iron Cross, and had taken part in the war
then recently concluded. He published an account of
his adventures in 1816,'' from which it would appear that
he carried a bottle of Rhine wine with him in which to
drink the health of Frederick William ; no other wine
being in his opinion worthy either of the height or of the
occasion. The ill-feeling caused by the war, had, as it
would seem, not then ceased, for Lusi induced his guides
to certify that no Frenchman had ever reached a similar
height upon the mountain.

Travellers were now getting more confident, and a bold
young Polish gentleman, the Count Matzewski, actually
formed the idea of climbing the mountain from a new
side. In August, 1818, he determined to climb the
"south needle" (the Aiguille du Midi), and he slept at
the Tacul on the Mer de Glace for that purpose,
accompanied by six guides. Ascending the Valine
Blanche in twelve hours, they reached some rocks in
the neighbourhood of the Aiguille du Midi, from which
they could see Chamonix, but having made up their
minds that it was quite impossible to climb Mont Blanc
by this route they returned in due course to the village.
Here the Count engaged eleven guides, but his ex-
periences need not be recorded at any length, for his
route was identical with that taken by Saussure. He
started on the third of August, went by way of the
Montague de la Cote and slept at the Grands Mulcts. On

I "Voyage sur le Mont Blanc," Le Comte de Lusi, Vienna, 181O.
120

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

the following day he reached the summit at half-past
twelve. He remained there an hour and a half, the view
appearing to him " to be sublime beyond everything he
had previously conceived." He returned to the Grands
Mulcts at six in the evening, and to Chamonix the follow-
ing day. Here he met the well-known Captain Basil
Hall, and then proceeded to Geneva, where he wrote to
his friend, Professor Pictet, a short account of the
expedition, informing him that " curiosity and the
pleasure of doing what is not done every day led him
to the mountains, of which he should ever entertain
a pleasing recollection, heightened by the advantage
they had afforded him of making the Professor's
acquaintance."

This account was sent by Pictet to Blackwood's
Magazwe, the young traveller having expressly stipu-
lated that his name should be withheld. ^

Dr. William Howard and Jeremiah van Rensselaer,

181Q

Americans now desired to share in the triumphs
of mountaineering. Dr. William Howard and Mr.
Jeremiah van Rensselaer had been travelling in Italy
and had ascended Etna and Vesuvius. They arrived
at Geneva, and at once determined to visit the Vale of
Chamonix.

On arrival they made various excursions to the glaciers

• Blackwood's Magazine, November, 1818
121

The Annals of Mont Blanc

and had frequent opportunities of conversing with old
Dr. Paccard and also with Jacques Balmat, then 57 years
of age. The weather being favourable, the oracles were
unanimous in favour of the expedition, and the travellers
retained the services of Marie Couttet and eight other
guides. The party started on Sunday, the eleventh of
July, at five in the morning, and at ten reached the glacier
at the end of the ridge of La Cote. Jacques Balmat
accompanied them to this point, but age prevented his
going further. At five in the afternoon they reached the
Grands Mulcts. They constructed a kind of tent with
the aid of sheets, and passed an uncomfortable night, the
temperature being several degrees below freezing point.
Starting again at three in the morning, they reached the
Grand Plateau with some difficulty, and in mounting the
"ancien passage" it was feared that Howard would be
compelled to return. Howard says that " if we attempted
to go more than twelve or at most fifteen steps without
halting, a horrible oppression as of approaching death
seized on us, our limbs became excessively painful and
threatened to sink under us." They were relieved by
drinking plentifully of vinegar and water, a custom
which I have reason to believe has long since ceased.
At half-past twelve they were on the summit, where they
remained an hour and a half. The weather was fine, but
the wind piercingly cold, and they descended, as usual,
a few feet on the south side to avoid it.

They then returned, meeting on their way down, one
of those men who had succumbed on the Grand Plateau,
and who appears to have taken that opportunity of

122

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

breaking the thermometer. They reached their sleeping
place again at five in the afternoon, and suffered con-
siderably from cold during the night-time. Early on
the thirteenth they descended to Chamonix, with burnt
faces and eyes so inflamed that they had to return to
Geneva in a darkened carriage, having " purchased
perhaps too dearly the indulgence of their curiosity." ^

Captain J. Undrell, R.N., 1819

Captain J. Undrell arrived at Chamonix on the fifth
of August, 1819. After paying a visit to the Jardin, from
which he had a clear view of Mont Blanc, the weather
became unsettled, and he left for Martigny by way of
the Tete Noire. When he had proceeded for seven or
eight miles, he turned to have a farewell look at the
mountain, which to his great surprise he found quite
clear. He instantly returned and instructed Josef Marie
Couttet to make the necessary preparations for the
ascent. He was imperfectly provided with scientific
instruments, and records that " old Dr. Paccard supplied
me with all he had," but he could not procure good
barometers, which he most wanted. In addition to
Couttet, he engaged five other guides, all of whom had
accompanied Howard and Van Rensselaer a few days
before. These guides were Pierre Carrier, Alexis
Devouassoud, Matthieu Balmat, and Eugene and David

I " Narrativeof a Journey to the Summit of Mont Blanc," William Howard, M.D.,
Baltimore, 1821 ; Antericaii journal of Science and Arts, November, i8;o.
Note. — Dr. Paccard records that this party broke his thermometer.

1.23

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Couttet, relatives of the leading guide. A hardy youth
of eighteen also accompanied the party as a volunteer.
Starting at five on the morning of the tenth of August,
they followed the new route on the right bank of the
Glacier des Bossons, and arrived at the Pierre Pointue
at twenty minutes past seven. The usual journey
by La Cote now fell into disuse, the guides finding
that they could reach the Grands Mulets in two hours
less time than the old route involved. A ladder was
then kept at the base of the Aiguille du Midi, a spot
known then, as now, by the name of " Pierre a
I'echelle."

Proceeding across the glacier, their shoes fitted with
crampons, without which, according to the Captain, it
would have been impossible to have kept their footing,
they continued through the seracs all roped together and
constantly using the axe to cut footholes. The ladder,
too, proved useful, and they safely gained the rocks of the
Grands Mulets. The space where they lay was on the
south-west side of the rock, measuring about twenty feet
by six, and had been previously somewhat levelled by the
guides, " who had piled loose stones on the part towards
the precipice as a protection." It would be interesting to
inquire what had become of Saussure's "Grande Cabane" ;
by this time probably it had been burnt for firewood by
previous travellers ; it was clearly too much exposed to be
any longer useful.

At half-past one on the eleventh of August they set out
for the summit, aided by the moonlight, and Captain
Undrell tells us "that the silence and solitude of the scene

124

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

induced sensations which he might seek in vain for lan-
guage to depict." It was bitterly cold, and on arriving at
the Grand Plateau their provisions were frozen and the
water they carried with them was quite solid. The party
all suffered more or less, and one of the guides declined
to proceed. The snow was deep and in bad condition,
but they proceeded gallantly by way of the " ancien
passage " to the top of the Rochers Rouges, where
they rested for a short time, and watched the ailing
guide, who had been left asleep on the Grand Plateau,
slowly toiling upwards. At half-past eleven, exactly ten
hours after leaving the Grands jMulets, they reached the
summit. The weather was exquisite and the air quite
clear. Captain Undrell was satisfied that the Apennines
interrupted the view of the Mediterranean. He justly
stated that the neighbouring Alps had a very singular
appearance, and that the height from which they were
beheld seemed to rob them of their character as moun-
tains. Monte Rosa, however, towered in front of them
with nearly rival grandeur, and Undrell, who writes in a
style as modest as it is graphic, says " that nothing can be
fancied so beautiful as the ethereal concave arching out
into infinity, without any exhalation or impurity of earth
to intercept its magnificence." The party remained three
hours and a half upon the summit. The gallant Captain
then assembled his guides, asked them to join with him
in drinking to the prosperity of Old England, and they
began to descend. They suffered severely from the cold
at the Grands Mulcts the second night, but reached
Chamonix in safety at noon on the twelfth, the Captain,

125

The Annals of Mont Blanc

having taken no precautions of any kind, suffering greatly
from inflamed eyes.^

Frederick Clissold, 1822

In 1820 occurred the terrible accident on the " ancien
passage " in which three guides belonging to Dr. Hamel's
party were killed by an avalanche. No member of the
expedition, however, gained the summit, and the accident
will be recorded in another portion of this volume.

It is certain that this catastrophe confirmed the guides
in the opinion they had long held, that the route between
the Grand Plateau and the summit of the Rochers Rouges
was, in certain states of the snow, extremely dangerous,
and men began to ask themselves if no other route could
be found by which the risk of avalanches could be avoided.
For a time no further route was discovered, and the death
of the three guides cast a gloom over the valley and cer-
tainly deterred travellers from attempting the ascent.

In August, 1822, Mr. Frederick Clissold visited
Chamonix under the impression " that having frequently
ascended Snowdon without guides, he was in some
measure prepared for the critical circumstances attending
mountain excursions." No doubt a wide experience on
the Welsh hills is an excellent preliminary to climbing in
the Alps, and Clissold's ascent was in many respects a

' "Annals of Philosophy," 1821.

Note. — Dr. Paccard describes John Undrell as a captain in the Rojal Navy, of
the county of Warwick, and says that he lent him a tiiernionieter, a graduated
half-circle, a compass, and a prism.

126

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

memorable one. He visited Pictet and the younger
Saussure at Geneva, who gave him every encouragement,
the latter gentleman favouring him with a sight of the
shoes which his celebrated father had worn during his
ascent.

Clissold reached Chamonix on the second of August,
and, unlike many previous adventurers, determined to get
into thorough training before attempting Mont Blanc.
He went to the Jardin and back in a remarkably short
time, and actually climbed the Brevent from the village in
two hours and a half. He well knew how some of his
predecessors had suffered, and he took every possible
precaution. He had two veils, one black and the other
green. He had a preparation of Burgundy pitch made to
cover his chest and to defend his lungs from sudden
changes of temperature. Dr. Paccard offered him various
instruments, the use of which he declined, as, being
desirous of removing the groundless apprehensions
excited by the last unsuccessful attempt (Dr. Hamel's),
he wished to carry nothing which would retard his
progress.

Clissold was a bold man as well as a prudent one. He
suggested to his leading guide, Marie Couttet, that instead
of starting in the morning they should begin their journey
at night, and if possible proceed directly to the summit,
sleeping on their return at the Grand Plateau, or even
upon the top of the mountain, a plan which Dr. Paccard
approved. Six guides were engaged, and all except
Marie Couttet wanted to sleep as usual at the Grands
Mulcts, but Clissold was firm, and the guides gave in.

127

The Annals of Mont Blanc

The party started on the night of the eighteenth of
August at half-past ten, quite a novel departure, and
Clissold felt such strength and spirits that he wished he
were starting for Chimborazo and not for Mont Blanc.
He insisted on carrying the knapsack of one of the
guides, which gave the others confidence in his strength
and encouraged them to greater exertions. At half-past
three the following morning they reached the base of the
Aiguille du Midi, where they rested for half an hour and
then took to the glacier, Clissold outstripping his guides.
He learnt caution, however, by a fall in a crevasse and
by the loss of his alpenstock, and the whole party reached
the Grands Mulcts together. After another rest they
proceeded, and the sun getting hot, Clissold used plenty
of cold cream like any modern mountaineer. He suffered
little or no fatigue, and Marie Couttet, who was very
short of breath, looked at him with astonishment, saying,
" Diable vous n'etes pas fatigue du tout." They cut steps
up the "ancien passage" and reached the Rochers
Rouges at half-past six, after twenty hours of walking
from Chamonix, including halts, but they had wasted
two or three hours waiting for tired guides. They
determined to sleep on these rocks, but Clissold pushed
on with Marie Couttet tc the Petits Mulcts, from which
point the summit could easily have been gained, but
Couttet dissuaded him and he returned to the Rochers
Rouges. They made a hole between the rocks and the
snow, covered the bottom with pieces of wood and
themselves with blankets, and went to sleep. The cold
was severe, as a bottle of the best Hermitage was frozen.

128

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

There was a brilliant sunrise, and at half-past five the
whole party were on the summit. The air was perfectly
still and the view superb. They remained three hours on
the top. In descending, they reached the Grands Mulcts
at half-past one, and heard the noise of a great avalanche,
which they afterwards discovered had fallen down the
"ancien passage" in the very line of the path they had
traversed. They reached the village at half-past seven in
the evening, after an absence of forty-five hours. Not-
withstanding that Clissold was provided with two veils, he
used neither, and suffered greatly from inflamed eyes ;
indeed, he asserts that he had used little or no precaution
to protect them from the action of the sun, " the scene
being too extraordinary to be viewed through the
preservative of green crape, or any other medium."
This ascent was in some respects magnificent, but " it
was not war." If Clissold, who was a good climber,
had taken only three first-rate guides with him, he
would have accomplished the expedition in a far shorter
time and need not have walked all night. It was a
tour de force to climb up-hill for twenty hours, and
a needless risk to sleep in the open at the Rochers
Rouges. Again, the actual ascent occupied twenty-two
hours, including halts, five or six hours longer than
was necessary, but Clissold's scheme obliged him to go
from the Grands Mulcts to the Rochers Rouges in the
day-time, and so to grapple w^ith soft snow ; whereas, if he
had slept as usual at the Grands Mulcts and started at
midnight, he might have been on the summit soon after
sunrise and had the snow in the best possible condition.

129 K

The Annals of Mont Blanc

However, he was the first man who had ever stood on
Mont Blanc before six in the morning, or who had been
up and down within forty-eight hours. ^

H. H. Jackson, 1823

The ascent of Mr. Jackson was also an interesting one.
He came from Geneva to Chamonix with a knapsack, and
necessaries, as he tells us, sufficient for any pedestrian
exercise less arduous than the ascent of Mont Blanc.
He, like Clissold, was a mountaineer pure and simple,
had no desire to make any scientific observations, but
climbed " from a love of hardy enterprise excusable, as he
hoped, in a young man." He v^'ished to obtain the
services of the guides who had accompanied his pre-
decessor the previous year, particularly Marie Couttet,
who was then the recognised leader of similar expedi-
tions. But all these guides were otherwise engaged, and
he secured five others — Alexis and Simon Devouassoud,
Joseph Charlet, Anselm Tronchet, and Jean Pierre
Tairraz the younger. He agreed to pay each of these
guides sixty francs if they reached the summit. He
was evidently a practical man, and his ordinary dress
consisting for the most part of a nankeen jacket and
trousers, he borrowed more substantial clothing from
Charlet, the landlord of the Union Inn. He had evi-
dently thought the matter out with care, and provided

I " An Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc," by Frederick Clissold, London,
1823.

Note. — Dr. Paccard records that Clissold slept on the upper portion of the
Rochers Rouges, and "reached the top on the i8th with six guides."

130

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

himself, with the aid of Charlet, with thick cloth trousers,
a double-breasted woollen waistcoat with long sleeves, a
spencer of strong cloth which served as an overcoat, two
pairs of thick woollen stockings, and cloth gaiters. He
had heard, too, of inflamed eyes, and prudently added a
green veil and dark-green spectacles. On the third of
September, 1823, the little party was ready. The weather
was not wholly favourable, and he was doubtful whether
to undertake the enterprise or not. He met old Jacques
Balmat upon the bridge. Balmat had given up the
guiding business, but after surveying the heavens advised
him to start. He left about eight in the morning,
ascended by way of the base of the Aiguille du Midi,
and after encountering a storm which wet the whole
party to the skin, arrived safely at the Grands Mulcts
about three o'clock. They carried a sheet with them
to form a tent, under which they slept with reasonable
tranquillity, though another storm burst over them in
the course of the night. They did not start till five the
next morning, the weather being fine and the sky clear.
Jackson found his green veil and spectacles of the
greatest possible service. As he got higher he saw
that a tempest was raging on the summit. On the
Grand Plateau he had a severe headache, but after a
rest the party made straight by the old route to the
Rochers Rouges. Some dread was felt at this point,
as they actually climbed over the debris of a recent
avalanche. It appears that the proper use of the rope
was still unknown, for while it was fastened round
Jackson's body, the guide who preceded him held one

The Annals of Mont Blanc

end in his hand and the rear guide held the other.
They encountered a piercing wind between the Rochers
Rouges and the summit. Charlet was fatigued and sat
down. Alexis Devouassoud stopped to look after him,
while Jackson and the three remaining guides pushed
on to the summit. The traveller seems to have been
prepared for any emergency, though the wind was
violent and doubled the labour of the ascent. Exactly
at noon they were on the top, Jackson suffering from
headache and a slight bleeding at the nose. They had
scarcely any view, and the wind was so fierce that
they had to cling to one another and exert their
utmost strength to keep on their legs. In ten minutes
they left, and picked up Alexis Devouassoud on their
road down, Charlet having already descended. At three
they reached the Grands Mulcts, a very creditable
performance both up and down. Jackson had in-
tended to remain at the sleeping place for a second
night, but the day being comparatively young, he sug-
gested to the guides that they should follow Clissold's
example and all make a push for Chamonix and sleep
under more favourable circumstances. The proposition
was willingly acceded to, and the party reached the
village at about eight o'clock, being the second who
had ever accomplished the ascent and the descent
within two days. The entire expedition took only
about thirty-six hours.^

• New Monthly Magazine, 1827.

Note. — Dr. Paccard simply records that Jackson reached the summit with three
guides five minutes after noon.

132

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

It is interesting to compare the actual number of
hours spent in climbing by Clissold and Jackson respec-
tively. Clissold was absent from Chamonix forty-five
hours ; Jackson only thirty-six. The former was twenty-
two hours (including halts) climbing up-hill ; the latter
only fourteen. In descending, Clissold took eleven
hours ; Jackson only eight. It was obvious, therefore,
that to ensure the minimum of exertion the night bivouac
at the Grands Mulcts was the right plan.

Dr. Edmund Clark and Captain Markham
Sherwill, 1825

There is nothing specially interesting to record in the
ascent of Doctor Clark and Captain Sherwill in the year
1825. Both were gentlemen of education and refine-
ment. They were strangers till they met at Chamonix,
but both being bent on the same errand they agreed to
join in the adventure. They engaged Joseph Marie
Couttet, who had already been six times on the summit,
and who was the son of that Marie Couttet who had
been constantly in Saussure's employ. Six more guides
were retained, and the party of nine set out on the
twenty-fifth of August at seven o'clock in the morning,
the travellers riding on mules as far as the Pierre Pointue.
It was usual at that time to strike the Grands Mulcts at
the foot of the rocks and climb to the top where the
resting place was, but later the route was taken by way
of the glacier direct to the sleeping place. At live
o'clock in the afternoon, or in ten hours from Chamonix,

133

The Annals of Mont Blanc

this spot was tardily gained. Sherwill says ''that the
beauty of the setting sun and the solemnity of the still
evening created in him sensation of terror." A tent was
constructed by the usual process of placing poles in a
slanting direction against the rock and covering them
with a sheet. The party all had a good night except
Sherwill, who was severely afflicted with nausea. The
next morning they left at five ; Clark walking easily,
but Sherwill having occasionally to halt. They gained
the Grand Plateau after the usual incidents and then
struck the "ancien passage." Here the ordinary route
was varied. Instead of climbing to the top of the
Rochers Rouges, they left these rocks on their left and
went straight for the Petits Mulcts. Clark and two of
the guides led the way, followed by Sherwill, Marie
Couttet, and another. At three o'clock they were on
the summit, the day being remarkably fine and not a
cloud above them. They had thus taken twenty hours
in ascending from Chamonix. They at once sunk down
on the snow, both travellers being exhausted. They did
not remain long upon the summit, as the wind was
freshening from the south-west. Clark had brought
some small branches of olive from the shores of the
Mediterranean, and he placed this emblem of peace in
a glass tube, "together with the name of George the
Fourth and his deservedly popular Minister, subjoining
the names of some of the most remarkable persons of
the age," and in descending and reaching the rocks
nearest to the summit, he hid this votive offering her-
metically sealed with an icy plug, deep down under the

134

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

snow, hoping "that it might remain unaltered for many
centuries like insects preserved in amber." They slept
the second ni^ht at the Grands Mulets and regained the
village on the following day, receiving the greetings of
Maria Paradis as they passed the Pelerins. Both Clark
and Sherwill refer to the Cabane of Saussure on the
rocks of the Grands Mulets and constructed in 1787.
The roof was gone and it was full of snow, and the walls
were not more than two or three feet high. The guides
were of opinion that the site of the cabane was more
exposed than that now used as a sleeping place.^

William Hawes and Charles Fellows, 1827

Two young Englishmen, William Hawes and Charles
Fellows, who were active pedestrians, having made the
tour of the Rhine and of Switzerland mostly on foot,
arrived at Chamonix on the twenty-third of July, 1827.
They instantly made arrangements for an ascent, and
provided themselves with an enormous quantity of pro-
visions and forty-seven bottles of wine, brandy, syrup

' New Monthly Magazine, 1826, "A Visit to the Summit of Mont Blanc"; "As-
cension de Mont Blanc by Captain Markham Sherwill, translated from the
English by Alexander P r, 1827."

Note. — Dr. Paccard gives a delightful account of this expedition. He says that
the party climbed the rocks of the Grands Mulets from their base, having no ladder
to cross the crevasses. " My son-in-law, Julien Devouassoud," he adds, " liad a
sheepskin to keep his feet warm, and did not suffer from cold. They had snow
up to the knees on the Grand Plateau, and suffered from the rarefaction of the air.
The Captain was sick. They left there several of their impedimenta, amongst
them my electrometer, which they forgot."

Jacques Balniat also wrote a short account of the expedition, which will be
found in the Appendix.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

and lemonade. They engaged the services of Joseph
Marie Couttet and Matthieu Bahnat as leaders, and of
seven other guides, and started at half-past eight on the
morning of the twenty-fourth.

The men of Chamonix had made the usual statements
as to the difficulties and perils of the climb, and in order
that the guides might be fresh on reaching the glacier,
ten porters carrying the provisions were sent in advance
to the Pierre a I'echelle. The cottage of Jacques Balmat
was visited en route, the travellers using mules as far as
the Pierre Pointue, and on reaching the Pierre a I'echelle
the combined party, numbering twenty-two in all, held
a solemn banquet, after which the porters were sent back,
and the party, augmented by two volunteers and number-
ing thirteen persons, proceeded by the usual route to the
rocks of the Grands Mulcts. They were advised to move
not only with caution, but in perfect silence, " as a word
spoken might have given vibration to the air, whose
agitation would have been sufficient to bring down the
masses of ice which were seen, as it were, balancing
themselves above our heads."

At half-past four they reached the base of the rocks
and, proceeding to the top, they encamped on a little
plateau then constructed there, finding and applying to
their own use the sheet with which Jackson had con-
structed his tent in 1823.

They had seven degrees of frost during the night, and
the sound of avalanches disturbed their repose. At a
quarter to four in the morning of the twenty-fifth they
set out, taking with them a very small portion of their

136

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

ample stores. Reaching the Grand Plateau at eight, they
found that the only route by which the summit had
hitherto been reached (the " ancien passage ") was totally
impassable, avalanches falling continuously from the
Rochers Rouges. This was a severe blow. The weather
was delightful and the air clear, and yet it was feared
that failure was inevitable. Was it possible to find a
new way ? F'our of the guides were sent off to recon-
noitre, while the remainder of the party stayed on the
Plateau suffering severely from headache, nausea, and
exhaustion. Two hours elapsed before their fears were
dispelled, when they received a welcome signal to pro-
ceed. Leaving the " ancien passage " on their right, they
mounted the steep snow-slopes leading to what is now
known as the "Corridor," and turning the Rochers
Rouges, they were the first persons who ascended the
mountain by the Mur de la Cote, and struggling gallantly
they reached the summit at half-past two. Hawes was
in good spirits, though he found a certain difficulty in
breathing. Fellows suffered from an unquenchable
thirst ; two of the guides failed in reaching the summit,
two fell from faintness and " copiously vomited blood."
No doubt this assertion was honestly made, but it is clear
that some at least of the red wine was brought from
the Grands Mulets. However, they pulled themselves
together and drank " Health to all below and success to
our friends of the Thames Tunnel." The cold was so
great that they only waited about half an hour upon the
summit, and rapidly descending reached their sleeping
place about six. They encountered a severe storm on

137

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the Grand Plateau on their way down, and as much rain
had fallen on the Grands Mulcts, their blankets as well
as their clothes were completely soaked. After passing
a wretched night, they started again as soon as possible
after daylight and regained the village at nine, meeting
Sir David Wilkie, R.A., on their return. The travellers
were not much fatigued, but some of the guides had
serious inflammation of the eyes. The cost of the ex-
cursion was nearly fifty pounds.

This ascent was memorable as being the first occasion
when an alternative route to the summit was discovered,
which, though longer than by way of the "ancien
passage," avoided the risk of avalanches, of which
Chamonix guides were now getting greatly afraid.
Fellows afterwards became famous in connection with
the " Lycian Marbles," and received the honour of
knighthood ; and he gave me an account of his ascent
exactly forty-five years ago, warning me in the most
solemn manner never to attempt a similar expedition.^

John Auldjo, 1827

John Auldjo, a Scotch gentleman and a member of
Trinity College, Cambridge, was travelling in the Alps
in the summer of the same year. On passing the now
vanished Lac de Chede on his way to Chamonix, the
monarch of the Alps was first seen by him, clothed in

' "Ascent to the Summit of Mont BInnc (privately printed), 1828, for Benjamin
Hawes, junior." " Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc on the 25th of Jul)-, 1827,
by Charles Fellows (privately printed)."

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

dazzling splendour. He determined to ascend it, and
made training excursions to the Jardin and the Brevent,
but he was unable to secure guides to accompany him
and returned to Geneva. Here he met Hawes and
Fellows on their way home, who gave him valuable
information and advice. He returned to the village on
the fifth of August to find the rain falling in torrents ;
but, whatever might be the inconvenience, he insisted
on remaining on the spot so as to avail himself of the
first favourable change. In due course, Devouassoud
and Couttet, his leading guides, announced to him that
the wind had changed, and he made ready to start. He
found great difficulty in filling up the number of his
guides ; only four would volunteer, but at length six
agreed to accotnpany him. These were Joseph Marie
Couttet and Julien Devouassoud, both of whom were
members of Dr. Hamel's party, Jean Pierre Tairraz,
Jacques Simond, Michel Favret and Jean Marie Couttet ;
and two villagers, Auguste Couttet and Michel Carrier,
obtained permission to join the party. On the morning
of the eighth of August everything was ready. Notwith-
standing the number of ascents that had already been
made, the wives of some of the guides came crying to
Auldjo and upbraiding him for tempting those who
formed their only support to sacrifiice themselves to his
curiosity and pleasure. However, matters were arranged,
and Auldjo rode a mule to the Pierre Pointue, and the
party breakfasted at the Pierre a I'echelle. Here most of
the friends of the guides, who as usual at that time had
carried the baggage thus far, returned to the village, but

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The Annals of Mont Blanc

some insisted on going further. About halfway to the
Grands Mulcts these also returned, and the party of nine
shook hands, swore to keep faithful in every emergency,
to know no distinction of person, and to be all brothers
in the enterprise. They arrived in due time at the base
of the Grands Mulcts rocks, and proceeding upwards
reached the well-known ledge near the summit at four
in the afternoon. They lighted a fire and made them-
selves comfortable, after which Auldjo made a discovery
of profound interest. He tells us that he attempted to
smoke, but ** the rarity of the air rendered the scent of
the tobacco so powerful and disagreeable that I was
obliged to desist." They constructed a tent with the
aid of the usual sheet, and lying huddled up together on
their stony couch passed a very satisfactory night. At
half-past three in the morning they started, aided by a
brilliant moon, and proceeded to the Grand Plateau.
Auldjo found the work very fatiguing and the cold ex-
ceptionally severe ; the wind was blowing from the north,
and the thermometer marked fourteen degrees below
freezing point on the Plateau. Following the new route
by the Corridor, they soon found the sun, and, getting
warm, experienced little difficulty. Whilst climbing the
Corridor a great avalanche swept down the "ancien
passage," and they would certainly have been killed had
they not followed the new and less dangerous way dis-
covered by Hawes and Fellows. At the Derniers
Rochers the whole party suffered from headache, thirst,
and difficulty of breathing, but the sight of some " female
forms " on the Brevent renewed their courage and excited

140

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

them to greater exertion. Notwithstanding the sight of
the female forms, however, Auldjo was on the point
of giving in. In an unhappy moment he discarded his
veil and spectacles ; he besought the guides to leave him,
but they declared that they would carry him to the top
if necessary, and that if they could not carry him they
would drag him. Ultimately they fastened a rope round
his waist, and so hauled him to the summit at exactly
eleven o'clock. It was a brilliant and cloudless day.
Couttet, who had made seven successful ascents, said he
had never enjoyed so extensive a prospect, or seen the
mountains so clear from mist or cloud. Auldjo's mind
and body alike were so exhausted that he had little joy
in his triumph, and throwing himself on the snow wuth
his guides they all fell fast asleep, which neither the
burning rays of the sun nor the piercing cold of the snow
could either prevent or disturb. After a few minutes'
repose a mountain repast was served, but Auldjo tells us
that the very taste of food created nausea and disgust,
and that one bottle of champagne which was carried to
the summit was found amply sufficient to assuage the
thirst of nine persons.

Auldjo then carefully inspected the view, and ascer-
tained the extent of country that could be seen from
the summit on a perfectly clear day. He afterwards
constructed a map of the area so visible, and assures
us that it is possible to see as far as Basle on the
north, Lyons on the west, Milan on the east, but not
quite so far as the Gulf of Genoa on the south. Exactly
at noon the signal was given for departure. On arriving

141

The Annals of Mont Blanc

at the Derniers Rochers some fragments of rock were
secured, and the guides found the bottle containing the
twigs of ohve so carefully deposited by Clark and
Sherwill two years before. Unfortunately the bottle,
supposed to have been hermetically sealed, and the
contents of which were " likely to remain unaltered for
many centuries," was half filled with water, and the
written memoranda were entirely illegible. On arriving
at the Grand Plateau, they found the remains of the great
avalanche that had fallen down the "ancien passage" in
the early morning, and the guides trembled and became
pale at the sight of the danger from which they had
escaped. One of them turned to Auldjo and said, " My
God, had we been obliged to have gone with you by
the old route, what a destiny would have awaited us."
Auldjo suffered greatly in the descent from heat and
faintness. A storm was brewing, and just as they
reached the Grands Mulcts it broke over them with great
violence. After a short halt they proceeded downwards,
encountering another storm on their way, and were all
drenched to the skin. Auldjo, who had become very
weary, walked as Saussure did, between batons held
horizontally by two guides, and so arrived at the Pierre
Pointue and shortly afterwards at Chamonix, the entire
excursion having taken thirty-seven hours. His face was
scorched, his lips swollen, and his eyes inflamed. In the
following year he published an account of his ascent, far
more complete and interesting than any previously given
to the public. The first edition is quarto and is full of
admirable lithographic illustrations. A second and smaller

142

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

edition followed in due course, and a third was published
so late as the year 1856, in the preface to which the author
remarks that his ascent had procured for him "the gold
medal of civil merit from the late King of Prussia, an
autograph letter of approval from the ex- King of Bavaria,
and the gift of a valuable diamond ring from the King of
Sardinia." For many years afterwards he occupied the
post of British Consul at Geneva, and I had the pleasure
of meeting him at that city in the year 1879, exactly fifty-
two years after his ascent was made. He was then a
hale old gentleman with a white beard. He died at
Geneva on the sixth of Alay, 1 886.1

« "Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc on the 8th and 9th of August, 1S27 " ;
Longmans, London, 182S.

Note. — The final entry of importance in Dr. Paccard's book is as follows :
" Mr. Auldjo, English, arrived at the summit on the ninth at 11 a.m., left again at
11.40, and returned to Chamonix at 8 p.m

143

CHAPTER VIII

SUBSEQUENT ASCENTS OF MONT BLANC — SAUSSURE TO
ALBERT SMITH {continued)

The Hon. Edward Bootle Wilbraham, 1830

WILBRAHAM was a colonel in the British Army,
and whilst visiting the Montanvert in August,
1830, in company with Captain Pringle and the Comte
de Hohenthal, the beauty of the weather and the clearness
of the sky induced him to attempt the ascent of Mont
Blanc. He accordingly consulted Joseph Marie Couttet,
who had then made the ascent eight times. Couttet, in
accordance with the Chamonix custom, endeavoured to
dissuade him, bluntly told him he had better not make
the attempt, and would not even promise to assist him.
Ultimately he relented, and engaged six guides, all of
whom Wilbraham discarded on the advice of his land-
lord. Some of the guides afterwards selected failed him
at the last moment, Couttet having informed him that he
must not rely on married men.

Those who finally accompanied him were Joseph Marie

144

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

Couttet the leader, Alexis Devouassoiid, Auguste and
Pierre Couttet, Michel Favret, and Matthieu Dessailloud,
and he set out on the second of August, 1830, and rode ^-2

on a mule to the Pierre Pointue, the party reaching the
Grands Mulets at a quarter past two, a little more than
seven hours from the start. Here they found half a
bottle of excellent brandy which had been left by Auldjo
in 1827, and so charmed was Wilbraham at this dis-
covery, that he ordered his guides to leave certain bottles
of wine for his successor, whoever he might be. They
constructed a tent with a sheet, and would have slept
comfortably, Wilbraham tells us, "had we not been so
cramped for room that it was impossible for me to move
my legs without kicking the head of the unfortunate man
beyond me." At half-past two o'clock on the morning of
the third of August they were astir, and Wilbraham
provided himself with a cotton nightcap to be worn
under a straw hat. The party carried vinegar for
drinking purposes, and " eau de Cologne to relieve the
acute headache which usually attacks persons at a great
height, and from which I suffered considerably during
the ascent." In four hours they reached the Grand
Plateau, the weather being very favourable and the snow
in excellent condition. Here they halted for breakfast,
but Wilbraham had no appetite and already felt very
much fatigued. As they passed the foot of the " ancien
passage " Couttet pointed to the crevasse in which three
of Dr. Hamel's guides were engulfed, saying signifi-
cantly, "lis sont la." Wilbraham remarked that "they
would remain imbedded there till the day of judgment,"

145 L

The Annals of Mont Blanc

a false assertion as we shall see. He had forgotten, if
indeed it was then known, that

" The glacier's cold and restless mass
Moves onward day by day."

They proceeded by way of the Corridor, Wilbraham
sometimes falling asleep, and although he confesses that
he often wished that Mont Blanc never existed, as he had
no thought of abandoning the attempt he kept his wishes
to himself. At length they reached the summit, on which
Wilbraham stepped, like so many of his predecessors,
" without the slightest emotion of pleasure." He was
thoroughly exhausted, sat down on a knapsack and fell
asleep. In a few minutes he recovered, heartily enjoyed
the magnificent view, and having quite regained his
strength, set out on his return journey "with shouts of
joy." Glissading rapidly downwards, they reached the
Grands Mulcts in three hours and a half, where they
halted for a few minutes, Wilbraham suffering no incon-
venience except from a raging thirst. On reaching the
Pierre Pointue a mule was waiting for him, and he rode
into Chamonix, where he was the lion of the place for the
two days he remained, "the visitors asking him the most
absurd questions imaginable." ^

Dr. Martin Barry, 1834

Four years later Martin Barry made a successful
ascent. He was a Doctor of Medicine of the University

' •' An Ascent of Mont Blanc in August, 1830, by the Hon. Edward Bootle
Wilbraham," The Keepsake, 1832.

146

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

of Edinburgh, and President of the Royal Medical
Society of that city. He was also a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, and had considerable scientific
attainments. After spending the summer at Heidelberg,
he rambled on foot through Switzerland. He ascended
the Faulhorn and made a careful examination of the
Bernese Alps. On the fifteenth of September, 1834, he
crossed the Col de Balme, and had the splendid view of
Mont Blanc which so many of us have seen from that
enchanting point of view. "An amazing picture," as he
records, "which the eye knew not how to scan, chaining
the beholder, lost in an astonished gaze. The prodigies
of nature piled up there, cast other, even Alpine splendour,
far into the shade." The idea of an ascent conceived
some hours before, became a settled purpose after the
view from the Col de Balme. On reaching the Priory,
Barry consulted the guides, who objected that the season
was too far advanced, that the days were too short, that
much recent snow had fallen, and other arguments with
which the men of Chamonix were wont to whet the moun-
taineering appetite. The moon was at the full, and Barry
was in excellent training and determined to start at once
He obtained an outfit from the proprietors of the Hotel
de rUnion, and having retained the services of six guides,
he started at half-past eight on the morning of the
sixteenth of September.

' At noon they were at the Pierre a I'echelle. Here the
friends of the guides who had carried up charcoal,
blankets, and other mountaineering necessaries, took their
departure and returned to the valley.

147

The Annals of Mont Blanc

The lateness of the season and the unusual heat of the
summer caused considerable difficulty on the glacier, and
the party had to be dragged on to the rocks of the Grands
Mulcts by Joseph Marie Couttet, who was leading guide.
The other guides were Simon Tournier, Michel Balmat,
Pierre and Jean Tairraz, and Francois Despland. Gain-
ing the Grands Mulcts rocks was found so laborious that
Couttet gave Dr. Barry a certificate that although he had
been nine times on the summit of Mont Blanc he had
never met with such difficulty in reaching the rocks as on
this occasion. At half-past six they gained the usual
sleeping place, taking about ten hours from Chamonix,
the state of the glacier easily accounting for the unusual
length of the journey.

A tent was constructed in the orthodox manner, and
the party supped with good appetite and slept well.
There was a brilliant moon, and Barry records that the
influence upon his mind of that poetic vision of the
night, he despaired of ever being able to communicate
to others, " although the scene remained a picture on his
own memory unalterable by time."

They did not leave the rocks until five o'clock, and
naturally found the snow somewhat soft, and were
delayed for some time in endeavouring to force a passage
over a crevasse on their way to the Grand Plateau.
Starting again at ten they turned to the left, and Couttet
gave them an account of the Hamel accident near the
scene of the disaster, and proceeding by the new route
they reached the top of the Mur de la Cote. The
enthusiasm of Barry was not equal to what it had been

148

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

a few hours before ; he was considerably exhausted, and
tells us that he had never previously found " the flexors
of the thigh and the extensors of the leg so inadequate
to the performance of their office." At length ex-
haustion became extreme, indifference came on, and
almost fainting he sank upon the snow ; but his
work was nearly accomplished, and at a quarter
past two he stood upon the summit, having taken
nearly twenty hours of actual walking in making the
ascent.

After a short rest he soon recovered, made some
scientific experiments, and then revelled in the magni-
ficence of the scene. All exhaustion, faintness, and in-
difference had disappeared, and Barry describes in
charming and graceful language the effect which that
majestic view produced upon his mind. During the
entire day no particle of cloud was visible. At half-
past three they turned to descend, and after two or
three falls into concealed crevasses, from which Barry
was easily rescued, the party regained the Grands Mulcts
soon after six, spent a second night there, and leaving
the rocks at half-past seven the following morning, they
took till nearly four in the afternoon to regain the village,
w'here they met old Jacques Balmat, then seventy-three
years of age. In the evening Barry gave a supper to his
guides. The venerable Jacques Balmat joined the party,
and told them of his experiences nearly half a century
before.^

I "Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc in 1834, by Martin Barry, M.D.,
F.R.S.E." Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1836.

149

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Count Henri de Tilly, 1834

A French gentleman, formerly an officer of Dragoons
in the service of Charles the Tenth, but who had been
exiled from his native country after the revolution of
1830, was the first Frenchman who ascended Mont
Blanc. This was Count Henri de Till}'', who was fond
of adventure, and who had ascended Mount Etna in the
spring of 1834. Arriving at Lausanne in October of that
year, but being ignorant alike of glaciers and guides, he
had not then determined upon making the ascent, but
the thought of doing so was always in his mind, and on
reaching Chamonix on the fifth of October he sent for
the hardiest guide then to be found in the village, and
Michel Devouassoud soon presented himself. This guide,
it may be remembered, accompanied Clark and Sherwill
in 1825. The Count and Devouassoud made an excursion
to the jardin by way of the Couvercle, and Tilly being
assured that the man who could climb the Couvercle
without losing his head could be guaranteed for Mont
Blanc, at once made up his mind. He admits that it was
a grave and solemn determination, but he was prepared
to look all difficulties steadily in the face. In addition to
the leader he took with him Francois Despland (a name
which now seems to exist no longer at Chamonix), David
Simond, Julien Devouassoud, Jean Michel Tairraz, and
Matthieu Simond, and the party started at six o'clock in
the morning of the eighth of October. There were
neither tears nor lamentations, although the lateness of
the season was the cause of considerable uneasiness.

150

The Old Route bv the Grands ^Muk-ts Rocks.

[7V' fine ptigc 150.

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

Certain porters in charge of the baggage were, as usual,
despatched in advance ; then came Tilly mounted on a
mule, attended by his leading guide, the five remaining
guides bringing up the rear. Passing the cottage of
Couttet, "the most renowned guide of Chamonix," at
the hamlet of Les Pelerins, Tilly reached the Pierre
Pointue, where he parted with his mule, and shortly
afterwards the whole party breakfasted at Pierre
a I'echelle, which they reached at ten o'clock. A
recently fallen avalanche from the Aiguille du Midi
caused them some alarm, but one of the guides, taking
Tilly by the arm, hurried him from the spot, and they
made good progress to the Grands Mulcts. On the road
the guides assured him that the Aiguille du Midi and
the Mont Maudit were alike inaccessible, and that the
latter mountain had been so named on that account.
The porters left them in the middle of the Glacier des
Bossons, so that the party consisted only of seven persons.
Tilly was greatly impressed by the magnificence of the
scenery, which he compared very favourably with that of
Etna. Mont Blanc, he said, elevated the soul whilst
Etna debased it ; the one was heaven and the other hell.
At length they arrived at the foot of the Grands Mulcts,
and I am able to reproduce from the book afterwards
published by Tilly an interesting picture of these well-
known rocks, showing how they were ascended at that
time to their summit, where the sleeping place had long
been established. The party arrived there between four
and five in the afternoon, having taken upwards of ten
hours in the ascent from Chamonix. The bottle con-

151

The Annals of Mont Blanc

taining the soup had, with several other bottles, been
broken in chmbing the rocks, to the Count's great dis-
appointment, but notwithstanding this misadventure they
dined gaily. Tilly lamented the fate of the unhappy
country which he was not permitted to enter, but putting
gloomy thoughts aside, he assisted in fixing the tent, and
lying down with four of the guides, all covered by one
blanket (there being no room for the remaining guides in
the tent), he tried in vain to sleep. At six the following
morning (the ninth of October) they resumed their
march. No snow had fallen for a long time, and they
had the benefit of Barry's tracks made nearly a month
before. At eleven they reached the Grand Plateau,
where a violent wind assailed them, and they suffered
from fatigue and cold. Two of the guides wanted to
return, but Francois Despland and David Simond were
always in good heart, their courage increased with the
difficulties, and the whole party persevered. Tilly
suffered from cold feet, but he was neither sleepy nor
thirsty, and had a ravenous appetite. Vinegar he freely
partook of, but no food would appease his hunger. The
wind became extremely violent, but he had no idea of
giving up the expedition. Before reaching the Mur de la
Cote, Tairraz and Devouassoud lagged behind, but at half-
past three, or in nine and a half hours from the sleeping
place, the whole of the party arrived upon the summit.
Tilly was not much fatigued, and after thinking of his
dear country, addressed himself to the view. He saw the
town of Lyons, he admired the beautiful pinnacle of
Monte Viso, more than a hundred miles distant ; he

152

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

thought he recognised Venice, the home of his exile ; he
was in an ecstasy of dehght. The sky was cloudless, but
the temperature was fifteen degrees below freezing point
so the party hastened to descend and reached the Grands
Mulcts in less than three hours, the Count's feet, how-
ever, being badly frost-bitten. The reason was not far to
seek, for Tilly records that his boots were thin and tight,
and that he changed them for the heavier shoes of one of
his guides. The return journey was one of great suffer-
ing. They rested for a time at the Pierre Pointue, where
maidens from below brought him an offering of milk,
butter, and honey, and he had a great reception on his
return to Chamonix. On the eleventh he went to Geneva,
the fine weather having broken up, and was treated for
gangrene supervening on frost-bite, by eminent Geneva
doctors. He had obtained a certificate, under the seal of
the Syndic of Chamonix, that he was the first Frenchman
who had reached the summit of Mont Blanc notwith-
standing the immense difficulties of the journey due to
the unusual lateness of the season. ^

Mr. Henry Martin Atkins, Mr. S. Pidwel, and
Mr. Hedrengen, 1837

Mr. H. M. Atkins was a very young English gentleman
who in the year 1837 was pursuing his studies at Geneva.
He paid a holiday visit to Chamonix in the month of
August in that year. Here he met with another English-

» " Ascension aux cimes de TEtna et du Mont Blanc pjr le Comte Henri de
Tilly." Geneve, Pelletier, 1835.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

man named Pidwel, and a Swedish officer of artillery
named Hedrengen, and the three determined to make the
ascent together. They engaged Michel Balmat as chief
guide, who, when he had accepted the engagement, begged
permission to pass the day with his family. Atkins was
greatly struck with this fact, which convinced him that he
was engaged in a very perilous undertaking. The guides,
he tells us, " displayed no eagerness ; there was a solemnity
in their countenances and in the manner in which they
laid their plans ; they collected in little groups about the
village and consulted in a low voice." A certain Countess

K who was at Chamonix at the time begged and

prayed him not to undertake the expedition. An Irish
gentleman, too, showed him great attention, read to him
the history of the Count de Tilly who had his feet frozen,
offered to make his will, and consoled him by the in-
formation that if he were lost and his body discovered
after an interval of ten years, it would be easily identi-
fied. The guides in addition to Michel Balmat were
David Folliguet, David Simond, Eugene Cupelin, David
Couttet the elder, David Couttet the younger, Julien
Devouassoud, Matthieu Balmat, Simon Tournier, and
Pierre Joseph Simond ; and the party, consisting of
thirteen persons, started at seven on the morning of the
twenty-second of August.

At eleven they reached the Pierre a I'echelle, the three
travellers, if the pictures which Atkins subsequently
published may be relied upon, wearing tall hats. Michel
Balmat took a dog with him, the first which ever attained
the summit of the mountain. Atkins had never previously

154

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

been upon a glacier, but Pidwel and Hedrengen had both
climbed in Norway and were expert mountaineers. They
all reached the sleeping place at the Grands Mulets at
half-past four. The weather was beautiful, but Atkins
was too much excited to sleep, and " thought of home
and all that was most dear to him." They were awakened
at two o'clock, and about three they started, aided by a
full moon. At a quarter before seven they were on the
Grand Plateau and partook of frozen fowls, frozen bread,
and frozen wine, the thermometer marking three degrees
below zero of Fahrenheit. Atkins was well clothed, wear-
ing lambs'-wool stockings, two pairs of cloth trousers, two
pairs of gaiters, two waistcoats, a shooting coat, and over
all a blue woollen smock-frock. His sufferings com-
menced at the Mur de la Cote, where his friends passed
him. He was supported by Folliguet and the younger
Couttet ; he was obliged to stop every ten steps to recover
his breath ; a lethargy came over him, and a burning thirst
which a mouthful of vinegar taken every now and then
only partly assuaged. At half-past ten, about eight hours
after leaving the Grands Mulets, they reached the summit,
Atkins descended a little on to the south side to obtain
warmth, wrapped himself in a blanket and went fast asleep.
Waking up- in a few minutes he enjoyed a splendid view,
but, like Dr. Paccard, he lost his hat, and tied five hand-
kerchiefs round his head. After remaining on the top a
little more than an hour, they descended and arrived at
the Grands Mulets at three in the afternoon. Pursuing
their way downwards and having taken bread, milk, and
honey at the Pierre Pointue, they arrived at Chamonix in

155

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the evening. Hedrengen's eyes were greatly inflamed,
Pidwel was horribly blistered, Atkins suffered much from
weakness and was laid up for a week unable to use his
limbs, but shortly recovered and was able to resume his

studies. The Countess K , whom he met at Plongeon

on his return, and who thought he was lost, attended a
dinner given in his honour, and proposed his health,
wishing that the same success might attend his military
career as had attended him in his ascent of Mont Blanc.
The excursion cost each of the three travellers twenty
pounds.^

Mademoiselle Henriette d'Angeville ; M. Eisex-

KRAMER, AND COUXT KAROL DE StOPPEN, 1 838

In the following year Henriette d'Angeville, who was a
member of a well-known French family, "planted the
flag of feminine Alpinism " upon the summit of Mont
Blanc. She belonged to the house of Beaumont, and
was connected with Christopher de Beaumont, the friend
of Chateaubriand. Her brother was the Count Adolphe
d'Angeville, distinguished in the French navy, and a
member of the Institute of France.

Mademoiselle d'Angeville was born in 1794, so that she
was no longer young when she became a candidate for
mountaineering honours. Her early life was embittered
by sorrow. Her father suffered imprisonment, and her
grandfather was one of the many victims of " La Guillo-

' " Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc on the 22nd and 23rd of August, 1S37."
Not published. Calkin and Budd, London, 1838.

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

tine." After the storm of the great revolution had abated,
the family of d'Angeville retired to Biigey in a hilly
country, from which Mont Blanc can be seen in clear
weather, and Henriette led a simple country life, acquiring
a love for natural scenery which lasted as long as she
lived. Notwithstanding her poetical temperament she
was a keen observer, and she had much personal courage
and a high character. The idea of ascending the great
mountain got possession of her to so absorbing an extent
that it became a raging passion. Her friends in vain ex-
postulated with her on what they called her folly.
*' Oui," says her biographer, " folic au depart, heroisme au
retour : c'est la regie." Like Saussure, she had the true
mountaineering spirit. To see the fairy summit, luminous
at sunset, and not to be able to reach it was torture to her
soul. She visited the chain of Mont Blanc in July and
August, and being a prudent woman underwent a thorough
training. She ascended the Mont Joli in the valley of
St. Gervais, from which a grand western view can be
obtained ; she made excursions amongst the great
glaciers, and then returned to Geneva to arrange the
details of her intended expedition. Eight days of bad
weather concealed the mountain from her view, but as
soon as it was fine and she again sav\^ its summit from the
Lake, her heart beat violently and she was seized with a
burning desire to begin her enterprise. She took medical
advice as to precautions to be observed. She made her
will and started again for Chamonix. She was a woman
of spirit, for the innkeeper at Sallanches asking her three
times the ordinary tariff, she passed the night in a poor

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little carriage, rather than yield to his exorbitant demands.
On reaching Chamonix she put Joseph Marie Couttet in
charge of the expedition, who engaged eleven other
guides and porters whose names need not be given, and
hud in a gigantic stock of wine, spirits, and provisions.
She was also very particular about her clothing, any
description of which is, however, unnecessary, as I am
permitted to reproduce a sketch of Mademoiselle
d'Angeville taken from her own album " en tenue
d'ascension."

At six o'clock on the morning of the third of September
the party set out, the excitement in the valley being
intense. Mademoiselle d'Angeville used no mule ; full
of spirit and energy she rather flew than walked, she
refused assistance from the guides who, having carefully
watched her, said, " Let her alone ; she goes as well as we
do and fears nothing." At two o'clock the caravan
arrived at the Grands Mulcts. Soon after reaching this
spot two smaller caravans arrived ; M. Eisenkramer, pro-
prietor of one of the Chamonix inns, heading the one,
and a Polish gentleman, Le Comte Karol de Stoppen,
heading the other, and both shared in the success of the
expedition. The latter asked leave to visit the enter-
prising lady in her camp, which was readily accorded, and
the various guides gathered together and passed the even-
ing with songs and merriment.

It was a cold night and Mademoiselle d'Angeville could
not sleep. She started early the following morning, but
suffered greatly from palpitation and an irresistible
drowsiness, and had often to lie on the snow to recover

i5«

Hcnrictte d'Angevilk*.

I'fo fine pogi- 1 58.

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

her faculties. But her will was paramount and rose
superior to all bodily fatigue. " If I die before reaching
the summit," she said to the guides, " take up my body
and leave it there ; my family will pay 3^ou for fulfilling
my last wishes." The guides responded, " Be easy in
your mind ; living or dead, to the top you shall go." At
half-past one she was on the highest point. The cold
was severe, but the weather and the view were alike
superb. Recovering with great rapidity she intensely en-
joyed her success, and, being a good loyalist, quaffed a
bumper of lemonade to the health of the Comte de Paris.
A carrier pigeon bore the news of her success to the
village, an unnecessary procedure, as of course her pro-
gress had been watched . from below. " Now," said
Couttet to her, "you shall go higher than Mont Blanc."
" Is there, then, a way leading to the moon ? " she replied.
" You will see," said Couttet, and he and the other guides
lifted her up as high as they were able.

After passing an hour on the summit they descended to
the Grands Mulcts, but the lady having suffered a good
deal on the return journey, wisely resolved to pass a
second night there. The next day they continued the
descent, an EngUsh lady having sent to the Pierre Pointue
a mule with a side-saddle for Mademoiselle d'Angeville's
use. This considerate offer was gracefully declined, and
she walked into Chamonix amidst the enthusiastic accla-
mations of the inhabitants and visitors.

The following day she was visited at her hotel by a
peasant woman, with white hair, who tenderly embraced
her. This was Maria Paradis, the only other woman

159

The Annals of Mont Blanc

who, up to that time, had ascended the great mountain. ^
A banquet succeeded, and Mademoiselle d'Angeville left
Chamonix amidst great demonstrations of enthusiasm,
which were renewed at Geneva and even at Paris. She
died on the 13th of January, 1871. She was long re-
membered in the valley, and was known both as " Regina
Alpina " and " La Fiancee du Mont Blanc."^

IL Marchese di Sant Angelo, 1840

The first ascent made by an Italian was accomplished
by the Marchese di Sant Angelo, who left Chamonix
on the twenty-sixth of August, 1840, and arrived on the
summit on the morning of the twenty-seventh a little
before eleven. He records no particulars, not even the
names of his guides, but the fatigue and danger of the
ascent were greatly increased in his case by the quantity
of fresh snow which had recently fallen upon the
mountain. One of his guides had his feet frost-bitten.3

Le Chevalier Jacques Carelli de Rocca
Castello, 1843

Carelli was a Piedmontese gentleman living at Varallo.
He was one of the first to protest against the exaggerations

' Note. — Mademoiselle d'Angeville kept up an acquaintance with the Paradis
family, as will be seen from a letter addressed to her b\' Angelique Paradis, a trans-
lation of which appears in the Appendix.

' " Mademoiselle d'Angeville," Notice biographique "Annuaire du Club Alpin
Fran?ais," vol. xx., 1893, par Mary Paillon.

3 " Le Federal," journal Gcncvoh, 4th September, 1840

160

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

then so common of the difficulties and dangers of Mont
Blanc. He arrived at Chamonix in 1842, and records
with a certain cynicism the anxiety of the casual tourist
to make the acquaintance of "I'homme du jour," in other
words, of the man who at the moment was planning an
ascent of the mountain. Such curiosity he thought un-
mannerly, even when it emanated from " Les belles
Ladys." He objected to being made an object either of
sympathy or of admiration, and was not anxious to favour
the curious with his autograph. He waited sixteen days
at the Hotel de Londres in bad weather, but ultimately
set out. He reached the Rochers Rouges, but snow and
mist obliged him to descend, after a gallant and pro-
tracted struggle.

In the month of August in the following year he tried
again, and engaged David Couttet as leader — who had
made six ascents — Jean Mugnier, Michel Couttet, Joachim
Balmat, and Simon Couttet. Provisions were laid in to
suit the inordinate appetites of the Chamonix guides, and
the party started soon after six on the morning of the
fifteenth.

The weather was not fine and the guides were doubt-
ful, so Carelli put himself at the head of the party
and led the way. Soon after two they reached the
Grands Mulcts and despatched a pigeon with the fol-
lowing note :

" Grands Mulets, 2.20 apres midi. La neige est bonne. Tout va
bien." "Carelli."

— but the unfaithful bird flew off to Les Ouches and the

161 M

The Annals of Mont Blanc

message was never delivered at Chamonix. The weather
became worse, and the party suffered from torrents of rain
and snow. Simon Couttet encouraged Carelli by con-
stantly exclaiming, " Ah ! mon Dieu, nous sommes tous
perdus " ; our traveller, however, was not to be frightened,
though he dreaded a second failure. Before four on the
morning of the sixteenth a start was made, and the Grand
Plateau was reached at eight o'clock. Here they were
enveloped in clouds, and a fierce wind began to blow.
The guides wanted to return, but Carelli persisted in going
on. They mounted by the " ancien passage " as being the
shorter route, but they could not see the Rochers Rouges
until they actually arrived there. The guides counselled
immediate return, but with an emphatic "jamais" Carelli
pushed on, saying he would go alone if they declined to
follow him, and between eleven and twelve the whole
party were on the summit. The storm continued, and as
they could not be seen from the village they tried to
despatch another pigeon, but the bird was frightened and
refused to fly. They remained on the top only five
minutes, the storm continuing to rage. Some of the
guides lost th&ir heads and began to descend in the
direction of Courmayeur, but soon finding their mistake
they took the right route, and regaining the Grands
Mulcts before two, they halted for an hour and arrived
at Chamonix at seven in the evening. Carelli of course
ought to have turned back from the Grand Plateau ; he
ran grave risk on the " ancien passage " and had no view
from the summit, but he behaved throughout with great
courage and determination. It is doubtful, however,

162

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

whether any of his guides except David Couttet deserved
the title of "guides effectifs de la Vallee " which they
appended to the usual certificate of the ascent.^

Mr. Nicholson and the Abbe Caux, 1843

On the thirtieth of August in this year an English
barrister, Mr. Nicholson, induced the Abb6 of the Priory
to accompany him in an ascent. The Abbe Caux had
long desired to climb the mountain at the foot of which
he had lived and ministered for many years. The names
of their guides (with the exception of Venance Payot
their leader) are not recorded, but starting on the thirtieth
they reached the Grands Mulcts in good time, and on the
following day they gained the summit, both walking
remarkably well. This ascent was memorable from the
fact that the Abbe performed evening service on the rocks
of the Grands Mulcts before the party composed them-
selves to rest. Nicholson was greatly impressed by
this function, which seemed to him to give " the
sanction of experience and piety to an enterprise
which had often been represented as foolish, if not
criminal."

Nicholson and the Abbe reached Chamonix as early as
five o'clock on the evening of their ascent, and both, but
especially the Abbe, were greeted with enthusiasm on
their return to the village. ^

• " Une ascension au Mont Blanc par le Chevalier Jacques Carelli de Rocca
Castello. Varallo, chez la Veuve Caligaris, 1843."
2 "Vacation Rambles," by T. N. Taltourd. London : Moxon, 1845.

163

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Messrs. Bosworth, Cross, and Blanc, 1843

In this year Mr. Talfourd, afterwards Mr. Justice
Thomas Noon Talfourd, whose tragic death on the
bench at Stafford will be recollected by the last genera-
tion, was staying at Chamonix with his son, and both
were anxious to attempt the expedition. Mr. Bosworth
was there, bent on a similar enterprise, having already
engaged the services of Jean Marie Couttet and other
guides. The Talfourds and Mr. Bosworth joined their
forces and made all necessary preparations for an ascent.
Two young gentlemen asked permission to start in com-
pany with the others, each party, however, making its
own arrangements. On the third of September the joint
parties set out : five travellers, twenty guides, and eight
porters, an enormous caravan. Talfourd was rather
slow, and at times required considerable assistance from
the guides, but the younger men walked well. In due
course they all arrived safely at the Grands Mulcts, and
after enjoying a magnificent sunset they crept into the
usual sleeping places, and "were alone with the rocks,
the snow, and the stars."

Starting early the following morning they reached the
Grand Plateau, but not without difficulty, for the snow
was soft. Talfourd experienced great pain and fatigue ;
and even Bosworth, who appears to have been the
strongest of the party, suffered from nausea and head-
ache. Bosworth had made for the Corridor, but returning,
told Talfourd that his son was ill, and the guides thought
it better that he should return ; so the Talfourds " ad-

164

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

dressed themselves to the inglorious task of descending."
Bosworth, Cross, (one of the young gentlemen), and
Blanc, (a Savoyard who had followed them) reached
the summit without difficulty, and the Talfourds, who
had descended to Chamonix, had the melancholy plea-
sure of hearing the firing of the cannon which an-
nounced the successful enterprise of their companions.^

MM. Bravais, Martins, and Le Pileur, 1844

This was a purely scientific ascent, and was memorable
on many grounds. It was the first occasion on which
men of science deliberately made up their minds to sleep
on or near the summit of the mountain, and so to ensure
ample time and opportunity for making observations.
Arriving at Chamonix on the twenty-eighth of July, they
secured a convenient tent and laid in provisions for a
journey of three days. They engaged Jean Mugnier, of the
village of Tour, as chief guide, who is said to have made
the first passage of the Col du Tour, between Chamonix
and Orsieres. They also had the services of Michel Couttet
and Gedeon Balmat. They started on the thirtieth, and
having much to carry, the caravan actually consisted of
forty-three persons. The morning was cloudless, but the
wind was south-west, with a falling barometer, and the
fact that so large a party had never previously started for
the mountain caused them more anxiety than satisfaction.
They were troubled a good deal by stones which fell from

• "Vacation Rambles," by T. N. Talfourd. London :Moxon, 1845.
165

The Annals of Mont Blanc

the Aiguille du Midi, and by clouds which soon hid the
valley of Chamonix from their sight ; but pushing up-
wards they reached the Grands Mulcts at half-past three,
taking eight hours from the village, a good march for so
cumbrous a party. They pitched their tent and had a
good night, though all the signs were unfavourable.
They did not start till six the next morning, and were
joined on the glacier by Marie Couttet ; then eighty years
of age, who offered to conduct them to the summit by a
new route. This route was no other than the ridge of
the Bosses du Dromadaire, so long given up as imprac-
ticable. The other guides, however, preferred the ordi-
nary way. On reaching the Petit Plateau, Marie Couttet
left them, declining their offer of food and wine. Soon
after ten the party reached the Grand Plateau, when a
great storm burst over them. They had to choose
between an immediate descent and an unpleasant en-
campment. They were resolute men, but not requiring
all the porters they asked for volunteers. Two men
instantly offered themselves, Jean Cachat and Auguste
Simond, both of whom, especially Simond, afterwards
attaining great celebrity in the ranks of the Chamonix
guides. The tent was pitched on the Grand Plateau, but
being unsteady, M. Bravais suggested pouring hot water
on the pegs to which the cords were fastened ; the snow
at once became ice and the tent was perfectly secure.
Snow fell, and the storm became more and more violent.
The cold was great, but the men were well clothed.
Further ascent was, of course, impossible, and after
passing a wretched night, they left the bulk of their

1 66

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

instruments in the tent to be used on a happier occasion,
and returned to the village.

On the seventh of August they tried again with Mugnier
and Michel Couttet and five porters, Cachat and Auguste
Simond being among the number. At half-past six in
the evening they reached their tent only to encounter
another storm, which lasted the whole of the night, and
at three the following day they were again obliged to
retreat, and descended to Chamonix at nine in the evening.
Nothing daunted by two reverses, they waited till the
north wind set in, and started for a third attempt at mid-
night on the twenty-seventh of August. Their perseverance
was rewarded, and in twelve hours they were again in
their tent, which had bravely withstood all onslaughts
of wind and weather. In perfect health and training
they began their observations, which lasted continuously
till the first of September. The night of the twenty-
eighth was glorious, and so late as ten the following
morning they set out for the summit.

Mugnier led them by the "ancien passage" — the
route of Balmat and Saussure — which, as we have
seen, had been practically discontinued since the dis-
covery of the safer way by Hawes and Fellows. A
north-west wind assailed them on the Rochers Rouges,
but they reached the summit safely about two, M.
Bravais alone suffering from mal de montagne. Here
they remained for five hours making careful obser-
vations the whole time. They had desired to remain
on the summit till half-past nine in the evening,
and to make "fire signals" which might be seen

167

The Annals of Mont Blanc

at Geneva, Lyons, and Dijon ; but the guides, except
Simond, objected, and the tent was regained in the
evening. Suffering little or no inconvenience, they con-
tinued their observations till midnight. On the thirtieth
of August Le Pileur returned to the village, but Bravais
and Martins remained on the Grand Plateau for two
days more, continuing their observations and experiments,
and descended to Chamonix on the first of September.
A more interesting expedition had never been made.
Saussure, it is true, had passed seventeen days on the Col
du Geant, at a height of about ii,ooo feet, but these men
had enough determination, after two failures, to spend
four nights in a tent, amidst the snows of the Grand
Plateau, at a height exceeding 13,000 feet above the level
of the sea. The mountain was becoming better and
better known, and the difficulties of encamping at high
altitudes more clearly appreciated.^

Count Fernand de Bouille, 1846

The Count Fernand de Bouille, a French officer,
arrived at Chamonix in July and took up his quarters at
the Hotel de I'Union, then a new hostelry of consider-
able pretensions, and conducted by M. Eisenkramer, who
had himself ascended the mountain on the same day as
Mademoiselle d'Angeville. At eight on the morning of
the thirteenth the Count bade adieu to the visitors who
crowded round him to wish him success. The porters,
carrymg as usual the sacks of the guides, marched first,

^ " Les ascensions calebres, Zurcher et Marjjolle." Paris : Hacliette, 1891.

168

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

seven in number. There were five guides : Gedeon
Balmat (the leader), Ambroise Simond, Michel Couttet,
and Jean Edouard and Ambroise Devouassoud, and two
volunteers. It is interesting to record that the Count
declined to ride a mule as far as the Pierre Pointue,
preferring to make the whole journey on foot. Two
porters were sent back on reaching the glacier, and the
rest of the party continued the journey in good spirits.
The Count received the customary advice to be silent
for fear of avalanches, and so satisfied was he that this
advice was sound, that he relates the story of a certain
Englishman who, being sceptical on the point, fired a
pistol at a spot where the strictest silence had been
enjoined. An avalanche immediately engulfed him and
he was seen no more !

After two or three slips on the part of the Count, the
Grands Mulcts rocks were reached at three in the after-
noon. At five o'clock a stranger was seen approaching.
He turned out to be Pierre Payot, who had mounted
from Chamonix alone, and who asked permission to
join the party as a volunteer. Much snow had recently
fallen, and in the course of the evening a great avalanche
fell from the Dome on to the Petit Plateau. They started
again soon after midnight, aided by a lantern. The
snow was so soft that the leader had to be changed every
ten minutes, and the party were greatly delayed by
crevasses, so much so that they began to despair of
success, and Balmat suggested to the Count that if they
succeeded they should on their return have a thanks-
giving service at the church. The work seems to have

169

The Annals of Mont Blanc

been unusually severe, for both the Count and his guides
underwent considerable suffering. Proceeding upwards
Couttet wanted to go by the old route, but Balmat, the
leading guide, declined, so ascending the Corridor and
cutting steps up the Mur de la Cote they reached the
summit about nine o'clock. There was much cold and
wind, and the snow was blown into their faces and
icicles formed upon their beards. Payot and Ambroise
Devouassoud gave up before reaching the top.

As the view could not be seen it was imagined, and the
party hastened down, sending off a pigeon on reaching
the Grand Plateau, with the news of their success. This
pigeon, however, was also faithless, for it fled not to
Chamonix but to Sallanches. On this, as on many
other recorded occasions, an avalanche fell down the
"ancien passage" whilst the party were mounting the
Corridor. Resting some minutes at the Grands Mulcts,
they reached the village at half-past six " horribly
fatigued," and on the following day a thanksgiving
service was held, as had been arranged, and the message
which had been committed to the pigeon was returned by
post from Sallanches. The Count records, but incorrectly,
that he was the fortieth traveller and the eighth Frenchman
who had been on the summit of Mont Blanc.^

Mr. J. WOOLLEY AND MR. J. T. HURT, 1846

On the fifth of August in this year these gentlemen
reached the summit, led by the veteran Couttet, who

' " Une ascension au Mont Blanc par Le Comte F. de Bouille." Nantes : 1S46.

170

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

had made the ascent twelve times. Professor Forbes
was then at the Montanvert making his map of the
Mer de Glace.^

Mr. S. a. Richards and Mr. W. K. Gretton, 1850

Mr. Richards was an Irish gentleman, and a member
of Trinity College, Oxford. Mr. Gretton was formerly
an officer in the 5th Fusileers. They left Chamonix on
the twenty-eighth of August, having previously made
their wills. At eleven on the morning of the twenty-
ninth they reached the summit, and regained the village
in safety between seven and eight in the evening, pre-
ceded by the best music Chamonix afforded. The
travellers displayed great coolness and courage on the
expedition, and on their return were carried to their
hotel on the shoulders of enthusiastic Frenchmen.^

Mr. J. D. Gardner, 1850

Mr. J. D. Gardner, of Chatteris, went to Chamonix in
August, 1850, with no intention of climbing the moun-
tain. The weather had been long unfavourable. There
had been no ascent for three years, except one which was
made a few days before Gardner's expedition, and the
traces of which he found useful. His wife and child had
accompanied him to the village, and the dread of the
mountain was still so great that Gardner records the pain

' The Times, August 13, 184O.
" Ibid., September 9, 1850.

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The Annals of Mont Blanc

of parting with them, for an attempt, the issue of which
was so uncertain. For two nights before starting he was
unable to sleep from anxiety. He secured the services of
six guides : Joseph Marie Couttet and Michel Couttet,
Auguste Balmat, then becoming famous (the guide and
assistant of Professor Forbes), Gedeon Balmat, Matthieu
Charlet, and Jean Couttet. In addition he had six or
eight porters to carry provisions and firewood in the
direction of the Grands Mulets. The party set out on
the second of September, at half-past six in the morning,
in cloudless weather, and reached the sleeping place in
seven hours. They had a glorious night, sleeping in
blankets under the usual sheet, which was fastened tent-
like against the rocks to keep off the dew. They started
the following morning soon after midnight and reached
the Grand Plateau in three hours, notwithstanding the
softness of the snow, and it is remarkable that even a
guide of such experience as Auguste Balmat should have
advised the party to walk in silence lest the sound of
their voices should produce an avalanche. Gardner was
much fatigued in mounting from the Grand Plateau to
the Corridor, and once or twice had to sit down. The
cold was severe and some of the guides had their feet
frostbitten. On gaining the Corridor, however, they met
the sun, and Gardner, who had begun to despair, was
inspired with new courage. After a long halt they
resumed their journey, climbed the Mur de la Cote, "that
almost perpendicular ice wall," and, in spite of the biting
wind, reached the summit about ten o'clock. They
remained there an hour, and there was not a particle of

172

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

vapour in the sky. The descent was made without diffi-
culty, and Gardner returned to the village at eight in
the evening, the ascent from the sleeping place and the
return to Chamonix having taken twenty hours ; the cost
of the expedition amounting to nearly forty pounds.^

Mr. Erasmus Galtox, 1850

On the fourth of September, in the same year, Mr.
Erasmus Galton was at Chamonix, and the weather being
fine he determined to make the ascent. He secured the
services of six guides — Jean, Victor, Joseph, and Basil
Tairraz, Alexander Devouassoud, and Jean Carrier.
Another young guide and a German workman were
allowed to join the party as volunteers. Starting at ten
on the morning of the fifth, with seven porters who
carried the provisions and a ladder, they reached the ice
at one o'clock and proceeded across the glacier. The
porter who was responsible for the ladder slipped and
fell, and being a good deal injured he was left behind
with another porter to take care of him. This accident
involved an hour's delay, and to Mr. Galton's great
regret his only thermometer was broken. On nearing
the Grands Mulcts the porters were sent back, and Mr.
Galton and his guides attained the rocks a little before
five in the afternoon. After changing their clothes they
constructed a tent with the aid of four alpenstocks and
some slight canvas, supped, and went to sleep. Mr.
Galton was roused at eight to see the sunset, a most

« " Ascent and Tour of Mont Blanc by J. D. Gardner." Privately printed.
Whittingham, Chiswick, 1851.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

sublime spectacle, as he tells us, " the valley being filled
with clouds, a perfectly clear sky overhead, therefore on
looking down the whole world seemed gone, and in its
place a sea of clouds, with the tops of the mountains
showing through like small islands, a sight that no writing
can explain."

They were astir at eleven o'clock, and after rubbing his
face with hot tallow, and stopping his ears with paper
Mr. Galton started exactly at midnight. At six he reached
the Grand Plateau, where his respiration was affected.
The two volunteers were quite exhausted and were
obliged to return, and at seven Mr. Galton "fell down
on his face till 4iis lungs were inflated." At times he
became "almost unconscious and partially blind and
stupefied, and tumbled about like a drunken man ; " but
after lying down for a short time he was able to start
again without much difficulty. At half-past nine they
were on the summit, where they lay down for a time and
soon revived. They remained there only a quarter of an
hour, the guides suffering greatly from cold and difficulty
of breathing. Gaining the Grands Mulcts again at one
o'clock, they rested for an hour, and at half-past six
arrived safely at Chamonix. The excursion cost over
thirty-four pounds and was probably the quickest that
had yet been made.^

Such are the various successful ascents of the great
mountain, from the time of Paccard and Balmat in 1786
to the time of Albert Smith in 1851, of which any really
authentic records are to be found. The list is not an

• The Illustrated Loudon News, Feb. 8th, 1851.

Subsequent Ascents of Mont Blanc

exhaustive one. It is well known that M. Rodatz, of
Hamburg, gained the summit in September, 1812 ; Mr.
Alfred Waddington in July, 1836; M. Doulat in August,
1837 ; M. M. Chenal, Ordinaire, and Jacot in August and
September, 1843 ; and Mr. Archibald Vincent Smith in
August, 1847. But either these climbers left no records
of their expeditions or, if such records have been left,
I have not been fortunate enough to obtain access to
them.

Altogether some fifty-two persons — including Jacques
Balmat but exclusive of all other guides — persons of various
nationalities, of whom about half were Englishmen, were
successful during the sixty-four years which extended
from 1786 to 1850. These ascents were undertaken in
pursuit of scientific objects, or from pure love of adven-
ture. The ascent which I shall now record, followed as
it was by a long series of lectures at the Egyptian Hall,
made the ascent of Mont Blanc fashionable, and attracted
the attention of the English public to the new form of
sport to be obtained amongst the high Alps, and to that
wide area of mountain beauty so soon destined to be
known as the " Play-ground of Europe."

175

CHAPTER IX

THE ASCENT OF MONT BLANC BY ALBERT SMITH, THE
HON. W. E. SACKVILLE WEST, MR. C. G. FLOYD, MR.
F. PHILIPS, AND MR. G. N. VANSITTART, 1 85 1

ALBERT SMITH was the son of a country surgeon,
and was born on the twenty-fourth of May, 1816.
He was therefore thirty-five years old when he made his
memorable ascent of the mountain. From his boyhood
he had a craze for Mont Blanc. He had read the
works of Saussure, Clark, Sherwill, and Auldjo, and was
well acquainted with all the details of the Hamel catas-
trophe in 1820. Some one had given him a little volume
called "The Peasants of Chamouni," and with the aid of
this very modest narrative combined with the Alpine
classics of Saussure and others, and the sensational
pictures of Auldjo ; but assisted above all by a vivid and
powerful imagination, he constructed a panorama of
Mont Blanc.

He had never been up a hill higher than that of St.
Anne's, near Chertsey, where he resided, but his first
audience — who was his little sister — became pale with
fright on listening to his recital of mountain horrors.

176

The Ascent by Albert Smith

Having run away from school, he was placed early in
life at the Middlesex Hospital, and afterwards continued
his medical studies in Paris. Wherever he was, Mont
Blanc seemed always on his mind ; indeed few persons
have suffered more severely from that apparently in-
curable disease "snow mountain on the brain."

In the autumn of 1838, when his age was only twenty-
two, he was able to gratify the longing of years, and to
make the personal acquaintance of the mountain to
which he was so much attached. He was then studying
in Paris, and as soon as the vacation arrived he made a
journey to Chamonix with a fellow student. Their
means were limited, and with infinite pains they scraped
together twelve pounds each, which was to last them for
five weeks, and carrying this sum about them — all in
five-franc pieces — they set out on the twenty-first of
September. Albert Smith's diary of this journey is
modest and interesting, and shows the privations and
fatigue which men had to undergo who, with slender
resources, visited the happy hunting ground some sixty
years ago. Leaving by a cheap diligence and provided
with hard-boiled eggs and a litre of vin ordinaire, they
reached Melun in the middle of the day ; and having
inspected the town whilst the other passengers were
taking luncheon, they bought " a brick of bread more
than two feet long," and congratulated themselves that
while the rest of the travellers paid three francs each,
the cost of their own meal was only ten sous. Arriving
at Sens in the evening the other passengers dined at the
hotel for four francs each, whilst Smith and his friend

177 N

The Annals of Mont Blanc

were sent by the postilion to a cheap cabaret, and had
an excellent repast for a mere trifle. At night they crept
under the tarpaulin roof of the diligence, stacked the
luggage to suit their own convenience, and slept at full
length tolerably well. At daybreak on the following
morning they found themselves amongst the vineyards,
begged some eggs at Tonnerre, and reaching Semur,
where the other passengers again dined, Smith and his
friend, still practising the most rigid economy, bought a
pie at a confectioner's, and replenished their wine bottle.
Passing Dijon at two in the night, and sleeping as before
under the roof of the diligence, they proceeded to Dole,
where they purchased a bottle of good Burgundy for
threepence, and spent the third night in climbing over
the Jura. On the morning of the twenty-fourth they
began the descent, and looked down upon the blue waters
of Lake Leman. They arrived at Geneva in the after-
noon, and found that their entire outlay, including the
fare of the diligence, was only two pounds, twelve shil-
lings, and sixpence each, about one-fourth of the con-
ventional expenditure. Early on the morning of the
twenty-fifth they set out on foot for Chamonix, arriving
at Bonneville in time for breakfast. They bought some
fruit in the market-place, and such were the peculiarities
of the Savoy currency that, having offered a ten-sous
piece to the fruiterer, they received six peaches and
twelve sous in exchange. With the aid of a lumber-
waggon they proceeded to Cluses, and bargaining with
the driver of a return char-a-banc they went on to St.
Martin, and walked from thence to St. Gervais. Here.

178

The Ascent by Albert Smith

they met a hearty old man, who told them that his name
was Victor Tairraz, and that he kept the Hotel de Londres
at Chamonix. They arranged with him for a room at
the top of his house at a nominal charge, and for refresh-
ment at a tariff so moderate, as to cause both surprise and
envy to the modern mountaineer. On the following day
they passed through the village of Servoz, then the main
line of route, and arriving at Chamonix about noon,
Smith was brought for the first time face to face with
the mountain he had loved so long.

"Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis."

In these days men can leave London at eleven in the
morning and reach Chamonix on the following afternoon.
Albert Smith took seventy-eight successive hours in
making the journey only from Paris to Geneva, and
a day and a half more to reach Chamonix. The old
travellers in search of the mountains must have found
the journey a weary one, but youth and good spirits
laughed at obstacles, and bore with a placid fortitude
all inevitable delay. Dijon we still know, and Dole is
familiar to us, but what Alpine traveller of this generation
has ever seen the towns of Melun, Tonnerre, Semur, or
Sens ! " The old order changeth, yielding place to new."
The new may be better in some respects, but the old
was not without its compensating charm.

Smith inspected the glaciers and afterwards crossed
the great Saint Bernard into Italy. He visited Novara
and Milan, and on the conclusion of the Alpine portion
of his tour he records : " We were very happy, could

179

The Annals of Mont Blanc

scarcely believe that we had got so far away from home,
and pleased to find our money holding out capitally
when we examined our belts on retiring to bed."

His first visit to Mont Blanc gave him a profound
satisfaction. Every step he took on entering the valley
of Chamonix "was like a journey in a fairy land." At
sunset he always sought the fields behind the church to
watch the rosy light creep up the mountain higher and
higher till it left it again cold and clear against the sky.
He knew every step of the route to the summit. Of
course he had then no idea of climbing it, but the
weather being very fine he hoped that some one would
attempt the ascent while he was at Chamonix, in which
case he would have offered his services as porter. As
a matter of fact, on the day of his departure Mademoiselle
d'Angeville arrived.

On his return from his tour he commenced practice
as a surgeon, but his mind was still full of Mont Blanc.

The "Literary Institute" was in its infancy in those
days. One was just founded at Chertsey, and Albert
Smith conceived the idea of writing " a grand lecture
about the Alps." He looked up the early pictures he
had painted when a boy, copied them on a larger scale,
and " contriving some simple mechanism — with the aid
of a carpenter — ^to make them roll," he selected the most
interesting portions of Auldjo's narrative, and with a
few interpolations of his own made a decided hit. He
visited Richmond, Brentford, Guildford, Staines, Ham-
mersmith, Southwark and other places, the inhabitants
of which were enlightened upon the theory of glaciers

r8o

The Ascent by Albert Smith

and the dangers of the Grand Plateau. He must have
been a bold youth, or he would hardly have ventured
to describe the way up a mountain which he had never
climbed ; but the early pictures by his own hand formed
the germ of the panorama afterwards painted by Beverley,
and the boyish lecture ultimately developed into the
entertainment at the Egyptian Hail. He soon gave up
his profession, for which he felt unsuited, and devoted
himself to literature, in which he gradually acquired a
reputation in his own line.

He was one of the earliest contributors to PiuicJi, he
wrote several extravaganzas, and adapted the Christmas
Stories of Charles Dickens for performance at the Lyceum
Theatre. George Augustus Sala wrote of him that " he
was good, brave, and charitable, and that he never said
a hasty word that he did not atone for a hundredfold
by a kind action." The verdict of Spielman in his
" History of Punch " is not so favourable. Albert Smith,
he says, "was usually the butt of the jokers." He was
greatly disliked by Thackeray, and was the object of
the constant ribaldry of Douglas Jerrold. The latter
caustic and often ill-natured critic, having observed the
initials "A.S." at the foot of one of Smith's magazine
articles, is said to have quietly remarked " that the
signature conveyed only two-thirds of the truth." ^ There
is no doubt that his tastes in art and literature were
anything but lofty, and he had a sense of his own
importance which almost approached the sublime. He

' Henry Vi/.etelly, " Glances Back throutjh Seventy Years." London : Kegaa
Paal, 1893.

181

The Annals of Mont Blanc

was known as "Albert the Great " and *' Lord Smith,"
and even Charles Dickens, always gentle and considerate
to his fellow craftsmen, had to admit that " we all have
our Smiths." But whatever may be said in his disfavour,
this at least must be recorded to his credit, that he loved
the mountain for its own sake and that his admiration
was the growth of years. When he took his annual
holiday he would always when possible find his way to
Chamonix, where he became a great favourite among the
hotel-keepers and the guides. To this day, a handsome
suite of rooms on the second floor of the Hotel de
Londres is labelled " Appartements de M. Albert Smith."
He was emphatically a showman from his youth, but
it is not true that he ascended the mountain for the
purpose of making a show of it. His well-known enter-
tainment resulted from the lifelong interest which he
had taken in the great summit, of which he never failed
to speak or to write both with reverence and affection.

His first appearance as an entertainer was in the
" Overland Mail," which was exceedingly popular. It was
written by himself, was illustrated by Beverley, and was
full of songs and c4iaracter sketches, the result of a
journey he had made to Egypt and Constantinople.
The piece had a long run, and at the close of the season,
in August, 185 1, he again went to his beloved Chamonix,
fully determined to climb the mountain, and assuring his
friends, who expressed grave doubts as to his success,
that " pluck will serve me instead of training."

Times had changed since his first visit to the Valley.
Geneva was now only forty-six hours from London.

182

The Ascent by Albert Smith

The old diligences had disappeared before the iron road.
The highway between Geneva and Sallanches had been
greatly improved, and four excellent hotels at Chamonix
had superseded the little inn kept by Tairraz, and
the modest auberge in which Saussure and his family
had been entertained. Smith's old ideas of economy
still prevailed, for he took with him no more articles of
clothing than could be contained in the well-worn knap-
sack which he had used in 1838. Indeed he records
with glee that he travelled from London in the same
train by which the Lord Mayor and some members of
the Corporation journeyed to Paris to attend the fetes
held in honour of the Great Exhibition, and who, not
having their luggage under the seat of the railway carriage,
found on their arrival that the whole of it was lost.
Smith had come direct from London, and was sadly out
of condition, but he sent for Jean Tairraz and consulted
with him upon the practicability of an ascent. Tairraz
told him that the weather was about to change, that
Smith himself was not personally fit for the excursion,
but that he would call a meeting of the leading guides
the following morning, and acquaint Smith in due course
with the result.

Albert Smith was not the only man who had deter-
mined to conquer Mont Blanc in the year 1851. Six
gentlemen, undergraduates of Christ Church, Oxford,
with a tutor, formed a readmg party at the Hotel de
I'Ancre at Ouchy on the Lake of Geneva.

On the twenty-fifth of July, Mr. W. E. Sackville West,
Mr. Francis Philips, and Mr. C. G. Floyd, three members

183

The Annals of Mont Blanc

of the party, were rowing between Ouchy and Morges.
Suddenly they saw towering in the south the snowy
summit of Mont Blanc. They were greatly struck, as
so many other men have been, at the sight of the great
mountain from this faultless point of view. "Why
should we not be on the top before another month
is over ? " said one of them. " Richards of Trinity
ascended last year, why should not we ? " A compact
was at once entered into, and if these three gentlemen
had at the time been members of the Alpine Club, they
could not have taken more pains to ensure the success
of their enterprise. They went into thorough training,
steadily resisted the various allurements of the Ouchy
" cuisine," and while not neglecting their duties as a
reading party, took severe and systematic exercise. On
the first of August, whilst Smith was starting on his
journey from London to Geneva, Mr. Philips hastened
to Villeneuve, and went from thence by diligence to
Martigny. Crossing the Tete Noire the next day, he was
struck speechless with astonishment at the sight of the
Glacier of Argentiere, the first he had ever seen. On
reaching Chamonix he was introduced to Jean Carrier,
told him of his intention, and that his two friends would
join him on the following day. Jean Carrier was quite
equal to the situation. He inquired the ages of Mr.
Philips' two friends, and whether they were strong and
able to undergo fatigue. On receiving a satisfactory
response, he stated that " he thought the travellers might
manage it with four guides each." Mr. Philips at once
made an excursion on the Glacier des Bossons, and the

184

The Ascent by Albert Smith

next day visited the Montanvert and the Mer de Glace,
On his return he met his friends, Mr. West and Mr.
Floyd, and they were informed that "a Mr. Smith of
London " wished to accompany them. As they had no
acquaintance with Smith they decHned the honour, but
finding out later that it was " Mr. Albert Smith, the well-
known comic author," they introduced themselves, and
proposed to make one party, to which he readily assented.
The weather broke, and for some days an ascent was
impossible, the young Oxford men, however, making
daily expeditions, and getting into excellent training.
On the evening of the tenth of August the wind changed,
rain and clouds disappeared as if by magic, the guides
predicted continuous fine weather, and that in two days
the ascent might be attempted.

Smith's travelling companion was Mr. William Beverley,
to whom he confided his money and his spare clothes,
requesting him to take them home with him if their
owner failed to return. He was not in good health,
and could not sleep from excitement. On the morning
of Tuesday, the twelfth of August, everything was ready.
The guides and porters had a repast in the garden of
the hotel, all were in high spirits, the barometer was
rising, and the sky was steadfast blue. Those of us who
in modern days have climbed the mountain with a
" poulet," and some bread and butter, and one or two
bottles of wine carried on our backs in a small knapsack,
may well stand appalled when we read of the stupendous
provision of food and drink then deemed necessary for
a similar expedition.

185

The Annals of Mont Blanc

The following is a complete list of the articles taken
up the mountain by Albert Smith and his friends :

60 bottles of Vin Ordinare.

6 packets of sugar.

6 „

10 „

„ Bordeaux.
„ St. George.

4 » » prunes.
4 „ „ raisins.

15 .-

„ St. Jean.

2 „ „ salt.

„ Cognac.
„ syrup of rasp-
berries.

4 wax candles,

6 lemons.

4 legs of mutton.

6 „

„ lemonade.

4 shoulders of mutton,

2 „
20 loaves.

„ champagne.

6 pieces of veal.
I piece of beef.

10 small cheeses.

1 1 large fowls.

6 packets

; of chocolate.

35 small fowls.

Such provision against contingencies necessarily in-
volved the employment of a host of porters, and as each
traveller had four guides, the party consisted of twenty
persons exclusive of the porters, who made twenty mofe.
Such an enormous caravan had rarely started for the
conquest of the mountain. They set out at half-past
seven, Smith following the old custom of riding a mule
for part of the way, his companions, however, preferring
to dispense with such unnecessary assistance. At about
ten they reached the Pierre Pointue, and a little later the
Pierre a I'echelle, where they rested half an hour. Taking
to the glacier they worked their way upwards, and about
halfway to the Grands Mulcts the porters departed, and
at about four in the afternoon the usual sleeping place
on the rocks of the Grands Mulcts was attained.

They followed the old custom of climbing the rocks
from base to summit, and set to work to clear away the
snow from their stony lair. They found the heat not

186

The Ascent by Albert Smith

only sultry but even distressing, and selecting what they
deemed necessary from their multifarious stores, they
dined with an excellent appetite. The banquet had
hardly commenced when they were joined by an Irish
gentleman with one guide, who had made use of the
track, and later by Mr. Vansittart, who, according to
Smith, " arrived with his guide." They made no attempt
at the construction of a tent, and Smith, using as a pillow
the old knapsack " which had served him on the Mediter-
ranean and the Nile," found his couch sufficiently com-
fortable. They had a glorious evening, and Smith was
spell-bound at the wondrous beauty of the scene ; the
starry heaven was their only roofing, and one by one
they fell asleep. They were wise enough to start early
on the morning of the thirteenth. Leaving by lantern
light at about midnight, they at once took to the snow,
the Irish gentleman, evidently not a Nationalist, shouting
" God save the Queen," and Mr. Vansittart getting ready
for departure. In three hours and a half, the air being
sharp and cold, they arrived at the Grand Plateau, having
been delayed a little by a large crevasse, round which,
however, Auguste D^vouassoud found a practicable way.
Here they halted, notwithstanding the intense cold, and
were joined by the other parties, the whole forming a
huge caravan. Proceeding upwards they looked down
into the crevasse into which an avalanche had swept the
guides of Dr. Hamel, and Tairraz whispered to Smith,
"C'est ici, monsieur, que mon frere Auguste est p6ri en
1820 avec Balmat et Carrier ; les pauvres corps sont
encore la bas."

187

The Annals of Mont Blanc

The route was of course perfectly easy, and it is difficult
to comprehend Smith's assertion that " Every step we
took was gained from the chance of a horrible death."
Working up the Corridor they made for the Rochers
Rouges. The Irish gentleman who had been forcing the
pace gave in, and was seen " lying on the snow, vomiting
frightfully with considerable haemorrhage from the nose."
He returned to the Grands Mulcts, where he was found
on the descent by the other members of the party. The
sun rose, but the north-east wind was bitterly cold, and
Smith, who was chilled and dispirited, was nearly at the
end of his resources. At the foot of the Mur de la Cote
he sat down on the snow, told his guides he would go no
further, and that they might leave him there if they
pleased. The guides were accustomed to these ebullitions
of temper at that elevation ; they induced the jaded
traveller to get his wandering wits in order, and the party
plodded steadily on. The angle of the Cote, according
to Smith, was sixty degrees. It is really forty-five. An
hour was occupied in getting to the top of the Mur, when
Smith could hardly combat an irrepressible desire to
sleep, but he was dragged on ; his senses were not under
control, and he reeled and staggered like a drunken
man. His physical condition was the only excuse for
his gross exaggeration in describing this well-known
ice-slope.

" It is an all but perpendicular iceberg. You begin to
ascend it obliquely ; there is nothing below but a chasm
in the ice, more frightful than anything yet passed.
Should the foot slip or the baton give way there is no

The Ascent by Albert Smith

chance for life. You would glide like lightning from one
frozen crag to another, and finally be dashed to pieces
hundreds and hundreds of feet below, in the horrible
depths of the glacier."

As a matter of fact the Mur de la Cote, though one of
the steepest bits of the journey, is perfectly safe, and the
traveller, if he fell upon it, would be landed on soft snow
at the bottom, the only drawback being that the climb
so far must be made over again.

Smith was wholly out of training and naturally suffered
from such unusual exertion, and the absurd terms in
which he describes the situation may therefore be
excused. He says, " Placed 14,000 feet above the level
of the sea," on a spot " terminating in an icy abyss so
deep that the bottom is lost in obscurity, exposed, in a
highly rarefied atmosphere, to a wind cold and violent
beyond all conception, assailed with muscular powers
already taxed far beyond their strength, and nerves
shaken by constantly increasing excitement and want of
rest, with bloodshot eyes and a raging thirst, and a pulse
leaping rather than beating ; with all this, it may be
imagined that the frightful Mur de la Cote calls for more
than ordinary determination to mount it." But the
guides kept on dragging at the rope, steps were cut up
the Calotte, Smith— sometimes falling on his hands
and knees — was absolutely exhausted, but the tug of the
rope was inexorable, and almost at his last gasp, he found
that the ardent wish of years was gratified and that he
was on the summit of Mont Blanc. He fell on the snow
and was asleep in an instant, but after a few minutes' rest

189

The Annals of Mont Blanc

he recovered, and the day being cloudless he was able to
get some satisfaction from the great spectacle which was
unfolded to his view.

The journey from the sleeping place occupied only
nine hours, by no means bad walking for so large a party.
Leaving the summit at half-past nine, they regained the
Grands Mulcts between one and two. The last scrap of
food and the last bottle of wine were duly consumed,
and hurrying downwards they organised an imposing
procession at the village of Pelerins, and marched into
Chamonix amidst a roar of Alpine artillery and the
acclamations of the inhabitants.

Mr. Philips states that the whole party began the climb
with the feeling that the fatigue and danger were much
exaggerated. Smith intended to " expose the whole affair
as an imposition," fancying — not indeed without cause —
that the guides were leagued together to overestimate the
hazard of the journey. The whole party were more than
satisfied at the amount of real strain which the ascent
imposed on the individual. Mr. Floyd, as well as Albert
Smith, suffered from nausea and headache. Mr. Van-
sittart, who followed with three guides, fell from
exhaustion several times and his thirst was insatiable.
Mr. Philips, like Albert Smith, slept soundly on the
summit, and all the members of the party returned with
their faces much swollen and blistered.

Smith died on the twenty -third of May, i860. Mr.
West, Mr. Floyd, and Mr. Philips still retain delightful
memories of their ascent made nearly half a century
ago, and the tutor of the Ouchy reading party

190

The Ascent by Albert Smith

was Mr. (now Dr.) Kitchin, the present Dean of
Durham.^

Albert Smith wrote an account of his ascent to the
Times newspaper, which appeared in that journal on the
twentieth of August, 1851, but he was not courteous
enough to give the names of his companions. Much
public interest was excited, and a controversy arose as to
whether the end justified the risk. Letters on both sides
appeared in the Daily News, to which journal both Mr.
Floyd and Mr. Vansittart sent communications. The
late Sir Robert Peel was at Chamonix at the time, and
celebrated the occasion by asking all the guides who
were not on the mountain to a supper in honour of the
event. Mountaineering was then in its infancy. The
critics were for the most part unfriendly. Such expe-
ditions were then regarded with ridicule or even with
contempt. The Daily Mews summed up the situation as
follows : " Balloon ascents and ascents of Mont Blanc
are not things to be condemned in the abstract. Trea-
sures of pictorial thought, which men like Saussure and
Forbes have brought back with them from their visits to
the summit of the Monarch of Mountains, cannot be
overestimated. But the aeronauts who peril their lives
for the purpose of earning a few shillings as showmen,
or to gratify an idle vanity, belong to a very different

" "The Story of Mont Blanc," bj' Albert Smith ; London, Bogue, 1853. " Mont
Blanc," by Albert Smith, with a memoir of the author by Edmund Yates ; London,
Ward and Lock, i860. " A Reading Party in Switzerland," by Francis Philips,
privately printed ; Manchester, 1851. Letter by C. G. Floyd to Daily News,
August 27, 1851. Letter by G. N. Vansittart to Daily Navs, August 30, 1851.
" An Ascent of Mont Blanc," Fraser's Magazine, July, 1855, by C. G. Floyd.

191

The Annals of Mont Blanc

category from the adventurers we have* just alluded to.
Our aeronauts only risk their own necks, of the value of
which they probably form a very accurate estimate when
they peril them so lightly, but the climbers of Mont Blanc
expose to the hazard of their lives the brave and worthy
mountain guides, and the families of these gallant fellows
to the loss of their natural supporters. Saussure's obser-
vations and his reflections on Mont Blanc live in his
poetical philosophy ; those of Mr. Albert Smith will be
appropriately recorded in a tissue of indifferent puns and
stale fast witticisms with an incessant straining after
smartness. The aimless scramble of the four pedestrians
to the top of Mont Blanc, with the accompaniment of
Sir Robert Peel's orgies at the bottom, will not go far to
redeem the somewhat equivocal reputation of the herd
of English tourists in Switzerland, for a mindless and
rather vulgar redundance of mere animal spirits."

Mr. Vansittart at once criticised his critic. He was a
great traveller and an accomplished man. Why ridi-
cule, he asked mere amateur aeronauts or climbers of
Mont Blanc ? " Having walked under the sea in a diving
apparatus at a depth of more than a hundred feet, having
descended into the bowels of the earth both in the iron
mines of Dannemora in Sweden and the salt mines in
Poland, having made balloon ascents and climbed many
high mountains, I can safely assert that there is a pleasure
in such enterprises altogether unknown to those who
have not experienced them."

Notwithstanding many catastrophes, it is the fact that
amongst the mountains no man need really risk his own

192

The Ascent by Albert Smith

life or that of his guides, if he carefully adopts those
rules of prudence and precaution which experience has
found to be essential. Let every man ride his own
hobby horse, but not necessarily expect anybody else to
get up behind.

Criticism is good for all of us, but it is really valuable
in proportion to the knowledge and ability and insight
of the critic. The time was rapidly approaching when
some of the finest intellects of the day began to find out
that the best alterative for mental labour was moun-
taineering, and that no solace or rest or recreation was
comparable to that which can be obtained by a practical
knowledge of the High Alps.

Albert Smith soon turned his excursion to good
account. He was not the first, however, who gave
a public exhibition of the mountain. One Robert Burford
made drawings of the chain from the Flegere in 1835,
and constructed a panorama of Mont Blanc, the valley
of Chamonix and the surrounding mountains, which was
long exhibited in Leicester Square. Visitors received
a printed description of the panorama written in a style
that is rather turgid than impressive, and which contained
the following passage : —

" To present a clear and intelligible image of a scene
so fearfully grand and imposing by a verbal description
is impossible, the most fertile imagination aided by the
pen of a Byron, or the matchless pencil of a Claude in
a painting of moderate size, must alike fail to convey an
adequate impression of the reality, for nature is here
almost too magnificent, and the whole is on a scale of

193 O

The Annals of Mont Blanc

such inconceivable vastness that it sets at defiance any
attempt to depict it with ordinary means ; the panorama,
alone, and that to an extent considerably beyond its
usual limits, can hope to approach anything like a fair
delineation of this sublime scene, and even that, vast as it
is, must fall far short of presenting it in all its glorious
and ever varying beauty."

But Albert Smith was a born entertainer, and had
already felt the pulse of the public in his " Overland Mail."
He took the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, and gave his
first entertainment of " The Ascent of Mont Blanc " on
the evening of the fifteenth of March, 1852.

His pictures were all drawn by William Beverley.
There was one of Geneva ; another of the east end of the
Lake showing the well-known Castle of Chillon. There
were pictures of the Bridge and Tower of Martigny, and
of the Convent of the Great Saint Bernard. There was
a gruesome illustration of the dead-house attached to that
monastery, an admirable delineation of the Tete Noire
pass, and of Mont Blanc as seen from the summit of the
Col de Balme.

The second part of the entertainment related exclusively
to Chamonix and Mont Blanc. There was a picture of
the Cascade des Pelerins, and of the Pierre a I'echelle, of
the glaciers of Bossons and Taconnay, of the Grands
Mulets rocks by sunset, and of the passage of the Grand
Plateau by moonlight. There was a gross caricature of
the Mur de la Cote and of the summit, of the supposed
perils of the descent, and finally an excellent picture of
the courtyard of Tairraz' hotel at Chamonix. The

194

The Ascent by Albert Smith

narrative was well told, and nothing was lost in the
telling. Patter songs were interspersed. Great St.
Bernard dogs lay in front of the stalls, and on the closing
night of each season beautiful bouquets were presented
to the ladies by the entertainer. Albert Smith's Mont
Blanc " caught on," and became universally popular.
Crowds of persons flocked to the show, which was
patronised by Her Majesty and the late Prince Consort.
The run continued for six years. The route of approach
to Chamonix was constantly varied, the songs and
character sketches were changed from time to time, but
" Mont Blanc " was always kept as the central point of
attraction. Smith is said to have made thirty thousand
pounds by his entertainment. " Prosperity," says Bacon,
"doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best dis-
cover virtue." Smith was laughed at for perpetually
flaunting before his friends the certificate under seal
which he had obtained from the " guide chef " in proof
of his successful ascent, as if doubt might have been cast
upon his story in the absence of such evidence. But
success did him no harm. It is but just to his memory
to record that he, too, was a pioneer. Mountaineering
was not then a recognised sport for Englishmen. The
ascent of Mont Blanc w-as regarded by some with grow-
ing interest, b)' others with a contemptuous indiflference.
Hitherto any information about the great mountain had
to be sought for in isolated publications difficult to
obtain, in the pages of magazines or the daily press.
Smith brought a more or less accurate knowledge of it, as
it were, to the hearths and homes of educated Englishmen.

195

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Up to 1851, though Mont Blanc had been climbed so
often, the High Alps were practically unexplored. It is
true that James David Forbes had climbed the Jungfrau
in 1841, and that his great work was published only two
years later, but this well-known classic dealt more with
theory than with practice, Agassiz and Charpentier, both
friends of Forbes, were men of science, not mountaineers.
That mountaineering was certain to take its place amongst
recognised English sports was obvious enough, but
Smith's entertainment gave an undoubted impetus to the
movement. During the very period that he was lecturing
to London crowds, the work of Alpine exploration had
seriously commenced. Alfred Wills and Thomas Wood-
bine Hinchliff added materially to our Alpine knowledge
between the years 1852 and 1856. In 1854 the former
gentleman climbed the Wetterhorn from Grindelwald,
and Mr. E. S. Kennedy ascended one of the main peaks
of Monte Rosa. In 1855, Messrs. Grenville and
Christopher Smyth, with Messrs. Hudson, Birkbeck,
and Stevenson, reached the highest summit of Monte
Rosa, and with Mr. Kennedy climbed Mont Blanc with-
out guides. Possibly more than enough is here recorded
of the particular ascent which made Mont Blanc known
to so many of our countrymen, but it must not be for-
gotten that scores of men who afterwards distinguished
themselves in the exploration of the great Alps, first had
their imaginations fired by listening to the interesting
story told at the Egyptian Hall.

196

Albert Sniilb.

[To face fage 196.

CHAPTER X

THE FORMATION OF THE ALPINE CLUB AND NEW
ROUTES UP MONT BLANC

BY the year 1856 increased railway facilities brought
the Alps within reach of the professional classes,
and many men in search of health and adventure began
to make regular visits to the great playground. They
went out and climbed and talked over their discoveries,
but their successes were seldom chronicled. Yet it was
very desirable to have accurate information as to summits
that had been attained, as to difficulties that had been
experienced, and as to how such difficulties could be
overcome. If it were possible to gather together some of
the men to whom an annual journey to the peaks and
glaciers of the Alps was now becoming a matter of
course ; if ideas could be interchanged on Alpine geo-
graphy and Alpine possibilities ; if men bent on a com-
mon object could make each other's acquaintance and
plan expeditions in concert, what a new field might be
opened for enjoyment and exploration.

So at least thought Mr. William Mathews, fresh from
St. John's College, Cambridge, who climbed Mont Velan

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The Annals of Mont Blanc

in 1854, and who two years later (accompanied by the
author) thoroughly investigated the Val de Bagnes,
ascended the Petit Combin and the Mont Avril, specu-
lated upon the possibility of reaching the summit of the
Grand Combin, or Graffeneire, and then crossing the Col
du Mont Rouge from the Dranse to the yet unknown
Arolla, and traversing the Col d'Herens to Zermatt,
reached that village in those older and happier days,
when the little Hotel du Mont Rose was a veritable haven
of rest, and Alexander Seller — most courteous of hosts —
and his charming wife, now gone to their rest, were both
blooming and young.

Visitors at Zermatt were rare at that date, and were not
altogether of the same type as the herd of tourists now
brought up by railway from the valley of the Rhone to
crowd the hotels, not of the village only, but of the Riffel
Alp and Riffelberg, and, alas ! also of the once lonely
and beautiful Gornergrat. The welcome company of
Mr. Montagu Butler, Senior Classic at Cambridge in
1855, now Master of Trinity, and of the late Dr. Carson
of Dublin, and a memorable ascent of Monte Rosa in
their company, served to enforce the advantages of har-
monious co-operation amongst those who were lovers and
climbers of the hills.

On the first of February, 1857, Mr. William Mathews
wrote a letter to his friend, the Rev. F. J. A. Hort, after-
\yards Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, in the follow-
ing words : —

" I want you to consider whether it would not be
possible to establish an Alpine Club, the members of

198

The Formation of the Alpine Club

which might dine together once a year, say in London,
and give each other what information they could. Each
member at the close of any Alpine tour in Switzerland or
elsewhere, should be required to furnish to the president a
short account of all the undescribed excursions he had
made, with a view to the publication of an annual or
biennial volume. We should thus get a great deal of
useful information in a form available to the members." ^
In the month of August in the same year Mr. William
Mathews met the late Edward Shirley Kennedy in the
Hash Thai. Both were bent on an ascent of the Fin-
steraarhorn. The party also included Mr. B. St. John
Mathews, the Rev. J. F. Hardy, and Mr. Ellis, all members
of the University of Cambridge. The expedition was
successful, and the idea of the formation of an Alpine
Club was thoroughly discussed. On the sixth of Novem-
ber some of the Finsteraarhorn party met at the Lea-
sowes, in Worcestershire, and it was then decided to
carry the idea into practical execution. The names of
those present at that historic meeting were, Mr. William
Mathews, senior, now deceased, Mr. William and Mr.
B. St. John Mathews, Mr. E. S. Kennedy, and the
author of this volume. Plans were fully considered, and
Kennedy undertook to communicate with those who were
deemed likely to join. The ground was already well pre-
pared, and Mr. John Ball, the first President of the Club,
struck the right note when he wrote in his preface to •
" Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers," that —

' '• Life and Letters ot Fenton John Anthony Hort." London, Macmillan, 1896,
%'ol. i. p. 370.

199

The Annals of Mont Blanc

"In the accidental intercourse of those who have been
engaged in such expeditions, it has been perceived that
the community of taste and feeling amongst those who in
the life of the High Alps have shared the same enjoy-
ments, the same labours and the same dangers, constitutes
a bond of sympathy stronger than many of those by which
men are drawn into association."

The original members, or at any rate those who were
elected prior to 1858, were as follow : Charles Ainslie,
E. L. Ames, E. Anderson, C. J. Blomfield, E. T. Cole-
man, Rev. J. Llewellyn Davies, A. D. Dickens, Rev. J. F.
Hardy, F. Vaughan Hawkins, Robert B. Hayward, T. W.
Hinchliff, Rev. F. J. A. Hort, E. S. Kennedy, Rev. J. B.
Lightfoot, W. Longman, William Mathews, B. St. John
Mathews, C. E. Mathews, W. R. Maynard, Francis
Philips, E. B. Prest, Rev. E. J. Shepherd, Albert Smith,
Rev. Isaac Taylor, Henry Trower, Rev. H. W. Watson,
Robert Walters, J. B. S. Williams, Alfred Wills, C. W.
Wilshire, Geo. V. Yool.

The majority are of course no longer amongst us, but
it speaks volumes in favour of the healthful and invigo-
rating nature of our pursuit that of the thirty-one original
members, eleven survive ; six of whom, from various
causes, have fallen out of our ranks, but the remaining
five still continue members of the Club v/hich they helped
to found, notwithstanding the changes and chances of
forty years.

The formation of the Alpine Club is strictly relevant to
the annals of Mont Blanc. Many of its members went
in pursuit of new peaks, but an almost equal object of

200

New Routes up Mont Blanc

ambition was the ascent of an old mountain from a new
side ; and it is interesting to note that every discovery of
a new way to the summit was made either by a member,
or by one who afterwards became a member, of the
newly-formed Association.

Mr. E. S. Kennedy began. It will be remembered that
up to this time only one route had been discovered, that
by way of the Grands Mulcts and the Grand Plateau.
Whether men ascended by the " ancien passage " or by
the Corridor and the Mur de la Cote, mattered little, the
route was practically the same. Kennedy was desirous
of finding out a new way, and to dispense with the aid of
guides. This was a novel departure. At that time the
guide system of Chamonix was costly and oppressive.
Why should a competent mountaineer have been forced
to take more guides than he required, or be unable to
make a selection of those in whom he had the most con-
fidence ?

In August, 1855, a party of young and gallant moun-
taineers met in the valley of Aosta. It consisted of E. S.
Kennedy and Charles Hudson, of Grenville and Chris-
topher Smyth, of E. J. Stevenson and Charles Ainslie.
They crossed the Col du Geant, and, sending back their
porters from the Col, endeavoured to find their way to a
camping ground near the foot of the Aiguille du Midi,
hoping to gain the summit of Mont Blanc from its
eastern side. They did not, however, get so far as the
base of the Midi, and pitched their tent at no great dis-
tance from the Col. After a wretched night they made
an early start, and reached a spot between the Aiguille du

201

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Midi and the Mont Blanc du Tacul, overlooking the
Glacier des Bossons. Proceeding upward, one of the
party reached the summit of the Tacul, from which he
obtained a view of Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc. But
the wind and the mist proved too much for them ; they
retreated to the Col du Gc;ant, descended to Courmayeur,
and thence went on to Saint Gervais.

On Monday, the thirteenth, they made a new start,
engaged some chamois hunters of La Villette to act as
porters as far as the foot of the Aiguille du Gouter, and
set out from the then well-known Alpine quarters of the
Hotel Mont Joli. Passing Bionay and Bionnassay, they
made for the Tete Rousse, and inspected with great inte-
rest the remains of the cabin constructed for Horace
Benedict de Saussure seventy years before. Half an hour
higher up they halted at two small huts, then recently
erected as refuges for the benighted chamois hunter.
They repaired the walls of one of the huts and impro-
vised a roof, the porters were dismissed, the night was
fine, and the bivouac sufficiently comfortable. Stevenson
unfortunately fell ill and could not proceed, but the rest
of the party set out at four o'clock on the fourteenth, the
morning being brilliant but cold. Soon after six they
were on the summit of the Aiguille du Gouter, and
mounted gently towards the Dome. Here the summit of
Mont Blanc was in full view, and " seemed to hail their
approach and bid them a kindly welcome." They
arrived at the depression between the Dome and the
Bosses du Dromadaire, but here the old difficulty arose.

It was still held that the Bosses barred the way. The

202

New Routes up Mont Blanc

party were unanimous in thinking that there was nothing
to stop active and determined mountaineers. But the
north wind was strong and cold, and instead of making
the first ascent of Mont Blanc by its western ridge, as
they might easily have done, they descended to the Grand
Plateau, mounted from thence by the usual route of the
Corridor and the Mur de la Cote, and between twelve and
one were on the top, the march from the sleeping place
having occupied only eight and a half hours. From the
summit two of the party proceeded along the western
ridge and examined the Bosses from above, but could
detect nothing to prevent the ascent being made by that
route. It seems a pity that so gallant a band should not
have attempted to descend by the Bosses, but the idea, if
ever entertained, was abandoned. Leaving the Bosses
route still incomplete, the party rapidly descended to-
wards Chamonix. Night overtook them before the village
was gained, and finding a chalet full of dry hay, they
slept the sleep of the thoroughly tired, creeping into
Chamonix early on the following morning, unnoticed and
unknown.

This was a fine expedition, and it was the first time
that the mountain had been ascended from the side of
Saint Gervais. Leaving out of consideration the journey
of Paccard and Balmat, it was the first time that it had
been climbed without guides. Hudson and Kennedy in
their charming little book ^ claimed to have ascended by
a new route, but it was not so. The Aiguille and the

« "Where there's a Will there's a Way," by Charles Hudson and Edward Shirley
Kennedy. London, Longmans, 1856.

203

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Dome du Gouter were both well known. Guides and
chamois hunters had climbed them again and again.
Kennedy and his party were stopped by the same obstacle
that barred the progress of Jacques Balmat. From Saint
Gervais to this spot the route was not new, and directly
Kennedy's party descended to the Grand Plateau they
struck the ordinary route of ascent from the Chamonix
side. While, therefore, every credit must be given to
them for a fine performance under new conditions, it is
not less the duty of an impartial chronicler of events to
decline to accord them the honour of having discovered
a new route up Mont Blanc, Hudson, however, was not
to be discouraged by one failure. He returned to the
assault in the year 1859, and settled once and for ever the
question of the practicability of the Bosses ridge. Hud-
son's party consisted of himself, Mr. G. C. Hodgkinson,
and Mr. Joad, and they were led by Melchior Anderegg.
Climbing by the ordinary route to the Grand Plateau,
they turned to the right and reached the depression
between the Dome and the Bosses ; ascending the two
humps of the Dromedary, they gained the Calotte, and
proceeding along the western ridge, duly arrived upon
the summit of the mountain. And so at last the great
Bosses imposture was exposed. This route, so long
deemed impossible, is now, as already stated, the ordinary
route to the summit from the side of Chamonix. In
settled weather it presents no difficulty, but when the
snow on the ridge turns to ice, or when severe wind or
cold is experienced, it is still enough to test the resources
of the most accomplished and determined mountaineer.

204

MONT BLANC FROM THE
SUMMIT OF THE AIGUILLE DU
MIDI. THE WESTERN RIDGE.

New Routes up Mont Blanc

This route was, after all, only a variation of the
Chamonix way ; as far as the Grand Plateau the track
is identical. The excursion is of surpassing beauty, and
there is no more magnificent walk in the Alps than the
ascent of Mont Blanc by the Bosses du Dromadaire, and
the descent by the Mur de la Cote and the Corridor, or
vice versa. The preferable line of ascent is by the Bosses,
as the sun is encountered much earlier than when the
mountain is taken in the opposite direction.

Hudson was a born mountaineer ; no member of the
early band of pioneers had a liner reputation ; he was the
Bayard of early mountaineering chivalry. Alas ! he
perished untimely in the first ascent of the Matterhorn,
and lies with Hadow — one of his companions in the
catastrophe — under the northern wall of the old church
at Zermatt.

Mont Blanc had never yet been ascended from Saint
Gervais to the summit by the whole western route. This
feat was reserved for Mr. Leslie Stephen and Mr. F. F.
Tuckett, who, starting from Saint Gervais on the seven-
teenth of July, 1861, camped in the wretched hut then
recently constructed near the top of the Aiguille du
Gouter, and gained the summit of the mountain on the
following day by way of the Dome and the Bosses du
Dromadaire, "thus achieving the undertaking commenced
by Saussure and his companions seventy-six years before."
They were led by Melchior Anderegg, J. J. Bennen, and
Peter Perren, and were accompanied part of the way by
the Rev. W. F. Short and Mr. Mather, but the whole
party suffered severely from sickness on the top of the

205

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Aiguille du Gouter, and the two latter gentlemen were
forced to return. No part of this expedition was new.
From Saint Gervais to the Dome was the route taken by
Kennedy and his companions in 1855. From the Dome
to the summit was the line of ascent just made by Hudson
in 1859 ; but it was the first time that men had climbed
direct from Saint Gervais to the summit by the whole
western ridge, and it constituted the second route to the
summit of Mont Blanc. This line of ascent also has a
rare charm. The magnificent views of the Aiguille de
Bionnassay delight the traveller whilst climbing the
Aiguille du Gouter. It is true that the hut on the latter
peak, which until the erection of the Vallot hut was the
highest, as it is still the most comfortless sleeping place
in Europe, is enough to sap the vitality of any climber ;
but if he can dispense with sleep and bear the cold, his
starting point is less than six hours distant from Mont
Blanc, and the views along the whole ridge, of Switzer-
land, Savoy, and Dauphine, leave nothing to be desired.

Before the formation of the Alpine Club it had long
been hoped that a way might be discovered up Mont
Blanc from the side of the Col du Geant. It will be
remembered that this route received in early days the
attention of Jacques Balmat. The only way by which an
ascent was possible involved sleeping either on the Col
du Geant, or, better still, on the ridge between the
Aiguille du Midi and the Mont Blanc du Tacul, and then
passing over that mountain and the Mont Maudit, de-
scending to the Corridor, and finishing the climb by way
of the Mur de la Cote — the end of the ordinary route

206

New Routes up Mont Blanc

from Chamonix. There is now a fairly good hut at
the foot of the Aiguille du Midi, and this hut may be
reached in three ways — either from the Montanvert up
the seracs of the Geant glacier, and then by way of the
Vallee Blanche to the ridge ; or from Chamonix to the
Pierre a I'echelle, and thence up steep rocks to the left
till the ridge is attained ; or direct from the Col du Geant,
a distance of about three hours ; but from whatever point
the hut is reached, the true route to Mont Blanc lies over
the Tacul and the Mont Maudit to the Corridor, so that
in fact two mountains have to be crossed before the
summit can be attained. This route was discovered by
Mr. J. H. Ramsay in the month of July, 1855. Sleeping
at the foot of the Aiguille du Midi, and accompanied by
several guides from Courmayeur, he crossed the Tacul
and the Mont Maudit, descended to the Corridor, and
mounted the Mur de la Cote. Here he was unfortunately
beaten within an hour of the summit, but the new route
was definitely ascertained. Eight years later, on the
eighteenth of July, 1863, the complete journey was made
by the eastern route by M. Maquelin and M. Briquet,
two Swiss gentlemen, with several guides from Cour-
mayeur. This was the third route to the summit.

A variation of this route was made on the twenty-ninth
of August, 1888. Mr. F. A. Bowlby and Mr. J. Stafford
Anderson, accompanied by Abraham Imseng and Hans
Aimer, left the hut on the Col du Geant about five in the
morning, but instead of going so far north as the hut
under the Aiguille du Midi, went about due west, and,
working up a couloir, partly by rocks and partly by snow,

207

The Annals of Mont Blanc

gained the summit of the Mont Maudit at half-past ten.
They did not reach the summit of Mont Blanc until
seven in the evening, after fourteen hours of continuous
exertion. This variation of the Col du Geant or eastern
route is shorter in distance, but far longer in time.

Practical ways having now been discovered from the
north, east, and west, men began to think seriously of a
way up from the south. Would it be possible to ascend
direct from Courmayeur, and to cross the summit from
that village to Chamonix ? Now a glacier is the usual
approach to any great mountain. Of all the glaciers that
flow from the snow-fields of Mont Blanc none is more
striking than the great glacier of Brenva, which rolls
south from the Corridor, and pushes its way into the
Allee Blanche almost to the pastures of Entreves. So
far back as 1855 Charles Hudson had his eye upon this
route. He wrote to Kennedy on the nineteenth of May
in that year, informing him that Mr. Birkbeck had in-
spected the mountain upwards from the Col du Geant,
and downwards from the foot of the Mur de la Cote, and
had come to the conclusion that it could be ascended
from Courmayeur. The dread of the mountain was
waning before increased knowledge and ever-increasing
mountaineering experience. The Brenva glacier had a
special reputation for danger. Kennedy and Hudson did
not attempt it. The mountains are full of instances
where some men labour and others enter into their
labours. In the year 1863, Mr. A. W. Moore arrived at
Courmayeur to see what could be done from that
direction. He was attended by Melchior Anderegg,

208

MONT BLAXC FROM THE
WESTERN SUMMIT OF THE
GRANDES JORASSES. THE
EASTERN RIDGE.

New Routes up Mont Blanc

Christian Aimer, and Peter Perren, and all concurred in
pronouncing it " eine miserable Dummheit." In the
following year Moore carefully surveyed the upper por-
tion of the Brenva glacier from the foot of the Mur de la
Cote, as Mr. Birkbeck had previously done, and at once
determined that Mont Blanc should be ascended by that
route, or otherwise that the reason why it was impossible
should be definitely ascertained. In July, 1865, Mr.
Frank Walker, Mr. Horace Walker, Mr. Moore, and Mr.
G. S. Mathews were at Courmayeur. They had secured
the services of Melchior and Jakob Anderegg, and of two
porters, Jean Michel Lasnier and Julien Grange. They
started on the morning of the fourteenth, and before six
in the evening found a suitable camping place high up
the Brenva glacier on its eastern side, and passed a fairly
comfortable night. A little before three on the morning
of the fifteenth they were en route. They crossed the
glacier from right to left, and, climbing a rocky buttress,
they made a halt at a height of 12,000 feet. Above this
buttress they came upon a narrow and formidable ice
arete, connecting it with the mass of Mont Blanc. Jakob
Anderegg instantly attacked it without stopping to con-
sider whether the ridge was feasible or not. It proved
extremely difficult, but w^as passed in safety ; and Moore
records that, " as we looked back along our perilous path,
it was hard to repress a shudder, and the dominant feel-
ing of every man was one of wonder how the passage
had been effected without accident." Pursuing their
journey without further serious difficulty, they ultimately
emerged upon gently sloping snow-fields, the same upon

209 P

The Annals of Mont Blanc

which in the previous year Moore had gazed so lovingly
from the Mur de la Cote. Moore thought that but for
the labour of step-cutting the summit might have been
reached from the snow-fields on which they stood, but
they were heavily laden, and made straight for the
Corridor, a height of 14,217 feet, which they reached
soon after one o'clock. At three they were on the
summit, having been climbing uphill over twelve hours.
At half-past ten they reached Chamonix, after an excur-
sion of nearly twenty hours.

If my readers will look at the picture of Mont Blanc
from the south they will be able to trace the whole route.
The Corridor is the lowest depression between the summit
on the left and the Mont Maudit on the right. The
journey from the Corridor to the summit was, of course,
by the old Chamonix route, and so far not new, but
every step from the lower part of the Brenva glacier to
the Corridor was unbroken ground. The Col de la
Brenva, now first made, was the highest and grandest
pass over the chain of Mont Blanc, and for the first
time men had climbed from Italy into France over the
top of the mountain. I This was the fourth route up
Mont Blanc. Frank Walker has joined the majority ;
and Moore, who so well served his country and his
club, has also passed away.

This novel and successful ascent by the Brenva glacier
caused great interest m Alpine circles, but some years
elapsed before a further attempt was made to climb Mont

' " Alpine Journal," vol. ii. p. 369 ; " The Alps in 1864," a private journal by
A. W. Moore, 1867.

210

MONT BLANC FROM THE
HERBETET. THE SOUTHERN
FACE.

New Routes up Mont Blanc

Blanc from the south. It was clear that there was a
possible, though difficult, route by the Brenva. Was
there no other glacier flowing south from which a similar
attempt could be made ? There was the great glacier of
Miage, flowing due south from the Col of that name
direct to the Allee Blanche. The lower part of this
well-known glacier is a fearful desert, so thickly covered
with mountain disintegration that the ice is rarely visible,
and " is anything but convenient to a traveller in haste."
It was well known that three other large glaciers rolled
down the western side of Mont Blanc, forming tributaries
of the Glacier de Miage ; was it not possible to find a
new path to the summit by way of one of these tributary
glaciers ? The discovery was made by accident. Mr.
F. C. Grove, Mr. E. N. Buxton, and Mr. R. S. Macdonald
were at Chamonix in 1865, having made the first ascent
of the Aiguille de Bionnassay. Their guides were Jakob
Anderegg, Jean Pierre Cachat, and young Peter Taug-
wald of Zermatt. Their plan was to ascend the Dome
and get down to the head of the Miage glacier. They
left Chamonix at midnight on the sixth of August, and
reached the Grands Mulcts soon after dawn. After a
short halt they climbed to the summit of the Dome,
which they did not reach till one o'clock, after thirteen
hours' hard walking from Chamonix. They then made
for the depression in the great ridge between the Dome
and the Aiguille de Bionnassay, a point which had been
reached from the opposite side by way of the Col de
Miage the previous year by Mr. Adams Reilly, and they
intended to descend by his route ; but straight in front of

211

The Annals of Mont Blanc

them was the Glacier du Dome, leading more directly to
that of Miage. The descent looked inviting, they yielded
to the temptation, and went down. The snow was in a
bad state, and the party had many adventures on the
route ; but ultimately they traversed the Dome glacier
in safety, and reached the upper basin of the great glacier
of Miage at midnight, exactly twenty-four hours from the
start. Walking through the night, they arrived at Cour-
mayeur at half-past five in the morning, " hungry som-
nambulists, when broad daylight and pleasant anticipation
quickened the sleepy blood and lifted the heavy eyelids." ^
This, of course, was a tour de jorcCy but it was clear
that the Dome glacier could be descended from the Dome,
and equally clear, therefore, that Mont Blanc could be
ascended from Courmayeur by way of the Glacier de
Miage, the Dome glacier, the Dome, and so along the
western ridge to the summit. Three years later this par-
ticular ascent was made by Mr. Frederick A. G. Brown.
He was accompanied by Julien Grange, who was already
familiar with the Chamonix route and that from the Col
du Geant, and had acted as porter to Mr. Moore and his
party as far as their sleeping place on the Brenva glacier.
Now Grange had set his heart upon an ascent by the
Dome glacier. Most routes were in those days supposed
to be impossible until they had been fairly tried. Even
so competent a mountaineer as Mr. Moore had placed on
record his opinion that no one could reach the top of
Mont Blanc from the southern Miage, and Mr. Brown
assumed that the ascent by the Glacier du Mont Blanc

• " Alpine Journal," vol. ii. p. 332.
212

New Routes up Mont Blanc

was wholly impracticable ; but Mr, Adams Reilly, one of
the ablest and most accomplished of the pioneers, had
not only denied the term inaccessible to any portion of
the western side, but had in his own person proved its
accessibility from the Col de Miage.

Mr. Brown determined to attack the mountain from
the Dome glacier, descended, as we have seen, by Mr.
Buxton and his party in 1865. He left Courmayeur on
the twenty-fourth of July, 1868 ; Grange, with another
guide and one porter, being engaged for the journey.
They found a suitable gite in some rocks on the right
bank of the Dome glacier and at a height of about
9,000 feet, and a little before four on the morning of
the twenty-fifth of July dismissed their porters and took
to the glacier. Before nine o'clock they were on the top
of the Dome, and about one were on the summit of Mont
Blanc. They descended to Chamonix by the ordinary
route, arriving a little after eight in the evening, the whole
journey from the camp having occupied only between
sixteen and seventeen hours. This was the fifth route up
Mont Blanc, and new as far as the top of the Dome,
whence the journey was pursued by the western ridge.
A shorter and better route by the Dome glacier was dis-
covered in 1890, and an excellent hut has been constructed
at the foot of the Aiguilles Grises. This route is now,
if not the shortest, certainly the most popular from the
side of Courmayeur.^

The middle tributary of the Miage glacier having been
found feasible, Mr. T. S. Kennedy, of Leeds, a dis-

' "Alpine Journal," vol. iv. p. 261.
213

The Annals of Mont Blanc

tinguished climber, made up his mind to try the southern
one, and on the first of July, 1872, set out from Cour-
mayeur, accompanied by Jean Antoine Carrel and Johann
Fischer, with Julien Grange as porter. After four and a
half hours' walking they found a suitable camping place.
On the morning of the second they sent back Grange
with the bulk of their baggage, and started at three
o'clock. Working up the Glacier du Mont Blanc, they
kept a little to the left, and made straight for the Calotte.
The rocks were steep and icy ; but, climbing steadily
upwards, they struck the western ridge of Mont Blanc
between the upper Bosses and the summit, and in a few
minutes were on the top. The climb from the sleeping
place occupied ten hours.

This was the sixth route, and was known for some
time as the Aiguilles Crises route, but this was a mistake.
The topography of the western side of Mont Blanc was
not then accurately known. Three great glaciers, as we
have said, descend from the upper snow-fields into the
Miage glacier almost at a right angle. The most southerly
of these is the Glacier du Mont Blanc, which flows
between two rocky ridges — one known as the Mont du
Brouillard, and the other as the Rochers du Mont Blanc,
formerly called the Aiguilles Crises. The middle glacier
is the Glacier du Dome, by which Mr, Brown ascended,
and the real Aiguilles Crises are north of the Glacier du
D6me. Kennedy's track lay between the Mont du
Brouillard and the Rochers du Mont Blanc. It is a
magnificent route, and the shortest and most direct to
the summit from the Italian side. Nearly every step was

214

New Routes up Mont Blanc

new, and one of its chief charms hes in the fact that the
climb from base to summit, with the exception of the
final twenty minutes, does not strike upon any route
previously discovered. In due course a hut was built
on the Rochers du Mont Blanc on the site of Kennedy's
camp.

Many years ago the author, in company with Mr.
Frederick Morshead and Messrs. Henry and William
Pasteur, crossed Mont Blanc from Courmayeur to
Chamonix by Kennedy's route, and had the pleasure
of meeting the eminent Signor Quintino Sella on the
way. Signor Sella, who was then advancing in years,
took four days to cross the mountain — the first from
Courmayeur to the hut on Kennedy's camping site ;
the second to a higher gite where the Sella hut is
now erected ; the third from thence over the summit
to the Grands Mulcts ; and the fourth from the Grands
Mulcts to Chamonix.

Maps, like mountaineers, have been the subject of
evolution. The first good map of the Chain of Mont
Blanc we owe to Mr. Adams Reilly ; it was made from
his own survey, and completed in 1864. It clearly shows
both the Glacier du ]\Iont Blanc and the Glacier du
Dome, and was a noble beginning ; but it does not even
mention the Aiguilles Crises or the Mont du Brouillard.
Then came the greatly improved map of the " Massif du
Mont Blanc" published in 1865 by M. Mieulet, by order
of the French Minister of War ; but this map describes
the rocky ridges on both sides of the Glacier du Dome by
the one name of the " Aiguilles Crises " ; and finally came

The Annals of Mont Blanc

that most excellent map of " La Chaiiie du Mont Blanc,"
published in 1896, the work of M. Albert Barbey (Presi-
dent of the Diablerets section of the Swiss Alpine Club),
with the assistance of M. X. Imfeld (a member of the
Federal Staff) and M. Louis Kurz. To this faultless pro-
duction all explorers of the Chain are deeply indebted,
and for the first time the Mont du Brouillard, the Glacier
du Mont Blanc, the Rochers du Mont Blanc, the Glacier
du Dome, and the Aiguilles Crises are all beautifully
delineated with scrupulous fidelity to nature.

Notwithstanding the exploits of Mr. Moore, Mr,
Brown, and Mr. Kennedy, visitors to the glaciers fall-
ing south from Mont Blanc were but few in number.
On reference to the picture of Mont Blanc from the
south it will be remarked that in addition to the Brenva
glacier two smaller glaciers fall towards the Allee
Blanche, and that between them rises a steep and
rocky escarpment which extends to the snow -fields
at the foot of the great rocks which form the
summit of the mountain. These glaciers are the
Brouillard and the Fresnay glaciers. It occurred to
Mr. J. Eccles, one of the most able and persistent of
the explorers of the Chain, that a new way might be
discovered by one or other of them, or by the rocks
of Mont Brouillard which form the western boundary
of the glacier of that name. Part of the route had
been previously explored by Mr. John Birkbeck and
Mr. Utterson Kelso, but without result. In the month
of July, 1875, Mr. Eccles, accompanied by Michel
Payot of Chamonix, and two porters, set out from

216

New Routes up Mont Blanc

Courmayeur. They ascended by the rocks and grass
slopes to the west of the end of the Fresnay glacier, and
then getting on to the Brouillard side of the ridge, found
a gite overlooking the little glacier of Chatelet. Starting
at three the next morning they worked up the glacier of
Brouillard, hoping to gain the south arete of the Mont
Blanc de Courmayeur. In this attempt they were
defeated, and retraced their steps to the ridge between
the Fresnay and Brouillard glaciers. Here they examined
with great care the southern rocks of Mont Blanc, but
they could find no passage and came back disheartened.
But Mr. Eccles returned to the charge two years
later. Ascending the Cramont he carefully inspected
through a glass the great south-eastern arete which
stretches from the INIont Blanc de Courmayeur to the
upper snow-fields of the Fresnay glacier, and came to
the conclusion that there was no insuperable difficulty.
He started at three on the morning of the twenty-eighth
of July, accompanied by Michel and Alphonse Payot and
two porters. At two o'clock in the afternoon they
attained a height of 12,400 feet, and found some com-
fortable rocks overlooking the highest icefall of the
Fresnay glacier. Here they dismissed their porters and
established their quarters for the night. The next morn-
ing they encountered snow and rain, and for the second
time a melancholy retreat was inevitable.

But the weather changed, as it always does if only one
has time to wait long enough, and on the evening of the
thirtieth of July the party were again at the sleeping
place. Leaving at three on the morning of the thirty-

217

The Annals of Mont Blanc

first, and after considerable difficulty owing to ice-glazed
rocks, they crossed the upper basin of the Fresnay
glacier and reached the base of a great couloir which
descends from the arete connecting the Mont Blanc de
Courmayeur with the Aiguille Blanche de Peteret. Then
came five hours of continuous step-cutting in hard ice
till the ridge was attained. Thence, to the top, the way
was laborious, but not particularly difficult ; they reached
the Mont Blanc de Courmayeur about half-past eleven
and the true summit at half-past twelve. Mr. Eccles
descended by the Bosses du Dromadaire and reached
Chamonix before five in the afternoon. The ascent from
the sleeping place thus took nine and a half hours, but
the start was made from a height of 12,400 feet.^ This
was the seventh route to the summit. Men had now
crossed from Italy to France over the great mountain by
five different routes, but every part of the way taken by
Mr. Eccles was practically new. His expedition involved
over six hours' step-cutting, but it was really a tour de
force and has been rarely repeated. Variations of this
route have been made. The Col de Peteret has been
reached from the side of the Fresnay glacier by a route
slightly differing from that taken by Mr. Eccles, and also
from the side of the Brenva glacier. The latter ex-
pedition was made by Herr Paul Gussfeldt, a mountaineer
of the first order, who, having climbed the Aiguille
Blanche de Peteret, proceeded by way of the Col de
Peteret and the Mont Blanc de Courmayeur to the true
summit.2

' "Alpine Journal," vol. viii. p. 409.

- " Der Mont Blanc," Von Paul Gussfeldt, Berlin, 1894.

218

xVIONT BLANC FROM THE
AIGUILLE NOIRE, SHOWING
ALSO THE MONT BLANC DE
COURMAYEUR.

New Routes up Mont Blanc

Such are the various routes by which Mont Blanc has
been cHmbed. To summarise : —

Route I., from Chamonix on the north by way of the
Grands Mulets and the Grand Plateau, with the
following variations :
(a) The " ancien passage."
(6) The Con-idor and the Mur de la Cote,
(c) The Bosses du Dromadaire.

Route II., from Saint Gervais on the west, by way of
the Aiguille and Dome du Gouter, the route from
the Dome striking on variation c of Route I.

Route III., from the Col du Geant on the east by way
of the hut at the foot of the Aiguille du Midi (attain-
able from three directions), and thence by the Mont
Blanc de Tacul and the Mont Maudit, the route
from the Corridor striking on variation b of Route I.
Variation by the couloir between Mont Blanc de
Tacul and Mont Maudit.

Route IV., from Courmayeur on the south by the
Brenva glacier, the route from the Corridor striking
on variation b of Route I.

Route V., from Courmayeur on the south by the Miage
and Dome glaciers, the route from the Dome being
the same as Route II. and variation c of Route I.
Variation from the glacier of Miage by way of the
Italian glacier of Bionnassay to the Dome. Variation
by way of the Dome glacier slight and unimportant.

Route VI., from Courmayeur on the south by the
Miage and Mont Blanc glaciers, striking no previous
219

The Annals of Mont Blanc

route except at the outset and the last twenty
minutes, where it touches variation c of Route I.
Route VII., from Courmayeur on the south by the
Brouillard glacier, where, except for the walk up
the Allee Blanche, no other route is ever touched
in any part of the journey. Variation from the
Miage glacier to the Col de Peteret.

Mr. Louis Kurz, in his most admirable guide to the
Chain of Mont Blanc, gives eleven routes to the summit,
but they are practically identical with those already
described. He treats the routes from Chamonix as three
separate routes, and not as one route with two variations.
He treats Mr. E. S. Kennedy's as a separate route, a
course in which, for the reasons already stated, the
author is unable to concur, and he claims the Bionnassay
glacier as a separate route, while the author considers it
a variation, though an important variation, of that by the
Dome glacier.

What is an independent route ? It is impossible to
dogmatise on such a question ; men may fairly differ in
opinion upon the subject. It may be suggested, however,
that any distinct glacier, or any rock or snow arete by
which the summit of a mountain is approached, con-
stitutes a route which may be termed independent. But
if this doctrine is sound, the route by the Bionnassay
glacier would be independent, and this would constitute
the eighth route by which Mont Blanc may be ascended ;
but inasmuch as men must approach the Bionnassay
glacier by the same route from Courmayeur as the Dome

220

New Routes up Mont Blanc

glacier route, and inasmuch as the moment the Dome
itself is reached the two routes to the summit from that
point are identical, it seems reasonable rather to class it
as a variation of the Dome glacier route than an inde-
pendent route to Mont Blanc.

The great mountain has now been thoroughly and
completely explored. Climbs of the first order have
been made by able mountaineers, involving, more or
less, combinations of well-known routes,^ but the only
novelty the author can suggest is that a way should be
tried direct from the snow-fields below the Col de la
Brenva to the summit, entirely on the southern side,
and thus complete the route made by Mr. Moore and his
party in 1865, thereby ensuring two ascents from Cour-
mayeur which would be wholly independent of any
other routes whatever.

' Note. — Messrs. Mummery-, Collie, and Hastings repeated in 1894, without
guides, the Brenva route taken by Mr. Moore and his party, and struck the ridge
on the left of the Corridor, close to the Petits Mulets.

221

CHAPTER XI

FATALITIES

FROM the earliest ascent of Alont Blanc in 1786
down to the year 1820, no life had ever been lost
upon the great mountain, though many travellers and a
far greater number of guides had already gained the
summit.

The parties which attacked it were invariably large,
and the precautions taken to avoid disaster were, in those
days, always ample, and sometimes excessive. Increasing
knowledge of the mountain, however, and the well-
founded belief that its dangers and difficulties had been
exaggerated, had the inevitable tendency to produce
indifference. The more men knew of the right means
by which to avert danger, the less sometimes were the
precautions taken. In settled weather caravans went
up and down, without accident and apparently with-
out risk. Parties became smaller and smaller ; as time
went on, the constant pressure of the rope was found
inconvenient and irksome. Travellers began to take the
view of the great Tartarin ; surely the persistent advice of
the guides to take this or that precaution was unnecessary,

222

Fatalities

surely they were making more of their great mountain
than it deserved ! The terrible death-roll of Mont Blanc
tells a different tale. The older mountaineers almost
boasted that their pursuit had a special immunity from
danger. Hudson and Kennedy, writing in 1856, call
attention to the great loss of life on English rivers, such
as the Thames or Severn, in the hunting-fields of Oxford-
shire or Leicestershire, in the English woods or on the
Scottish moors. " But who repeats in tones of sorrow
the name of friend or relative that has perished amid the
solitudes of the higher Alps ? The Jungfrau's spotless
snows, the crested summits of the Wetterhdrner, Monte
Rosa's craggy peaks, are all guiltless of the traveller's
blood. These and many other lofty pinnacles of Switzer-
land have welcomed the adventurous mountaineer, and
death or severe accident is unknown." The authors of
this passage give the Hamel catastrophe as the only
exception to the general rule, but they had not the gift of
prophecy. The very mountains quoted by them have
since had their special victims, and there are few of the
great Alpine peaks that have not been in later years the
scenes of some disaster.

Every mountain must be approached with respect, or
it will punish the reckless and incompetent tyro who
invades its fastnesses with too light a heart. Many
years ago Mr. Leslie Stephen, one of the most com-
petent and one of the most prudent of the old guard,
gave advice which is too rarely borne in mind. ** The
modern race of mankind is in too great a hurry. It
refuses to serve an apprenticeship to anything. It believes

223

The Annals of Mont Blanc

that by a little happy audacity and the expenditure of
enough money it can leap over all preparatory stages.
Mountaineering, like so many other things, has become
a fashion with many who don't really care about it, and
the mountains have taken a terrible revenge."

There is but slight difficulty or danger in climbing
Mont Blanc when the weather is settled, and under
favourable conditions of snow ; but its height is so
great and its snow-fields are so vast, that when the
weather is unsettled, or when the snow is soft and
treacherous, it becomes one of the most dangerous
mountains in the Alps.

Accidents have happened from many causes : from a
lack of knowledge of the effects of cold ; from ignorance
of the risk of avalanches after fresh snow, or when the
Fohnwind is blowing ; from inability to understand the
position of concealed crevasses ; from an improper use of
the rope — the climber's best friend ; from the incom-
petence of guides ; from stupidity, carelessness, and
presumption. It is not too much to say that of all
the sad fatalities in the history of Mont Blanc few have
resulted from real accident, or could not have been pre-
vented by the exercise of reasonable care and foresight.

Let us enumerate these fatalities in chronological order.

In the month of August, 1820, Dr. Joseph Hamel, a
Russian savant and Counsellor of State to the Czar,
attempted to ascend the mountain from the village of
Chamonix. He was desirous of making observations
as to the effect of rarefied air upon animal organisation,
and he obtained the loan of various scientific instru-

224

Fatalities

ments from Professor Pictet and M. de Saussure. He
was accompanied by M. Selligue, a mechanician of
Geneva, and by two English gentlemen, Mr. Joseph
Dornford and Mr. Gilbert Henderson, both of the
University of Oxford. They took, as they were advised,
twelve guides, three for each traveller, and set out on the
eighteenth of August, the whole party reaching the
Grands Mulcts in the evening. Clouds rose in the west,
and a heavy thunderstorm broke over their camp. They
remained where they were the whole of the following
day, the weather being very uncertain, and two guides
were despatched to bring up fresh provisions. Early on
the morning of the twentieth the party started again,
excepting M. Selligue, who was ill, and who after two
nights of solitude had come to the conclusion " that a
married man had a sacred and imperious call to pru-
dence and caution where his own life seemed at stake ;
that he had done enough for glory in passing two nights
in succession perched on a crag like an eagle, and that
it now became him, like a sensible man, to return to
Geneva, while return was yet possible." Under these
circumstances two guides remained to bear him company.
The remainder of the party, eleven in all, reached the
Grand Plateau without dilHculty, and Hamel actually
" wrote two notes to announce his arrival on the summit,
leaving a blank merely to insert the hour."

Proceeding by way of the " ancien passage," the only
route by which the mountain had yet been ascended,
they climbed most of the distance between the Grand
Plateau and the Rochers Rouges. Suddenly Hamel felt

225 g

The Annals of Mont Blanc

the snow giving way under his feet. He plunged his
alpenstock into it, but without effect, and was forced
downwards with irresistible power, the snow engulfed
him, he expected to be crushed, and could scarcely
breathe. At first he was under the impression that he
was the only person affected, but having succeeded after
a desperate struggle in getting his head above the snow,
he became aware that the whole party were being borne
down by a great rush of snow started by their own
weight, towards a crevasse which yawned beneath them.
When at length they stopped, he observed Henderson
close to the abyss. He then saw Dornford and three
guides, but no others. The avalanche had rolled down
the "ancien passage," and poured into the huge crevasse
at its foot, filling it to the brim. The party had been
carried down twelve hundred feet. A terrible panic set
in. The guides lost all self-control. Some walked about
aimlessly, uttering loud cries. Matthieu Balmat sat in
sullen silence, rejecting all kind offices with an irritation
which made it painful to approach him. Dornford threw
himself on the snow in despair, and Henderson, says
Hamel, "was in a condition which made one fear for the
consequences." A few minutes later two other guides
extricated themselves, but the remaining three were seen
no more. Hamel and Henderson descended into the
crevasse and made every possible attempt to find the lost
guides, but without avail ; the surviving guides forced
them to come out, and sore at heart they returned to
Chamonix.i

• " Bibliolhtque UniveiseUe," Geneve, August, 1820.
226

Fatalities

The three guides who were lost were Pierre Carrier,
Pierre Bahnat, and Auguste Tairraz. They were the
three foremost in the Hne and felt the first effects of the
avalanche. Matthieu Balmat, who was fourth in the
line, saved himself by his great personal strength and
by presence of mind. Julien Devouassoud was hurled
across the crevasse, and Joseph Marie Couttet was
dragged out senseless by his companions, " nearly black
from the weight of snow which had fallen upon him."

Such was the well-known " Hamel catastrophe." ^ It is
easy to be wise after the event, but with our present
knowledge it would not have occurred. It does not
appear that any of the party were roped at the time
of the disaster. Dornford tells us that the party were
roped in threes between the Grands Mulcts and the
Grand Plateau, but he adds, with reference to the
accident, " All such plans as that of fastening themselves
together with a rope would be utterly useless, besides the
insupportable fatigue which this method of proceeding
would occasion." It is certain that though fine on the
morning of the attempted ascent, the weather was very
doubtful, and the wind was south. In other words,
the weather was avalanche weather, in which the excur-
sion should not have been attempted, and it is quite

' Note. — Dr. Paccai-d's diary coatains comments ou this accident. He again
states that Julien Devouassoud was his son-in-law — (he married Josephine, the
Doctor's only daughter)— that when Devouassoud got out of the crevasse he found
the " son of Marie Couttet imbedded up to his neck in the snow, and released him
and he adds that Couttet blamed Dr. Hamel, affirming that he was the cause of
the disaster, as he had insisted on making the ascent although the weather was
unfavourable.

227

The Annals of Mont Blanc

probable that if the rope had been used the three
guides might have been saved. ^

Many years after the accident speculation became rife
as to the probability of the remains of Hamel's guides
being ultimately discovered. Scientific men had paid
great attention to the subject of glacier motion, and James
David Forbes had proved by his experiments on the
Mer de Glace that the rate of motion of that glacier was
roughly two feet each day.^ Hamel, who did not know
much of the subject, suggested that the remains might be
found in a thousand years ; but Forbes, from the know-
ledge then acquired of the rate of the motion of the
Glacier des Bossons, confidently predicted their discovery
after a lapse of about forty years. As usual Forbes was
right. From the crevasse at the foot of the Rochers
Rouges to the base of the Glacier des Bossons is a
distance of about six miles, and there on the fifteenth of
August, 1861, Forbes' bold prediction was verified, and
the ice gave up its dead. On that day, Ambroise Simond,
a Chamonix guide, discovered near the lower end of the
Glacier des Bossons portions of clothing and some
human remains. In the middle of June, 1863, Mr. H.J.
Rouse, strolling near the same spot, found a large piece
of a human body protruding from the ice. He tried to
dig it out, but having no proper tools and much rain
falling, abandoned further search for that time. A few
days later a more careful inspection of the glacier

• Hamel's account appears in The New Monthly Magazine, 1821.

* Note. — Much depends upon the steepness of the bed down which the glacier
slides

228

Fatalities

was made, and various relics were discovered. In the
month of August, part of an alpenstock, a crumpled
book, the iron frame of a lantern, and fragments of
a human skull were found by Mr. Browning and
Mr. Blanford. Further relics were found as late as
1865. The head of one of the unfortunate victims was
actually identified after an entombment of forty-three
years. Among other discoveries was that of a human
hand which had grasped an alpenstock with such force
that part of the wood was found adhering to the palm ;
shoes, gloves, and ropes ; a hat which belonged to Pierre
Carrier, a cooked leg of mutton, and the compass and
hygrometer of Dr. Hamel, which were carried by the
leading guides. Even the wing of a pigeon was dis-
covered, part of the bird which Pierre Carrier took up
with him in an old kettle. The head and the hand were
those of Pierre Balmat, and both were identified by
Joseph Marie Couttet, who, as above mentioned, barely
escaped destruction.

We have only to deal with fatalities which actually
occurred on Mont Blanc, but as any route by which the
mountain is immediately ascended is necessarily part of
it, the accident on the Col du Geant, which comes next
in order, must be recorded. It occurred on the fifteenth
of August, i860, forty years after the Hamel disaster.
Three English gentlemen, j\Ir. J. M. Rochester, Mr. F.
Vavassour, and Mr. B. Fuller, were crossing the Col du
Geant from Chamonix to Courmayeur. They were
accompanied by Frederic Tain"az and two other guides
of Chamonix. They did not reach the summit of the

229

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Col till late in the afternoon, and were much fatigued by
the climb. Instead of descending by the rocks they
went down a slope of soft snow. The proper use of the
rope was now well known, but the usual precautions
were contemptuously disregarded. The three English-
men were tied together, but the first and last guides
simply held the ends of the rope in their hands, while
Tairraz, the chief guide, contented himself by holding
on to it as he walked by the side of the party. A slip
occurred. The rope was of course at once jerked out of
the incompetent hands which held it. The first and last
guides saved themselves, while the Englishmen went at
once to destruction. There is little doubt that Tairraz
could have saved himself without difficulty, for he was
free and had a good ice-axe, but as leading guide he was
responsible for the disaster, and declining to survive it,
went down with the Englishmen. This was the kind of
accident for which there is no possible excuse. The
slope is easy, and although there are rocks which form
the usual route, the guides foolishly took to the snow to
reduce the fatigue of their already exhausted employers.
Even then, if they had been properly roped, and had
made good use of their ice-axes at the moment the slip
occurred, the catastrophe might easily have been averted.
On the ninth of August, 1864, another life was lost
upon the mountain. Two Austrians were descending
Mont Blanc, and had reached the Grand Plateau. One
of their porters, Ambroise Couttet, preceded them unroped.
He fell into a crevasse before the eyes of his companions.
The crevasse was excessively deep, the cold was intense,

230

Fatalities

and the guides, convinced that Couttet was dead, went on
to Chamonix. The same evening a party of guides went
up in the hope of recovering the body. Michel Payot
and Simon Pierre Benoit were lowered into the crevasse
to a depth of ninety feet, but they did not reach the body
and the search was abandoned. The accident was of
course attributable to the gross neglect of the most
obvious of all precautions.

In the year 1866, Sir George Young, accompanied by
his two brothers, climbed Mont Blanc without guides.
They ascended by the Bosses route, and returning, reached
the head of the "ancien passage." Here they looked for
tracks, but could find none, so they made for the usual
line of descent, by the Mur de la Cote. In doing this one
of the party slipped, and dragged the others down with
him. The slope suddenly becoming steeper they bounded
into the air, and fell some fifteen or twenty feet. Two of
the party were absolutely uninjured, but Mr. Bulkeley
Young had unhappily fallen upon his head and broken
his neck. The accident occurred on the twenty-third of
August. In this case it is unnecessary to impute blame
to any one, but it is desirable to assert that if experienced
guides had been of the party, it is more than probable
that no disaster would have occurred.

In the same year, on the thirteenth of October, another
catastrophe happened almost identical in character with
that which overtook the party of Dr. Hamel. Captain
Arkwright was climbing ]\Iont Blanc by the " ancien
passage." His leading guide was Michel Simond. He
had two others, Francois an.d Joseph Tournier, and two

231

The Annals of Mont Blanc

volunteers, Sylvain Couttet and a servant from one of the
Chamonix hotels. The two latter were roped together,
Arkwright's party were on a separate rope. Suddenly an
avalanche fell from above. Couttet with a great effort
dragged the servant out of the track. The avalanche fell
upon Captain Arkwright and his three guides, who were
at once overwhelmed. The only difference between
Hamel's accident and this, was that in the former case the
snow slipped with the party, and in the latter the avalanche
fell upon them. There is little doubt that the "ancien
passage" was in bad condition, and the guides ought to
have known it and avoided it accordingly. Sylvain Couttet,
though on this occasion a volunteer, was an excellent
guide, and had presence of mind enough to save himself
and his companion. Captain Arkwright took what guides
he could get, probably those who were on the rota for the
day. At Chamonix, unhappily, such folk are seldom to be
depended upon when real emergencies arise. This catas-
trophe resembles that of Dr. Hamel's in another respect.
The bodies of the guides who perished with Arkwright
were recovered soon after the accident, but that of
Arkwright himself was buried too deep)}'' to be found.
On the twenty-second of August, 1897, his remains were
discovered on the left bank of the Glacier des Bossons,
and were reverently interred at Chamonix after an interval
of thirty-one years. Here was another illustration of how
even the most fragile articles can bear ice pressure for so
long a time. " A pocket-handkerchief was intact, the
coloured border scarcely faded, and the marking, in ink,
quite perfect. The shirt had been torn to pieces, but two

232

Fatalities

of the studs and the collar-stud were found intact in the
buttonholes. There was a gold pencil-case which would
still open and shut, with lead which would still mark.
Most remarkable of all was the watch-chain, made of
solid gold links, perfectly plain ; not a scratch was visible,
and the gold was as clean as if it had just been rubbed up
for wear." ^

In the year 1870, on the second of August, Mr. and
Mrs. Marke, accompanied by Miss Wilkinson, two guides
and a porter, reached the top of the Corridor on their way
up Mont Blanc. The ladies were greatly fatigued and
were left on the Corridor with the porter, Olivier Gay,
while Mr. Marke continued the ascent with the two
guides. When climbing the Mur de la Cote he heard
loud cries, and at once returned to the Corridor. He
found Miss Wilkinson alone ; Mrs. Marke and the porter
had disappeared. It was very cold and the ladies desired
to walk about. Of course they had no rope, and Mrs.
Marke and Gay walked straight into a crevasse and were
immediately killed. This is another unhappy instance of
the culpable neglect of the most ordinary precaution.

In the same year, on the sixth of September, occurred
the most lamentable catastrophe ever known in the annals
of Alpine adventure. The weather was uncertain and
dangerous, and two competent English mountaineers who
had just had a very narrow escape on the mountain had
come down to Chamonix. There they found a Mr.
Randall, "an intense mountain enthusiast," who was
rather stimulated than deterred by their account of the

' "The Alpine Journal," vol. x%'iii., p. 561.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

difficulties they had experienced. Mr. Randall was joined
by Mr. J. Bean and the Rev. G. McCorkindale. All three
were without training and without experience, but they
determined to climb the mountain together. They en-
gaged eight guides and porters, and those probably about
the worst who were then on the Chamonix roll. The
party reached the Grands Mulcts on the evening of the
fifth, and started again on the following morning, leaving
their only compass behind them. The ascent was made
by way of the Corridor and the Mur de la Cote. The
moment they reached the summit a furious storm burst
upon them. What actually happened no man can tell,
for not one of the eleven ever returned. The only
evidence we have of the disaster is a written statement
made by Mr. Bean when he was almost in extremis ;
but reasonable conjectures can be made from the position
in which some of the bodies were afterwards discovered.
The weather was very bad for the twelve following days,
and search parties, although organised, were unable to
proceed. On the seventeenth, however, a little higher
than the Mur de la Cote, McCorkindale and two porters
were found lying together unroped. Higher up Mr. Bean
and one porter were found with all the baggage of the
party. The bodies of Mr. Randall and of the other guides
and porters were never discovered, though they were
searched for during three days by the best of the
Chamonix guides. On the body of Mr. Bean the
following diary was found : —

"Tuesday, September 6th. I have made the ascent of

234

Fatalities

Mont Blanc with ten persons — eight guides, Mr. McCork-
indale and Mr. Randall. We arrived on the summit at
half-past two o'clock. Immediately after leaving it, I was
enveloped in clouds of snow. We passed the night in a
grotto excavated out of the snow, affording very uncom-
fortable shelter, and I was ill all night. September yth —
morning. Intense cold — much snow, which falls unin-
terruptedly. Guides restless. September 7th — evening.
We have been on Mont Blanc for two days in a terrible
snowstorm ; we have lost our way and are in a hole
scooped out of the snow at a height of 15,000 feet. I have
no hope of descending. Perhaps this book may be found
and forwarded. We have no food. My feet are already
frozen and I am exhausted. I have only strength to write
a few words. I die in the faith of Jesus Christ, with
affectionate thoughts of my family — my remembrances to
all. I trust we may meet in heaven."

The stor}' is pitiful in the extreme ; but what can be
expected, when the opponents of the fierce forces of
nature, are incompetent adventurers and untrustworthy
guides ? ^ Oh for an Aimer or an Anderegg in
such an emergency ! One single capable man
would have forbidden the expedition or averted the
disaster.

On the fourteenth of September, 1873, Professor
Fedchenko, a Russian savant, known by his mountain
travels in Siberia, lost his life at the foot of the seracs
of the Geant glacier. He had desired to ascend the Col

» " The Alpine Journal," vol. v. p. 193.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

du Geant only, and to return to Chamonix the same day.
His arrangements were badly made. He did not leave
the Montanvert till eight in the morning, and consequently
did not arrive at " La Vierge " (about an hour from the
summit) till the heat of the afternoon. He had with him
Joseph and Prosper Payot. A storm burst upon them
with great violence. Wet to the skin and half frozen by
the bitter wind, they retraced their steps. They recrossed
the seracs, but Fedchenko, who was very lightly clad, was
quite exhausted, and the two Payots had to carry him.
They reached the moraine of " La Noire " at nine in the
evening, when Joseph Payot, an incompetent guide,
became nearly as much exhausted as his employer. The
night was dark. The storm continued and they re-
mained huddled together till two the following morning.
Prosper Payot, who behaved well, kept his brother and
Fedchenko moving. At last the traveller fell into a
lethargy. Prosper had to shake and kick his brother
to prevent him also from falling asleep, and then came
to the conclusion that as his employer was "as good
as dead," he had better try to save his brother and
himself. They left Fedchenko on the rocks, and reached
the Montanvert about five in the morning in a very
exhausted and pitiable condition. This accident was
the result of the Chamonix system, by which a guide is
paid according to the distance he goes. To the seracs
of the Geant, their fee would have been ten francs each ;
to the summit of the Col, forty francs. They pushed on
for the sake of extra pay, in defiance of ordinary prudence,
and lost their nerve when they encountered real danger.

236

Fatalities

To have left their employer alone on the moraine whilst
still alive was an outrageous proceeding ; and it is manifest
that if Prosper Payot could rescue his brother by starting
from the moraine at two in the morning, the Professor
could have been saved if both brothers had insisted on
his descending, instead of halting on the moraine at nine
on the previous evening.

On the thirtieth of August, 1874, Mr. J. A. G. Marshall,
of Leeds, left Courmayeur with the intention of climbing
Mont Blanc by the Brouillard glacier. His guides were
well-known men, Johann Fischer of Meyringen, and
Ulrich Aimer of Grindelwald. They camped out on the
mountain, but the following day were unsuccessful. They
turned back too late, and found themselves at nightfall on
the ridge at the head of the Brouillard and Fresnay
glaciers. Here they ought to have passed the night, but
being anxious to reach their bivouac they waited for the
moon to rise and then proceeded slowly downwards.
One asked the hour, and was told that it was midnight.
Fischer was leading, when suddenly the snow gave way
under them, and all three fell into a crevasse. Mr. Mar-
shall's skull was fractured, and he was instantly killed, and
Fischer was so seriously injured that he did not long
survive. Aimer was not much hurt, and when day-
light came he crept out of the crevasse and walked
down to Courmayeur. Mr. Marshall was an excel-
lent climber, and his guides first rate, but they
would have done better to halt, whatever the incon-
venience, when daylight disappeared. The most com-
petent men are helpless when sti-uggling with the

237

The Annals of Mont Blanc

difficulties of an unknown glacier in the middle of
the night. ^

On the nineteenth of Jul}^, 1882, two men were killed
on one of the buttresses on the south side of Mont Blanc
— the Aiguille Blanche de Peteret. One was the well-
known guide, Johann Petrus, the other was Francis
Maitland Balfour. Mr. Balfour had won great distinc-
tion at Harrow and at Cambridge, was a Fellow of the
Royal Society, had a splendid scientific reputation, and a
personal charm of manner which endeared him to count-
less friends. This Aiguille was then unclimbed, and its
conquest was naturally a great object of ambition. The
well-known Emile Rey, who afterwards perished on the
Aiguille du Geant, was invited by Mr. Balfour to
accompany him, but declined, as he considered the
snow to be in a dangerous condition. Mr. Balfour
did not agree with him, and started, accompanied only
by Petrus. They did not return. A search party was
organised, and some da^'^s later their bodies were found
on the rocks between the glaciers of Brouillard and
Fresnay at the foot of a steep arete. They had not
succeeded in climbing the mountain. The accident
happened from a slip on rocks, but how the slip
occurred no one will never know. A peak like the
Aiguille Blanche demanded an exceptionally strong
party, personal fitness, and favourable conditions of
snow. Mr. Balfour was an admirable mountaineer,
but was not in robust health, the snow was not in

" The Alpine Journal,' vol. vii. p. no
238

Fatalities

good condition, and only two persons formed the
party for the ascent of an unknown mountain.

On the first of August, 1885, two Italian gentlemen,
without guides, attempted the Col du Geant from
Courmayeur. One was Signor Mario Rev. A little
below the top of the pass Signor Rey seized a
boulder, which he displaced, and which in its fall
carried him down about fiv^e hundred feet. His body
was covered by a great mass of stones, and was
extricated with considerable difBculty. The traveller
was seventeen years of age, and only two persons
were of the party.

On the twelfth of August, 1890, one Gratien Brunod,
a Courmayeur guide, was on the top of the Col du
Geant with two Italian climbers. Attempting to get
some water in the neighbourhood of the hut, he lost
his footing, fell down a thousand feet, and was imme-
diately killed.

A few days later in the same year another melancholy
accident occurred. On the eighteenth of August the
Count di Villanova, accompanied by Jean Joseph
Maquignaz and Antonio Castagneri (two of the ablest
guides in the Alps) and two porters, set out from the
Cantine de la Visaille to ascend Mont Blanc by way
of the Dome glacier. The day was fine, but there was
a Fohnwind, and from the summit of the Grandes
Jorasses, then quite clear, another mountaineer watched
an ominous cloud settling over Mont Blanc. He
expressed to his guides the earnest hope that no one
might be sleeping out for the great mountain. It is

239

The Annals of Mont Blanc

by no means unusual for storms to assail Mont Blanc
when all other peaks in the chain are clear. That night
Villanova and his party slept near the Dome glacier,
and tried the ascent on the following day. Neither he
nor any member of his party has ever been heard of
since. Bad weather lasted for several days, but the
utmost efforts were made to discover the bodies.
Traces were followed up the Dome glacier to the
ridge connecting the Aiguille de Bionnassay with the
Dome du Gouter, but no further. Probably the party
were blown off the ridge, and five men perished un-
timely, whose bodies may some day be discovered on
the French Bionnassay glacier.

On August the twentieth, 1891, Herr Rothe, the
Count de Favernay, three guides, and two porters slept
in the Vallot hut at the foot of the Bosses du Droma-
daire. The weather made the ascent impossible, and
on the afternoon of the twenty-first, the bad weather
continuing, they started for the downward journey.
Four workmen who had been engaged on the Obser-
vatory descended with them, and the whole eleven
were attached to one rope. While crossing the Petit
Plateau, they were struck by an avalanche of excep-
tional volume, which fell from the snow cliffs of the
Dome and swept across the Plateau, forcing five men
into a crevasse. Three were extricated, but Rothe and
his guide Michel Simond were killed. The party should
have been on three ropes and have kept carefully away
from the Dome side of the glacier. Bad weather, and
probably bad guiding, were the causes of this disaster.

240

Fatalities

On the twenty-fifth of August, 1892, Mr. Richard
Lewis Nettleship, a distinguished Fellow and Tutor of
Balliol College, Oxford, lost his life on the mountain.
He started from the Col de Voza early on the twenty-
fourth, and reached the Aiguille du Gouter at one in
the afternoon. The morning was fine, but there were
indications of a change, and heavy clouds were rolling
up from .the south when the Aiguille was attained.
His guides were Alfred Comte and Gaspard Simond,
Chamonix men of poor repute. Instead of instantly
retreating, they hoped they might be able to reach the
Vallot hut, two or three hours distant ; but within an
hour from the Aiguille the storm burst and the party
were enveloped in a " tourmente." They lost their
way, and after wandering about for some hours vainly
endeavouring to regain it, they dug a hole in the snow
and passed the night there. Mr. Nettleship was in good
spirits, though the storm continued the whole of the
night. On the morning of the twenty-fifth it was still
snowing hard, and the guides pressed Mr. Nettleship to
stay where he was, but he refused, saying it was idle
to remain there and die like cowards, and that they
must make an effort to get away. He started, the
guides following him. After walking a little way he
became unsteady and stumbled, then cried out and fell
forward, and bidding them goodbye, expired. The
guides, on the weather clearing a little, made for the
Vallot hut, and the next day descended to Chamonix,
and the body was afterwards discovered and brought
down.

241 R

The Annals of Mont Blanc

On the twenty-seventh of August, 1893, Signer Poggi
was killed by a falling stone on the Aiguille Noire de
Peteret, on the south side of the mountain. Many
men have been injured from the same cause, but this
is the only instance, says Mr. Whymper, where a
mountain climber in the Alps has been thus killed
outright. Probably it was a real accident and un-
avoidable.

In the following month an Italian artist, Signor
Cumani, attempted to ascend Mont Blanc by the
Brenva glacier alone. He has never been heard of
since.

On the eighteenth of August, 1895, three more lives
were lost. On that day Mr. Eccles found an ice-axe
lying on the snow just below the Petit Plateau.
Thinking it belonged to one of the numerous porters
on the mountain, he stuck it upright and proceeded on
his journey. On his return he found the axe still un-
claimed. On the twenty-fifth, inquiries were made by
telegraph from Courmayeur with regard to two guides,
who had not been heard of for several days. It appears
that Dr. Robert Schniirdreher, an advocate of Prague,
had crossed the Col du Geant with two guides of
Courmayeur, Michel Savoix and Laurent Brun. The
party afterwards ascended Mont Blanc. As they did
not return, Mr. Eccles suggested that the glacier should
be examined in the neighbourhood of the unclaimed
ice-axe. The gallant Michel Payot headed a search
party, and in a crevasse below the ice-axe, the three
bodies were found entombed. The ascent of the

242

Fatalities

mountain had been made in one day, and the party
on their return slept in the Vallot hut. Now in
descending Mont Blanc in the middle of the day,
men often make a series of glissades nearly all the
way from the Grand Plateau to the Grands Mulets.
The snow is soft, and to glissade is therefore safe and
easy. Schniirdreher and his guides forgot that in the
early morning, when they began to descend, the snow
is hard, and glissading consequently dangerous. They
must unfortunately have tried this method of progress,
lost all control of their course, and fallen headlong
into a crevasse. Wanton carelessness was the cause of
the disaster.

An American gentleman of the name of Reigel, who
had previously climbed Mont Blanc alone from the
Chamonix side, attempted the same feat from Courma-
yeur. He lost his life on the Dome glacier on the
fourteenth of July, 1898.

It will thus be seen that the death-roll of Mont Blanc
contains the names of forty-seven persons. It is im-
possible to ponder on this sad record without humilia-
tion and even anger, at a loss of life to so large an
extent avoidable. The rules to be followed and pre-
cautions to be adopted are now so well known that to
break them is the worst of all offences, for it is a sin
against light and knowledge.

Men who love the mountains for their own sake, for
the lessons they can teach and the happiness they can
bring, must insist, in season and out of season, upon the
observance of those rules of prudence and good sense,

243

The Annals of Mont Blanc

without which mountaineering will inevitably be dis-
credited in all impartial eyes. Excellent advice has been
given almost ad nauseam, but it is not always followed,
or even taken in good part. In this respect the younger
guides are many of them the greatest sinners. To all
climbers or guides we would say — Never cross a glacier
without a rope properly used. Never climb alone, or
with a single companion, above the snow-line. Treat
every great mountain with the respect it deserves. Learn
the art of mountaineering with trained companions before
you attempt to practise it. Steadily avoid all places where
stones or avalanches are likely to fall. Never climb in
bad weather. Turn back resolutely before wind or storm.
Avoid the casual guide. Ensure as far as may be personal
fitness. Do nothing that can discredit the manliest of all
pursuits, or bring down the ridicule of the undiscerning
upon the noblest pastime in the world.

Accidents occasioned by the mistakes, the imprudence,
or the folly of men are not the only ones that occur in
the Alps. Tremendous catastrophes sometimes happen
from the operation of the irresistible forces of nature.
Every one has read of the great landslip at Goldau which
took place in the first decade of the present century.
Most people have heard of the bursting of the great lake
at Mauvoisin in the Val de Bagnes, in the month of May,
1818, which caused great loss of life, and carried desola-
tion as far as the old town of Martigny. Few have
forgotten the great landslip in Canton Glarus which
destroyed half a village, or the terrible fall of ice from
the Altels in September, 1895, which killed six persons

244

Fatalities

and one hundred and fifty cattle, and laid waste the
beautiful pastures of Spitalmatten. Such accidents are
constantly occurring on a smaller scale, but the total
destruction of the Baths of St. Gervais in 1892 by an
avalanche of water, mud, and stones, which fell from the
western side of Mont Blanc, and the great loss of life that
ensued, forms one of the most tragic chapters in mountain
history.

The traveller from Geneva still stops for a few minutes
at the little village of Le Fayet while the diligences are
got ready for Chamonix. A hundred yards from the
railway station he sees on his right a quaint wooden
building which forms the entrance to the well-known
Baths of St. Gervais. Beyond the iron gates, a hand-
some drive, beautifully wooded, leads through a lovely
garden to the establishment, which now stands in a
delightful and shady spot at the mouth of a gorge
through which runs the river of the Bon Nant. The
Bon Nant is often swollen by floods, but so secure did
the architects of the establishment feel, that part of their
building was erected close to the riverside, while another
portion was actually constructed partly over the river
bed. The river, rising near the Col du Bonhomme,
receives the greater part of the drainage which flows
from the south-western flanks of the Mont Blanc chain,
including that of the glaciers of Miage and Trelatete.
At Bionay it receives a tributary which falls steeply
from the Glacier de Bionnassay. This glacier flows
from a mighty snow amphitheatre, above which soars
the Aiguille of that name, together with the summits of

-'45

The Annals of Mont Blanc

the Aiguille and Dome du Gouter. North of the Bion-
nassay glacier is a smaller one called the glacier of Tete
Rousse, well known to climbers of Mont Blanc" from
its western side. Adjoining, and a little below the
Tete Rousse, is a stony tract known as the Desert de
Pierre Ronde, and well worthy of its name.

Owing to the stoppage of the sub-glacial drainage, in
some manner never precisely ascertained, a lake was
formed under the Tete Rousse glacier, in which an
enormous body of water was pent up at a spot ten
thousand feet above the sea-level. Between one and
two o'clock on the night of the twelfth of July, 1892,
the ice that held up the lake gave way. The water
swept in a torrent of tremendous force over the Desert
de Pierre Ronde, gathering up thousands of tons of
rock and stones in its course. It passed with a terrific
roar under the hamlet of Bionnassay, which it did
not injure, destroyed half the village of Bionay on the
high-road between Contamines and St. Gervais, and
tearing up trees by the roots as it went along, joined the
main river of the Bon Nant ; following its bed and
destroying on its way the old Pont du Diable, it hurled
its seething flood of water, timber, stones, and mud upon
the solid buildings of the establishment and crushed them
into fragments ; then crossing the Chamonix road, it
spread itself out in the form of a hideous fan over the
valley of the Arve, destroying part of the village of Le
Fayet on its way.

Such was the catastrophe of St. Gervais, which claimed
more than a hundred and fifty victims, and which shows

246

.1,' j^.' 1.V.1 , y V"' id'

&i*lM^^^

Fatalities

how little nature recks of human life. The calamity
could not have been predicted or averted. A few weeks
later I climbed to the glacier of Tete Rousse and was let
down into the then empty lake ; then following the track
of the avalanche, I walked along its whole course to the
site of the Baths, and on to Le Fayet. Utter ruin was
everywhere. The once lovely gardens were five or six
feet deep in mud, fine trees had been snapped like reeds,
and enormous blocks of stone were strewn over the
dreary waste. I visited St. Gervais again in 1897. Man
and nature had resumed their work. The Baths had
been rebuilt in a safer spot; trees were springing from
the soil ; lichen, moss, and the wild strawberry were
growing upon the very stones w^hich had caused such
piteous devastation, and the gardens were again smiling
and beautiful. " Nature repairs her ravages, but not
all. The uptorn trees are not rooted again ; the parted
hills are left scarred."

247

CHAPTER XII

THE CHAMONIX GUIDES

WHEN Chamonix was first visited there were
apparently plenty of men who were competent to
conduct a traveller to the Mer de Glace, and to the other
glaciers which descended into the valley. "We took
with us," says Windham, " several peasants — some to be
our guides, and others to carry wine and provisions."
Chamois-hunting and crystal-finding, then as later, gave
their votaries greater opportunities than their neighbours
enjoyed for acquiring an adequate knowledge of snow and
glacier, so that such men were the best qualified to act
as guides to adventurous travellers when their services
should be required. None of them, however, were
trained guides as we now understand the term ; the time
for such a profession had not yet arrived. Jacques
Balmat, Jean Michel Cachat, Marie Couttet, and others
who accompanied Saussure and his successors in the
earlier ascents of the mountain, must have been brave and
competent men, but no one can judge of the real capacity
of a guide with whom he has not worked, and in modern
days the standard of excellence is far higher than was
ever dreamt of in bygone times.

248

The Chamonix Guides

At the close of the last century and during the early
years of the present one, visitors to the Valley of
Chamonix were few and far between. After the peace
of 1815 they were more frequent, some few desiring to
ascend the great mountain, the majority only to explore
the glaciers to which Windham and Martel had called
attention. It then became customary for some of the
Chamonix peasants, who were well acquainted with the
mountains and who were willing to officiate as guides, to
carry a small book about with them, in which travellers
who engaged them entered their names, and sometimes
gave certificates of the character and the ability of the
persons they employed.

" Livret de service " was the name given to such books
by French-speaking people. " Fiihrerbuch " was the
name used by the German-speaking Swiss when a
generation later they also became guides. The early
Chamonix " livrets " are of great interest as furnishing a
record of visitors to the valley and of the excursions
made, but very few of the latter were of any mountaineering
importance. The Mer de Glace, the Glacier des Bossons,
the Brevent and the Flegere, m rare cases the Jardin,
were for the most part the limits of aspiration.

Jean Michel Balmat was a well-known guide in the
beginning of the present century. His livret bears the
date of 1 8 14, and the last entry in it was made on the
seventeenth of September, 1824.

A few extracts will suffice : —

" Mr. Glover, landscape painter, from London, has
pleasure in recommending Jean Michel Balmat as an

249

The Annals of Mont Blanc

excellent guide and he believes a worthy man, Sept.
25th, 1814." X

" Jean Michel Balmat attended us to see the Mer de
Glace from Montanvert, and we were very well satisfied
with his abilities and attention. — F. Barclay and A.
Barclay, October nth, 1814."

" Major Fausette and Major Cockburn, R.A., were
attended by Jean Michel Balmat to the Mer de Glace and
other glaciers, and to Martigny and Mont St. Bernard,
and they can with truth say that he was a most excellent
guide, very civil and attentive, and that his mules were
uncommonly good and steady. July 20th, 1816."

" The bearer, Jean Michel Balmat, conducted Mr. P.
Garland and Mr. Frederick Thruston to the Jardin h'om
Chamonix in about eleven hours, Oct. 7, 18 16, and they
have every reason to be satisfied with his services and to
think him a very careful and good guide."

" Jean Michel Balmat attended Mrs. Hill and her
daughter and a large party on several excursions in the
neighbourhood of Chamonix, particularly up La Mon-
tanvert and the Croix de Flegere, a still more arduous
ascent ; and found him a most intelligent man, attentive
and very active. She is desirous of recommending him
to the attention of those who are not very courageous,
finding his manners all that is encouraging, and a
steadiness which is indispensable in such arduous excur-

' Glover was an artist of considerable repute, and painted both in oil and water
colours. Amongst his landscapes were pictures of Helvellyn and Ullswater. He
died in 1849. It would be interesting if any of his Alpine works could be
identified.

250

The Chamonix Guides

sions — another recommendation is the neatness of his
person. Sept. nth, 1819."

Here and there a more important expedition was
recorded, in which Balmat '"gave equal satisfaction, for
Count Matzewski writes on the fifth of August, 1818 : —

" Jean Michel Balmat a ete avec moi a 1' Aiguille du
Midi et au Mont Blanc. Je le recommande comme un
guide tres bon, fort, et attentif."

Thus in the early days guides became known by the
records of past services, and travellers were free to choose
the men who seemed to have the highest qualifications.
Unfortunately this free-trade metliod soon came to an
end.

In the month of May, 1823, the organisation of the
guides of Chamonix was undertaken by the Sardinian
Government. They were formed into a Corporation by
Royal Order, and a definite tariff for certain excursions
was imposed. Further laws were promulgated in 1846
by Royal manifesto, the preamble of which was as
follows: —

"The increasing number of travellers who come to
visit the Valley of Chamonix has shown the need of
further regulating the service of guides established by our
manifesto of the month of May, 1823, and of modifica-
tions for securing the safety of travellers and for
rendering their excursions easy and agreeable."

Additional rules were laid down in May, 1852. In the
year 1846 the number of guides had been limited to
sixty, but this limitation was now abolished. Every
peasant domiciled at Chamonix was eligible to be placed

251

The Annals of Mont Blanc

on the Guide-roll if he had the necessary qualifications,
which were defined as " personal probity, combined with
physical and intellectual aptitude." These qualifications
were to be tested by examination. No traveller was
bound to take a guide even for the most dangerous
excursion ; but the days of climbing without guides had
not begun, and the traveller was really forced to submit
to the usual rules. When Savoy was ceded to France,
the French Government continued to uphold the Society
of guides on the existing lines. Theoretically the object
of the guide system as established by the Sardinian
Government and approved and amended by the Govern-
ment of France, was to ensure the safetv of travellers and
to make their excursions " easy and agreeable." For
this purpose security was to be taken for the competence
of the guides. Let us see how it worked out. The
examination was a mere farce, the rota was rigidly
adhered to, and the traveller was also obliged to take as
many guides as the Bureau in its wisdom might consider
necessary for any particular expedition. Thus a trades'
union of the worst form was established, and was
perpetuated for many years. It seemed advantageous to
the short-sighted natives, for it ensured the regular and
systematic employment of most of the adult inhabitants ;
but it was really ruinous. It was hateful to moun-
taineers, who, wanting competent guides for some im-
portant excursion, had to take the first men on the roll,
good or bad. Hence they either avoided Chamonix, or
brought foreign guides with them into the valley. It
tended to lower the quality of the guides themselves, the

252

The Chamonix Guides

worst of whom might be cast for Mont Blanc, which
possibly they had never climbed ; whilst the best might
have the bad luck to find no better employment than to
accompany a mule to the Montanvert, or to carry a lady's
shawl to the Brevent or the Flegere.

No encouragement was given to special capacity.
Why should a man cultivate the manners or practise the
arts by which alone a guide really becomes great, if he
was to be no better off than the most incompetent man
upon the roll ? The tendency of the system was to
produce a dead level of mediocrity. The result might
easily have been foreseen. The names of the old guides
who worked unfettered at the time of Saussure's ascent,
and for thirty years afterwards, stand out in the history
of Chamonix like peaks above the clouds. Their
successors have sadly degenerated. It is a melancholy
fact that of the three hundred men now on the Chamonix
roll, those who could be relied upon in a grave emergency
may be counted almost upon the fingers of one hand.
Of course no regulations, however absurd, can altogether
prevent real genius from being discovered. Auguste
Balmat, Michel Croz, and Auguste Simond, among the
dead, were men of exceptional ability, but would have
taken a far higher position if they had possessed the
freedom of their brethren of Meyringen and Grindelwald.
Frangois Devouassoud, now retired, possesses all the
qualities of a great guide, and was selected by Mr.
Douglas Freshfield to accompany him in two journeys to
the Caucasus, where he led in the first ascents of Kasbek,
Elbruz, and Tetnuld. No man more chafed under the

253

The Annals of Mont Blanc

restrictions imposed by the Chamonix system, from
which he wholly separated himself more than twenty
years ago. The effect of this estrangement on
Devouassoud's career was noteworthy. While there is
hardly a group in the Alps, from the Col de Tenda to the
Gross Glockner, where he has not climbed, his record of
peaks is lowest in his own district, for the very good
reason that his employers hesitated to subject him to the
anno3^ance inflicted by the guide Bureau on those who
did not recognise their rules. Michel and Alphonse
Payot are men of real capacity and power, but no one
who has climbed with them can be ignorant of their
views as to the curse of the role. And there is one old
guide still living at Chamonix whose opinion is entitled
to still greater weight. This is the doyen of the
Chamonix guides, Jean Payot, the father of Michel and
Alphonse. He is ninety-three years of age, and forms a
wonderful connecting link between the present and the
past. He was well acquainted with Jacques Balmat, and
was the leader of the expedition which went to try to
recover his remains in the Valley of Sixt, in 1853. He
led Mr. J. E. Cross to the summit of Mont Blanc in 1843,
and Mr. Richards and Mr. Gretton in 1850. He watched
the birth of the guide system in 1823, its various develop-
ments and its final abrogation as an institution supported
by Government in 1892, and he fearlessly asserts that it
has done infinite harm. For instance, the shortest way
from Chamonix to the summit of Mont Blanc is by the
" ancien passage." It has been seen how dangerous this
route may be in certain conditions of weather and snow.

254

^..

Michel Pavot.

Jean Payot.
Mclchior Anderes^g.

Fi'ani;ois Dcvouassoud.

[To fine pngc 254.

The Chamonix Guides

In settled weather, however, and with a north wind the
route is perfectly safe. After the accident to Captain
Arkwright's party in 1866 the Chamonix guide Bureau
forbade the use of this route ; a foolish step, though
possibly justified by the stupidity and ignorance of the
bulk of the Chamonix guides. It is easier for incom-
petent guides to abandon a particular route altogether,
than to take the trouble to acquaint themselves with the
conditions under which it is safe or dangerous.

Strenuous efforts have been made at various times to
procure a relaxation of the obnoxious regulations. One
of the first official acts of the Alpine Club was to send
a memorial to the Sardinian Government. In this docu-
ment, dated in 1858, it was pointed out that under the
laws of 1852 a party desirous of ascending Mont Blanc
must take four guides for each traveller, and that when,
in the year 1855, seven Englishmen well accustomed to
the glaciers desired to make the ascent, they were forced
to retain the services of twenty-eight guides. As the tariff
for each guide was a hundred francs, and the travellers
had to provide food and wine for the whole caravan, the
cost of such an expedition would have been nearly four
thousand francs. The absurdity of the regulation was
admitted, and every member of the Club (which imposes
upon its members an adequate mountaineering quali-
fication) was made free to choose what guides he
pleased and what number he pleased for any kind of
expedition.

The Club returned to the charge in 1874, and presented
a caustic and unanswerable memorial to the French

255

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Government. They pointed out the gradual and in-
creasing deterioration in the body of Chamonix guides ;
they showed that though the glaciers of Mont Blanc were
better known than any other Alpine region and offered
no special difficulties or dangers, yet during the few
preceding years they had been the scene of five fatal
accidents involving the loss of nineteen lives. They
urged that the spot of all others endeared to lovers of the
Alps by natural attractions and traditional associations
was being gradually abandoned ; and they stated that the
condition of affairs was prejudicial alike to the safety and
comfort of travellers in general, and to the true interests
of the inhabitants. They suggested that the chief guide
should be an independent person appointed during
pleasure by the Prefet of the district ; that an unrestricted
choice of guides should be allowed to all classes of
travellers ; that the system of admission to the Society
of Guides should be altered ; that a list of guides with
their respective qualifications should be printed annually
and sold to the public, and that the tariff should be
modified in several particulars.

The memorial was received with favour by the then
Prefet of Haute Savoie. He withdrew from the guides
the right of nomin^iting their own head ; he suggested
several reforms, and particularly that where a traveller
expressed no preference in the choice of a guide, it
should be the duty of the Bureau to recommend men
who were most fitted for the expedition proposed. The
Prefet encountered great local opposition, but consider-
able improvements resulted from the memorial ; the

256

The Chamonix Guides

main point gained being, that at least for a time,i any
traveller was free to choose his own guides. This con-
cession was hampered by the monstrous regulation that
every guide and porter should pay to the Society out
of his earnings five per cent, on ordinary expeditions, and
fifteen per cent, on extraordinary ones ; in other words,
that the most competent guides should contribute to the
support of the most lazy and incompetent men upon the
roll.

These regulations, notwithstanding the improvements,
still appeared to climbers to be " a compromise between
the selfish instincts of the baser part of the population
and the checks and suggestions of a fussy officialism."
But they were soon altered for the worse. The absolute
right of a traveller to choose his own guide was again
limited, and a free choice was given only to the following
persons : i. Scientific explorers. 2. Persons not speaking
French and desiring a guide who could speak their own
language. 3. Persons desirous of having a guide they
had previously employed. 4. Persons making perilous
ascents. 5. Members of any Alpine Club. 6. Ladies
travelling alone. These rules were foolish and inco-
herent. If the idea was to give freedom of choice to real
mountaineers, it was ridiculous to give it to the members
of every Alpine Club, for nearly all such clubs, except
the English one, have (very reasonably from their point
of view) no qualification whatever. Consequently the
restriction fell chiefly on English and Americans. But
the fatal defect was that no attempt was made to give

' " The Alpine Journal, " vol. ix. p. 308.

257 s

The Annals of Mont Blanc

travellers reasonable security by ensuring the fitness of
the guides upon the roll. Hence climbers avoided the
Chamoniards, and brought more than ever into Chamonix
the men of Aleyringen and Grindelwald, of Saas and the
Val Tournanche. The great rock Aiguilles of the chain
were almost all climbed for the first time under the
leadership of foreign guides. The men of Chamonix had
deliberately thrown away their opportunities and they
had only themselves to blame. Some, indeed, of the
" baser sort " endeavoured to prevent the access of
foreigners to their valley. All such attempts miserably
failed. Against the power of genuine ability all jealousy
was impotent. The hotel-keepers, a very important
element in the population, had the most obvious interest
in Chamonix being frequented, and foreign guides
were made welcome by all but the guide Bureau, even
by the better and more enlightened of the guides them-
selves.

In 1889 the French Government desired to allow other
persons than mere inhabitants of the Commune of
Chamonix to join the Guide-roll, and this proposition
caused intense excitement and alarm. Angry recrimina-
tions took place between the Bureau des Guides and the
Prefet of Haute Savoie, and ultimately on the thirtieth of
December, 1892, the Societe des Guides de Chamonix
was abolished. The Society protested, but in vain. They
affirmed that the action was illegal ; that it was not really
due to the Government, but to a Prefet " mal inspire " ;
that it was contrary to the interests of Chamonix and of
the guides, porters, and mule owners ; that it was

258

The Chamonix Guides

detrimental to travellers and even to France. They
complained bitterly that the Government which had
struck a cruel blow at the unfortunate valley by its
" brutal abolition " of the Society of Guides, at the same
time desired to construct a railway to the Montanvert —
the effect of which would be to render mules useless, to
diminish the opportunities of the guides, and to involve
Chamonix in ruin. The Prefet, however, remained firm.
He was clearly of opinion that one of the first duties of
any Government is to let its people alone, and so the
Society as a Corporation under Government control
ceased to exist after a lifetime of seventy years.

Travellers would appear to have borne the suppression
of the Society with resignation if not with equanimity.
It was theoretically a good thing that the French Govern-
ment ceased to give official sanction to a thoroughly bad
system. Practically, however, it has made little difference.
The men of Chamonix were free to organise themselves,
and they have done so, though their syndicate does not
possess the coercive power of the old Society, since those
who do not belong to it cannot be prevented from acting
as guides.

New laws have been adopted which include almost
everything that was objectionable under the old regime.
Only persons domiciled in the Commune are eligible to
serve ; no real provision is made to secure the fitness
or capacity of the members ; they choose their own
president and officers ; they make their own regulations,
and impose their own exorbitant tariff. The six excep-
tions to the rule that the traveller may not choose his own

259

The Annals of Mont Blanc

guides are still allowed, but the guides are at liberty to
refuse any engagement when chosen out of turn. The
ablest men must still make the most trivial expeditions or
lose their turn upon the roll. Free choice of guides,
other than in excepted cases, is forbidden. The old habits
and the old traditions have proved too strong.

It is not to be assumed that Cham.onix is incapable

of producing guides of high order ; we have sufficient

evidence to the contrary. But in other districts where

they are really free, their knowledge and capacity have

enormously increased. Climbers have had the benefit

of the services not only of men of such supreme

excellence as Aimer and Anderegg and Rey, and many

of the younger generation whose names it would be

invidious to mention, but also of a rank and file of a

steadily improving quality. It is, of course, right that

every centre of mountaineering should have its official

list of guides from which a man may be excluded for

misconduct, but, beyond that, most regulations are

injurious, if not oppressive. It is a grave misfortune for

Chamonix to have been the site of an experiment which,

in practice, has so miserably failed, and it is an equal

misfortune for the climbing world to have lost the

services of the better men, whom Chamonix, under a

more rational system, would doubtless have produced.

260

MONT BLANC FROM THE
SUMMIT OF THE AIGUILLE DU
MIDI, SHOWING THE MONT
MAUDIT AND THE CALOTTE.

-t

CHAPTER XIII

THE SUBJECTION OF MONT BLANC — HUTS, REFUGES,
AND OBSERVATORIES

IT has already been stated that practically no person
can be admitted into the Alpine Club without an
adequate mountaineering qualification. The standard at
first was not a high one, but in recent years it has been
steadily raised. The result has been that notwithstanding
the great growth of mountaineering, the numbers of the
English Society have been far less than those of Con-
tinental societies having similar objects.

The English Club has only about six hundred members.
The members of the French, German, Swiss and Italian
Clubs are numbered by thousands. The consequence
has been that while the English Society has never had
more funds at its disposal than are necessary for its
ordinary administration, the other clubs, which impose
no qualification upon their members, generally, if not
always, had large funds at their command. How were
such funds to be applied ? Other European societies,
containing great numbers of persons not really moun-
taineers, have naturally more interest than ourselves in
making mountaineering easy.

261

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Climbing, however fascinating, is very laborious. Was
there no way in which undue fatigue could be avoided,
and climbing made easy to the modern mountaineer ?
Supposing that huts could be constructed about the level
of the snow-line, and that such huts could be supplied with
the necessary cooking apparatus, with blankets, possibly
even with beds ; to what better purpose could surplus
funds be devoted ? The idea was favourably received,
and in these later days huts have been erected all over the
Alps by which the ascent of the great mountains has been
enormously facilitated. The older generation of climbers
would probably have preferred the old ways. There was
a charm in the night bivouac by the glacier, and in the
camp fire under the lonely crags ; there was a sense of
freedom in lying out in the open in the moonlight, or
under the multitudinous stars, for the loss of which the
modern hut is but a poor consolation. On the other
hand it must be admitted, that the new system enables
many persons to attain summits which otherwise would
be inaccessible to them, and makes it feasible to start in
doubtful weather at the mere cost of returning if the
weather grows worse. Again, huts form a valuable refuge
when anything goes wrong, in cases of injury or illness,
or when a violent storm overtakes a descending party.
Doubtless to lie out on a mountain side, often in wet
or in cold, is not the best preliminary for a success-
ful expedition ; and so the era of huts and refuges
set in.

Saussure, it will be remembered, had a cabin con-
structed on the rocks of the Grands Mulets in 1786, but

262

Huts, Refuges, and Observatories

it was too small, and falling into disuse ultimately dis-
appeared. M. le Pileur records that he saw the ruins of
it so late as 1844. The Chamonix guides soon recognised
that the ascent of the mountain would be made easier
and more attractive by the construction of a suitable
refuge at the Grands Mulcts. Accordingly they had a
wooden building put together, and piece by piece carried
up to its intended position. It was erected on a little
platform on the summit of the rocks in the year 1853,
and for thirteen years men passed the night there previous
to an ascent of the mountain. It was very rough, being
furnished only with a stove, a table, a bench, and some-
times hay and straw enough for sleeping purposes. A
careful drawing of this hut was made by Mr. Adams
Reilly in the year 1862 and is reproduced in this volume.
This was the first refuge, other than that of Saussure, ever
erected on the mountain. Many men who dreaded pass-
ing a night upon the open rocks were now provided with
an adequate shelter, and the subjection of Mont Blanc
began.

Ascents from the side of St. Gervais were not numerous,
but the guides of that village became anxious about the
superior facilities offered to climbers from the Chamonix
side. The new hut on the Grands Mulcts afforded a
sleeping place at a height of about 10,000 feet above the
sea-level. The St. Gervais men proceeded to construct
a hut on the summit of the Aiguille du Gouter at a height
of 13,000 feet, and not more than five hours' walking from
the summit of Mont Blanc. This refuge was erected
under the superintendence of Frederic Mollard, a well-

263

The Annals of Mont Blanc

known guide of St. Gervais, in the autumn of 1 856.1
Though it was completely rebuilt in 1882, it is still a
wretched place. It is generally half full of ice or snow,
but is still used by climbers of the mountain from the
western side.

But to return to Chamonix : In the year 1866 there
was a well-known guide of that village called Sylvain
Couttet. He was the proprietor of the little inn at
the Pierre Pointue some three hours above Chamonix.
The well-known Venance Payot was then Mayor of the
village, and the two determined to supersede the hut
which had been used for thirteen years, and to erect
" a Pavilion " in its place which should be under the
control of the proprietor of the inn at the Pierre Pointue.
Both this inn, which was enlarged and improved, and the
intended pavilion or "hotellerie," were let to Sylvain
Couttet for a term of years. The new building, also con-
structed of wood, was put together at Chamonix ; the
materials were carried up in 1866, and greatly improved
accommodation was afforded to travellers when the
new refuge was opened in the following year. There
was a small dining-room, two bedrooms furnished with
camp bedsteads, and a little kitchen with an excellent
stove. At first there was no permanent resident, but
when travellers set out for the Grands Mulcts they
necessarily passed the inn at the Pierre Pointue, and
porters were sent thence with fire-wood, blankets and

' M. Durier and Mr. Coolidge say that this cabin was built in 1858, but this
cannot be accurate, as it is well known that Mr. Bradshaw Smith and Mr. B.
St. John Mathews slept in it in July and August, 1857. See Coleman's "Scenes
from the Snow Fields," p. 34.

264

The llul uii llie Aiuiiille du Goutcr,

The First Hut on the Grands Mulets.

[7\) hue pngf :!64.

Huts, Refuges, and Observatories

provisions. Couttet enlarged the refuge by building
a sleeping place for guides ; he improved the beds, and
ultimately appointed a resident attendant who was in
occupation from the first of July till the end of September
in each year. For six years, however, the attendant was
annually changed, as she was found unable to bear the
rigours of the situation for more than one season. At
length, in 1878, one Marie Tairraz was discovered, who
was mistress of the establishment for eleven successive
seasons, and who was not only capable of bearing the
isolation and the cold, but ministered to the comfort of
travellers and guides with a quickness and a good-humour
which will long be remembered. Thus the ascent of the
mountain was made easy. Travellers had no longer to
carry blankets, food, or fuel with them to the Grands
Mulcts. The new refuge was regularly supplied from the
Pierre Pointue, and climbers of Mont Blanc could rely
upon a good meal and a fair bed on the eve of an intended
expedition.

As visitors to the Grands Mulcts increased, the new
building was found inadequate. The occupation of
Sylvain Couttet terminated in 1880, and the Commune
of Chamonix took that opportunity of enlarging and
improving the little inn. The platform on which the old
one was erected was not capable of enlargement, so a
new one was constructed and a second inn was built
upon it and opened in 1881. Instead of two bedrooms,
there were now four, each containing two beds, and the
kitchen was considerably improved. The building was
of stone instead of wood, the tariff was somewhat reduced,

26:;

The Annals of Mont Blanc

but was then, and is still excessive. As the years rolled
on, the new and improved inn became also inadequate.
A fresh one was constructed in 1896 and opened in the
following year. It contains eight bedrooms furnished
with excellent beds, and has a large and commodious
kitchen, the guides being accommodated in the old
hostelry. Improvements have been so continuous and
so rapid that it is impossible to predict what further
developments may be in store for the Grands Mulcts, but
the advantages now afforded will probably amply suffice
for many years to come.

The Chamonix way to the summit is the easiest and
therefore the most popular of the various routes up Mont
Blanc ; at least twenty ascents are made by way of the
Grands Mulcts, to one that is made by any other route.
It is only natural, therefore, that the most popular route
should command the best accommodation. Some of the
other routes, however, have not been wholly neglected.
At present there is no refuge either on the Brenva route
or on the Brouillard route, and climbers who make the
ascent in these directions have still to camp out in the
open.

On the Rochers du Mont Blanc route two huts have
been constructed by the Italian Alpine Club. One of
these was built in 1875 at a height of 10,194 ^^^^> ^'^^t has
now fallen into disuse. The other, known as the '* Quin-
tino Sella hut," was constructed ten years later, at a height
exceeding 11,000 feet, and is now used by the few persons
who undertake that magnificent expedition. The popular
route from Courmayeur is by the Dome glacier and the

266

Huts, Refuges, and Observatories

Aiguilles Grises. At the foot of the latter an admirable
hut was built in 1891, which affords excellent accommo-
dation to the ever-increasing number of travellers who
ascend Mont Blanc from this direction. On the western
route, men though still sometimes sleeping in the hut on
the Aiguille du Gouter, more frequently prefer the little
refuge at its foot, and it is now in contemplation to build
not a refuge, but an inn like that on the Grands Mulcts,
on the right bank of the Bionnassay glacier, near the Tete
Rousse.

On the eastern side it is not the custom to sleep on the
Col du Geant, which is too far distant from the summit
of the mountain ; although there is an excellent cabin on
the Col itself, and a new and efficient " hotellerie " is
being constructed just below the Col on the Italian side.
Climbers of Mont Blanc from the east, that is by way of
the Mont Blanc de Tacul and the Mont Maudit, will
always prefer the hut under the Aiguille du Midi — a
refuge which has recently been much improved. Of the
seven different routes, therefore, the accommodation on
one (from Chamonix) is more than enough ; on two others
there is no refuge at all, and on the remaining four the
sleeping arrangements are sufficient to meet the require-
ments of any reasonable mountaineer. The ascent of
Mont Blanc from all sides except Chamonix is still
arduous enough, but the comforts and conveniences on
the Chamonix route are such as to bring the mountain
within reach of persons of very moderate capacity. In
the old days the traveller, after leaving the Pierre Pointue,
bade adieu for a time to the habitable world. All food

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and fuel had to be carried with him. What is the case
now ? The cHmb from the valley to the summit involves
about fourteen hours of actual walking — the time varying,
of course, in accordance with the capacity of the climber
and the conditions of weather and snow. Three hours
from Chamonix is the Pierre Pointue, where rest and
refreshment can be obtained. Four hours further are
the Grands Mulcts, where the climber may obtain a
dinner and a bed. After a night's rest, five hours' more
walking brings him to the Vallot refuge, where he may
rest again and regain, if necessary, his exhausted faculties ;
and in two hours more he may reach the summit, where
he will now also find a place of shelter. Truly the
mountain has been brought into subjection, at least on
the Chamonix side.

It is manifest that these various refuges greatly facilitate
the ascent of the mountain, but, on the other hand, they
are not without their dangers. Men too often think
that they can get from one to another under conditions
of weather when no prudent person would be on the moun-
tain at all. If in the year 1892 there had been no refuge
on the Vallot rocks, Mr. Nettleship's party would not have
dreamt of leaving the hut on the Aiguille du Goiiter in
the face of a storm about to burst upon them ; and a
valuable life would have been saved.

In the year 1888 M. J. Vallot, a well-known lover of
Mont Blanc and a gentleman of considerable scientific
attainments, pointed out the advisability of constructing
a refuge at a height of 14,000 feet. He urged that many
attempted ascents resulted in failure owing to fatigue, to

268

Huts, Refuges, and Observatories

passing too rapidly into a rarefied air, to want of sufficient
food and rest, and other causes. If, he said, a suitable
refuge could be constructed at a great height, strong men
could rest for a time with pleasure, and weak men could
sleep there, could get habituated to low pressures, and
could be enabled to ascend Mont Blanc from such an
eyrie in a couple of hours.

M. Vallot at first desired to build an observatory only,
but the Commune of Chamonix declined to accord him
this privilege unless he at the same time constructed a
refuge that might be useful to travellers. This course
was agreed to. An admirable site was chosen at the foot
of the Bosses du Dromadaire, where some rocks crop out
in the snowy ridge connecting the Bosses with the Dome.
It was clear that a good foundation could be obtained
for the proposed building, which was constructed at
Chamonix in the spring of 1890. It was carried up in
pieces by a host of guides and porters, and was erected
on a good rock bed in the month of July in that year.
Part of it was intended for the refuge, and the remainder
was to be used for scientific purposes. Some time later
M. Vallot built another refuge for public use, also on
good rocks at a short distance from the observator}-, of
which he then took exclusive possession. Few persons
ascend the mountain from Chamonix without halting at
the refuge, which sometimes proves to be the limit of the
traveller's endurance, but which in most cases enables
him to rest and refit, and to pass on to the summit.

No reasonable person can find any fault with the Vallot
observatory. It cannot be seen from Chamonix. It

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affords a comfortable shelter. Its owner often spends
several consecutive weeks there. He watches his valuable
scientific instruments and carries on his observations with
sufficient comfort, though sometimes in intense cold, as
warmth can only be obtained by burning petroleum.

Some results of M. Vallot's observations are already
communicated to the public. ^ He is now building a
house outside the village which will be in direct com-
munication— by signal — with the observatory, which is
about to be removed to a more commodious site at a
short distance from the present one. Scientific men
expect a good deal from M. Vallot's researches, and they
are not likely to be disappointed. His work is difficult
and laborious, involving great physical strain and con-
stant self-denial. He has shown unvarying courtesy to
English climbers and scientific investigators, and every
one heartily wishes him success in his undertaking.

As soon as the Vallot observatory was completed it
was visited by another distinguished man of science, M.
Janssen, who was not only a prominent member of the
French Academy of Sciences, but the director of the
well-known observatory of Meudon. He, too, wanted
a pure atmosphere for scientific observation, and was of
opinion that if an observatory could be constructed on
the actual summit of Mont Blanc, it would be of the
highest importance for astronomy, physics, and meteor-
ology. The necessary funds were soon forthcoming,
though the prevalent opinion, both scientific and general,

' " Annales de I'observatoire meteorologique du Mont Blanc," J. Vallot, Paris,
1893-1898.

270

Huts, Refuges, and Observatories

was antagonistic to his scheme. Consent was given by
the Commune, but again on the condition that another
refuge should be provided for the pubHc, which was
ultimately erected on the summit of the Rochers Rouges.

The services of M. Eiffel were retained, together with
those of Herr X. Imfeld, the well-known Swiss engineer.
The one thing needed was a rock base. Unfortunately
no such base was found possible on the summit of Mont
Blanc, and after great expense had been incurred in
tunnelling, and great suffering to individual guides and
porters, the idea of the rock base was unwillingly
abandoned. Herr Imfeld admitted that he had worked
without hope, and that in his opinion the cost and the
risk were out of all proportion to any practical results
that were likely to be obtained.

Workmen had been engaged during the months of
August and September, 1891, under the leadership of
Frederic Payot, and they used M. Vallot's observatory as
a base of operations. But they suffered severely from
storms and cold ; some were badly frost-bitten, some were
disabled from mountain sickness, some deserted, and one
person. Dr. Jacottet of Chamonix, who served as a
volunteer, was seized with delirium under M. Vallot's
roof and died there. Dr. Janssen, however, never lost
heart, and determined to place the observatory upon the
snow. A temporary or pioneer structure of wood about
six feet high was placed in a hole on the summit, half
being above the snow and half below it. In the course
of two years this trial structure sunk so much that it
almost disappeared, and grave doubts arose as to whether

271

The Annals of Mont Blanc

any building constructed upon the summit would not
inevitably sink with the snow. Dr. Janssen would not
admit the possibility of failure. He completed a
structure at Meudon, and sent it to Chamonix, whence
the bulk of it was carried to a spot above the Rochers
Rouges in the summer of 1892. In the following
year the remainder of the building was dragged up.
It was not completed until 1894, and the various
scientific instruments were hauled up and placed in
position in 1895. No one doubts the ability, the courage,
and the perseverance of Dr. Janssen. But is the game
worth the candle ? If it be desirable to know the
extreme amount of cold that prevails upon Mont Blanc,
surely a maximum and minimum thermometer placed on
or near the summit would be sufficient for that purpose.
What researches in astronomy or meteorology are likely
to be made ? An observatory is, or ought to be, a place
where some one can observe. Observations, to be of any
real use, must be constant and continuous. How can
this be the case on a spot where the temperature is now
known to have fallen as low as forty-five degrees below
zero of Fahrenheit ? ^

The subject must be considered from the point of view
not of the scientific observer only, but of the lover of
nature. Here is a noble summit, once of spotless snow,
on which a building has been erected which can only be
described as horrible and heartrending. Dr. Janssen
himself told the Academy of Sciences " that there must
be some degree of uncertainty about the result."

• Whymper's " Guide to Chamonix and Mont Blanc," page 78.
272

The Janssen Observatory.

The Vallot Obsetvatorv and Refuce.

[ 7c' fiUC pil^C 272.

Huts, Refuges, and Observatories

If any permanent good could be reasonably anticipated,
if any fairy tale of science could ever emanate from
it, the hideous abortion might be borne with patience,
though with a sad heart. But it would appear that any
prospect of scientific discovery is an idle dream. The
so-called observatory is on the move ; the inevitable
downward tendency of the glacier of which the summit
is composed makes stability impossible ; the self-registering
instruments have ceased to register.

Meantime the mountaineer is deprived of the mighty
panorama which he has enjoyed for more than a century,
and is forced to crawl round the building and seek in
instalments his once unrestricted view. Surely it is time
that, in the interests of insulted Nature, some protest
should be made against the arbitrary encroachments of
misdirected science.

Note. — When the site of the last " hotellerie " at the Grands Mulcts was fixed
upon, a rock was found bearing the initials of Jacques Balmat, and the date 1786.
The portion of the rock on which tlie initials were carved was carefully removed,
and is now in the Mairie at Chamonix.

273

CHAPTER XIV

GLEANINGS AND REFLECTIONS

IN perusing the accounts of the earlier ascents of Mont
Blanc, every one must be struck with the sufferings
which the unfortunate pioneers endured. All of them
complained bitterly. They were frostbitten, they were
blinded, they were horribly blistered, they could not
breathe the rarefied air. Some of them were urgent in
their advice that no one should follow their example.
Sherwill advised none of his friends to undertake such
a journey. He says : "It is in itself a dangerous effort.
The risk of losing one's own life or that of the guides is
too great to be incurred without a very important object."
Sir Charles Fellows was still more emphatic. He says
that " great as is the pleasure of overcoming an acknow-
ledged succession of dangers, any one who sets the least
value upon his own life, or upon theirs who must accom-
pany him on such an expedition, hazards a risk which
upon calm consideration he ought not to venture ; and if
it ever falls to my lot to dissuade a friend from attempting
what we have gone through, I shall consider that I have
saved his life."

274

Gleanings and Reflections

In these days men climb the mountain as a matter of
course, and frostbite and bhndness and other forms of
suffering are, if proper precautions are taken, ahnost un-
known. How is this ? The dangers are the same as in
the time of Saussure, or Sherwill, or Sir Charles Fellows.
The real reason is that we know more than our fathers.
It is with mountains as with other problems ; to be suc-
cessful we must know what we have to do and do it.

Beyond all question, too, the mental factor must be
largely taken into account. The early travellers on Mont
Blanc all had a very vivid impression of the dangers of
the mountain. From the start they believed that they
were undertaking an expedition of great peril, one in
which it required exceptional powers to succeed, and
in which it was no discredit to fail. Men in such a frame
of mind lose the sense of proportion. Fatigue is assumed
to be utter exhaustion, quickened respiration to be im-
pending suffocation, and the difficult and arduous to be
absolutely impossible. It is not that the pioneers were
less courageous or possessed of less " grit " than the men
of to-day. The very reverse is the real truth. It is so
easy to follow where others have led ; and only moun-
taineers can fully appreciate the immense difference
between a first and a second ascent.

Paccard and Balmat were unaware that to face fresh
snow for many hours in daylight with uncovered eyes,
causes serious inflammation, resulting in partial blindness
which may often last for many days. Early travellers
took long to understand that the skin will peel from the
face in gruesome blisters if unprotected from the Alpine

275

The Annals of Mont Blanc

glare. The lessons which had already been learnt in the
sixteenth century by the peasants of Canton Valais do not
seem to have been communicated to Savoy. Men have
now learnt that if the eyes are carefully shaded with dark
spectacles neither sun nor snow will do them any harm.
Any form of grease will protect the skin, and in these
days the youngest climber would not fail to be provided
with the necessary specific. In old times frostbite attacked
hands and feet with a contemptuous impartiality, but Mr.
Woodley could have set all cold at defiance, as men for
the most part do now, by the use of suitable coverings for
the feet and hands. Proper clothing is of vital importance.
The climber of Mont Blanc may experience in the course
of a single day almost incredible alternations of heat and
cold. Some years ago the author registered in the month
of August, at the Vallot hut, a temperature of four degrees
below zero (Fahrenheit) — thirty-six degrees of frost — at
seven o'clock in the morning, and the tea and wine he
carried with him were frozen solid. Five hours later the
heat was so great that he descended the mountain in his
shirt-sleeves. The pioneers could not or would not
appreciate this condition of things. Colonel Beaufoy
records : " My dress was a white flannel jacket without
any shirt beneath, and white linen trousers without
drawers." No wonder that he suffered. A man does
not explore the Arctic regions in pyjamas. Good and
well-chosen food is also absolutely necessary. The
" strange flesh " of the Alps is often uneatable, and as
a rule is indigestible. At great heights the appetite is apt
to be delicate, and requires kindly consideration. A

276

Gleanings and Reflections

tender "poulet," with wholesome bread, and plenty of
butter and honey, chocolate, and, above all, tinned
fruits, will generally suffice for the most laborious
excursion. It is easy to understand the intolerable thirst
of which the older mountaineers complained, since they
endeavoured to assuage it with vinegar, or small doses of
sour wine. The modern climber, if well provided with
cold tea, and with a judiciously iced mixture of sound
red wine, seltzer water, lemons and sugar, will never suffer
from undue thirst.

Again, almost all the early climbers waxed eloquent
about the rarefaction of the air, and complaints were
bitter and continuous as to the baneful effects of low
atmospheric pressures upon the human organisation.
The observations of the last few years have thrown
a good deal of light upon this still vexed question. It
was once thought that at a certain height (never distinctly
ascertained) it would be altogether impossible to breathe.
Saussure himself and others have described the effect of
low pressures upon the human body, at a height of nine
or ten thousand feet. But in old days when men failed
from any cause, from want of sleep, or proper food or
clothing, from imperfect digestion, or from insufficient
training, they spoke vaguely of the rarity of the air as the
cause of all their misfortunes.

It is, of course, beyond doubt that the air on the
summit of Mont Blanc is very different from what it is at
the sea-level, or in the Valley of Chamonix. M. J. Vallot
estimates that the quantity of oxygen is diminished by
about one-half. I may perhaps be allowed to relate

277

The Annals of Mont Blanc

a rather singular personal experience. On one of the
twelve occasions on which I have been on the summit of
the mountain our party consisted of eight persons. The
sky was quite cloudless, and the air absolutely calm and
still. We all remained in a state of perfect enjoyment for
nearly three hours. At the end of that time, and within
the space of two or three minutes, seven out of the eight
were attacked by headache and nausea, and the symptoms
continued till the lower level of the Grand Plateau was
gained. That men are sometimes subject to considerable
discomfort owing to low pressures, even on such a height
as Mont Blanc, is quite clear, and it has been remarked
that this discomfort is far more common when the air is
still, than when it is stirring. Ascents, however, in other
ranges in recent years have proved that men when reason-
ably "habituated" can breathe with freedom at much
greater heights, even up to 23,000 feet and more. Mr.
Bryce tells us that he suffered a little from what he
thought to be the effect of low pressures at the height of
13,000 feet on Mount Ararat, but far less at 17,000 feet,
when he reached the summit. Herr von Thielmann tells
us that on the top of Popocatapetl, 17,880 feet, he was
entirely free from all the unpleasant effects wont to be
ascribed to the rarity of the atmosphere ; and that on
Cotopaxi, 19,600 feet, none of the climbers showed any
signs of exhaustion, and the appetite of all was excellent.
In climbing Chimborazo, 20,545 ^^et, Mr. Whymper, it is
true, suffered on his first ascent, though quite possibly
from other causes ; but six months later, after having
trained himself amongst the great peaks of the Ecuadorian

278

Gleanings and Reflections

Andes, he climbed it a second time, and experienced no
inconvenience whatever.

Sir Martin Conway attained a height of 23,000 feet
on the Pioneer Peak in the Karakoram Himalayas, and
although " his heart was in a parlous state, his breathing
apparatus was working well enough." He had clearly
" not come to the end of his tether." Mr. Vines and the
guide Zurbriggen suffered to some extent, but not
seriously, in their ascents of Aconcagua, probably the
highest point of the earth's surface which has yet been
attained.

There are some who assert that the indisposition ex-
perienced by climbers is the efifect of low pressures ; others
that it is attributable to the deficiency of oxygen in the
air,i and that all difficulty may be surmounted by inhaling
oxygen at great heights ; but practical climbers know that
such a course would be impossible on the mountain-side.
The whole subject is really very complex and has at
present been insufficiently investigated, but the following
points appear to be already established beyond reasonable
doubt.

First, that mountain-sickness — to use an accepted but
inaccurate term — as experienced by travellers on such
heights as Mont Blanc, is in the great majority of cases
not due solely to low atmospheric pressure. Secondly,
that the first climbers to reach heights of from 23,000 to
24,000 feet above the level of the sea, have been able to

» Note. — M. Paul Bert is the chief exponent of one view {" La Pression Ba-
rometrique," Paris, 1878). The subject is dealt with by Mr. Clintou T. Dent
in an admirable manner in the Nineteenth Century magazine for October, 1S92.

279

The Annals of Mont Blanc

move and have their being without more difficulty than
the early climbers experienced on Mont Blanc ; and
thirdly, that it is by no means impossible that men may
hereafter find means and prove capable of climbing the
highest mountains in the world. The questions involved
are of great interest both from a scientific and a moun-
taineering point of view, but their consideration is outside
the limits contemplated by this volume. ^

Many of the earlier ascents of Mont Blanc, and
particularly since the establishment of the Chamonix
guide system, involved a heavy and wholly unnecessary
expenditure. Fifty years ago in all centres, other than
Chamonix, there was no guide system at all. Men
obtained the services of the local chamois hunter, who
was glad enough to accept a payment of seven or eight
francs a day for showing the way up peaks or passes,
the present tariff for which may be forty or fifty francs.
At Chamonix the creation of the guide system meant
the extraction of the maximum of money from the
pocket of the mountaineer.

Saussure, according to Dr. Paccard, paid his guides
only six francs a day. Some of the early climbers paid
no more than fifty or sixty francs to each guide for the
ascent of Mont Blanc, but when climbers increased, the
tariff became enormous. First men were advised to

' Note. — Those who are interested in the subject may be referred to Professor
Angelo Mosso's " Fisiologia dell' Uomo sulle Alpi" (Milan, 1897), an English
translation of which is just published. The book is not a dry scientific
treatise, but written in popular form. I question, however, whether the
views expressed by Professor Mosso are likelj' to be generally accepted by
men of science

280

Gleanings and Reflections

take mules as far as the Pierre Pointue. Then they
were informed that each traveller must have four guides
at a cost of one hui^dred francs apiece. Then an
inordinate supply of provisions was laid in, and it became
necessary to hire a host of porters to deal with the
commissariat. Then a successful ascent was celebrated
by the discharge of cannon, and the cost of much gun-
powder was included in the bill ; and finally, for a
payment of five francs, a certificate was granted by the
Bureau des Guides, as the only real evidence of success.
The ascent of Albert Smith and his friends cost nearly
2,400 francs.

Up to the year 1865 every successful climber, on his
return from the summit, met with an ovation in the
village. The proprietor of the hotel from which he
started provided him with an enormous bouquet, and
copious libations were placed freely at the command of
all the members of his party. As ascents became more
numerous this custom died out. At present the only
survival of the old system consists in the firing of
cannon to celebrate the traveller's return ; a custom
which in the interests of the peace and quietness of
visitors who are not mountaineers, would be more
honoured in the breach than in the observance.

Everybody climbs Mont Blanc now. Familiarity has
bred for it, not indeed contempt, but at least indifference.
Men have climbed it without guides ; women have
climbed it ; blind men have climbed it ; a priest has
said Mass upon its summit ; it has been scaled in the
depth of winter ; Professor Tyndall slept upon the top,

The Annals of Mont Blanc

though not without much suffering ; M. Vallot spent
three days and nights there. Many a great feat has
been achieved upon it ; Mr. Frederick Morshead once
cHmbed it alone, and went up and down in less than
seventeen hours ; but after all, the better it is known,
the more it is appreciated, and the greater seems to be
its subtle and indefinable charm.

Let it never be forgotten that in order to ensure perfect
enjoyment and a due capacity for appreciation, the first
requisite is bodily fitness. How few of the early ex-
plorers, or indeed of modern climbers, have been capable
of taking this lesson to heart. A man finds himself at
Chamonix or at Courmayeur, and around him the air
is always seething with Alpine enterprise. He is
ambitious ; he too will share in the raptures of the
mountaineer. So he starts for the arduous excursion,
without experience, without training, and without know-
ledge. He may succeed, or he may fail ; but if he
succeed, success is too often devoid of joy. He will
be able to say that he has ascended Mont Blanc ; but
w^iat then — many foolish people have done as much
before. It may be unhesitatingly affirmed that two out
of three persons who make this ascent have no real
delight in it. Some are dragged up like logs, are sick
at heart before they get halfway, and wish they were
dead long before the summit is attained. They have
not served an apprenticeship to their business. They
suffer both at the time and afterwards ; over-exertion
causes mental paralysis, and genuine appreciation of
mountain beauty becomes impossible. To the spirit

282

Gleanings and Reflections

hampered by jaded limbs or a disordered stomach, the
subUmities of nature appeal in vain. When will men
learn that it is impossible to go to the Alps direct from
the pulpit, or the bar, or the desk, or the other sedentary
occupations of life, and walk continuously for sixteen
or eighteen, or it may be for twenty hours, without
insulting nature, who is certain to take her revenge.
But the mountaineer who loves nature for her own sake,
works on wholly different lines. He knows what a
great mountain has to teach him, and he prepares
himself to receive the lesson with a sympathetic and
a reverent heart. He trains his body and keeps open
his mind. Undue bodily fatigue is unknown to him,
and therefore he always possesses the maximum capacity
of appreciation. To him every tree, or fern, or flower
has its tale to tell ; to him the jagged rocks reveal their
own history ; to him the glory of the sunlight on the
eternal snows, and the " silence that is in the starry sky "
alike bring happiness and peace.

My story is now told. In these days men go further
afield.

" All experience is an arch where thro'
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move."

They make expeditions involving weeks or months of
labour and of toil. They talk, doubtless justly enough,
of the beauties of Kasbek and Dykhtau. They look
down into the crater of Cotopaxi, and sweep the horizon

The Annals of Mont Blanc

from Chimborazo. They have brought under subjection
Pioneer Peak and Illimani, Aconcagua and Tupungato.
The world is now well known, and since modern geo-
graphical discovery must necessarily tend in the direction
of mountain exploration, who shall blame them if their
thoughts are turned to the mightiest of the world's
pinnacles in Sikkim or Nepal.

I envy the pioneers of the future. " Other men are
young now, but we no more." But the old school will
never think any mountain so interesting or so beautiful
as Mont Blanc. Tourists can never spoil it. Huts can
never wholly vulgarise it. " Age cannot wither nor
custom stale its infinite variety." The tracks of summer
are obliterated by the snows of winter, and each new
man, each new generation of men, will find in it, as we
have found, the same interest and the same charm.

The men of old time used to say that no one could
climb Parnassus without becoming either a poet or mad.
It was indeed asserted forty years ago in a well-known
guide-book, that most of those who had hitherto ascended
Mont Blanc had been persons of unsound mind. It is
true that if a man is capable of poetic feeling at all, the
study of the great mountains will encourage and develop
it ; and the madness, after all, has not been without
method.

Mountaineering has its lights and shades, but it is a
pursuit which has added greatly and permanently to the
sum of human happiness. Who shall measure the
amount ? Who is there who can sleep on a glacier
in the moonlight, or by the camp fire amongst the lonely

284

Gleanings and Reflections

hills; who can listen to the music of the wind against
the crags, or of the water falling far below ; who can
traverse the vast white solitudes in the night time under
the silent stars ; who can watch the rose of dawn in the
east, or the great peaks flushed with carmine at sunset,
without thoughts which it seems almost sacrilege to put
into words, without memories which can never be
effaced, for they sink into the soul !

Mont Blanc has now been known to five successive
generations. Men may come and go, but its mighty
summit " abides untroubled by the coming and going
of the world." And to those who know it well and
love it dearly, come often, in quiet hours, teeming
thoughts which swarm like bees ; sunny memories of
successful endeavour, of transcendent beauty, and of
priceless friendships, which have added health, and
sweetness, and happiness to life.

285

THE GEOLOGY OF MONT BLANC

BY PROFESSOR T. G. BOXNEY, D.SC. LL.D. F.R.S.

THE geological structure of the Mont Blanc range is
comparatively simple, though first impressions are
likely to be misleading. If a section were drawn such
as could be examined in crossing from Chamonix to Cour-
mayeur by the Col du Geant it would exhibit the following
succession : ^ — About the former village, gravel and alluvial
deposits cover in many places the bed of the valley;
but on both sides here and there, and especially on the
lower slopes north of the Glacier de Bois, a dark, slaty
rock is exposed which is referred by geologists to the
Jurassic system, and supposed to be contemporaneous
with the middle and lower oolites of Britain. This rock
forms all the slopes leading up to the Col de Balme, and
extends into the valley of the Trient. Just opposite to the
end of the Glacier d'Argentiere, and on the north side of
the valley, another sedimentary rock appears, itself often
dark in colour, and sometimes a slate, which runs for
a time along the western side of the Jurassic mass, and

' See figure p. 294.
286

The Geology of Mont Blanc

then is continued along the line of the lower valley of the
Trient to that of the Rhone near Vernayaz. This, which
can be easily examined from the high-road, at the well-
known Tete Noire, or almost anywhere below Salvan, is
a member of the Carboniferous system.

Ascending the slopes towards the Montanvert, we find
these formed of fairly hard mica schists, or rather fine-
grained mica gneisses, which on the right bank of the
Glacier de Bois seem to overlie the Jurassic rocks already
mentioned, and extend along the lower slopes of the
Aiguilles, as far as the eye can reach. This group, before
we reach the Montanvert itself is succeeded by another of
rather harder, less micaceous gneisses,^ which also extend
towards the north-east, forming a band of varying breadth,
from which the craggy shoulders of the Aiguilles have
been carved. To this succeeds, as we ascend, a huge mass
of coarse gneissoid or granitoid rock which has long borne
the name of protogine. Of this rock, the peaks of the
great Aiguilles, and the actual summit, with the southern
precipices and pinnacles, of Mont Blanc itself are com-
posed.

Protogine continues, after we have crossed the water-
shed, down the steep slopes on the southern face of the
range, until we approach the Mont Frety, when we again
find a black slaty rock. This, on examination is found to
make its appearance nearly opposite to the end of the
Glacier de Fresnay, on the right bank of the valley, but
the belt expands at the foot of the Brenva Glacier so as to

• The distinction between the two groups of rocks is not very well marked, and
is not, so far as I have been able to form an opinion, an important one.

287

The Annals of Mont Blanc

occupy the lower slopes of the Val Ferret on both sides,
until it passes away in a north-north-east direction over
the well-known Col of the same name. South of the
trough occupied by the Vals Ferret and Veni, the moun-
tains for the most part are formed of a group of calcareous
and micaceous schists, but there are one or two intercala-
tions of other rocks, some newer, others probably older.
But to enter into the structural details of this region
would occupy too much space and is unnecessary for
our present purpose.

We see then that the protogine occupies a verj' elon-
gated oval or vesica-shaped area in the central and eastern
parts of the Mont Blanc range ; that it is flanked on the
western side, possibly also on the eastern, by a gneiss ; ^
and this again by rocks which may be designated collec-
tively mica schists, ^ the latter seeming gradually to take
the place of the former as they approach the peak of
Mont Blanc itself, so that the mica schists form all the
ridge of the Dome du Gouter and rise, on the western side,
almost up to the summit. In fact the protogine is repre-
sented on the geological map of the Swiss Survey as ending
rather abruptly, and the whole range from one side to the
other, all about the Aiguille du Miage, du Glacier, etc., is
coloured as mica schist. This rock passes out of the
Mont Blanc district towards the south-west as a long zones

' A thin zone of gneiss is seen flanking the Jurassic rocks at La Saxe, north of
Courma3'eur.

2 There are also two or three small masses of dioritic or serpentinous rock which
are intrusive in the gneiss and schists ; veins of a fine-grained granite also occur
not unfrequently, somewhat resembling the masses at the Cascade Berard.

3 Gneiss, however, and even granite enter into the composition of this zone,
though, at any rate for a time, mica schist seems to dominate.

288

The Geology of Mont Blanc

which extends into Dauphine, though a strip of Jurassic
rock on the Col du Bonhomme and to the north of it
may be regarded as a limitation ; it also crosses the Arve
near the end of the Glacier des Bossons (not, however,
without a slight interruption from the Jurassic rock), but
does not extend far to the north. The craggy range on
this side of the valley, from the Brevent to beyond the
Aiguilles Rouges, with one remarkable exception, to be
noticed directly, is composed of gneiss, generally similar
to that of the Montanvert.

We have said that the geological structure of this range
is misleading, if first impressions be blindly followed, and
for this reason. The Jurassic rocks in the Valley of
Chamonix appear to dip on the northern side at a high
angle below the gneiss, and on the southern in the same
way under the mica schist. Again, on the latter side, the
mica schist seems to pass beneath the gneiss, and the
gneiss itself beneath the protogine, the angle of inclina-
tion in the apparent bedding gradually becoming steeper,
till in the more central part of the range it is actually
vertical. When the watershed has been crossed the angle
of dip appears to diminish gradually in descending, but
its direction now is northwards instead of southwards;
and when the Jurassic slates are reached, they, as in the
other valley, seemingly plunge beneath the crystalline
rocks. Thus our first impulse would be to regard the
Jurassic as the oldest member of the section — a thing
which a little consideration shows to be impossible, for
on the supposition that the whole series consists of
stratified rocks, beds comparatively unaltered could not,

289 U

The Annals of Mont Blanc

on any rational theory of metamorphism, underlie those
which were highly altered. It was soon perceived that in
reality the slaty rocks of Jurassic age in the valleys on
either side of the Mont Blanc range were newer than the
rest, being the lowest parts of two folds which have been
preserved by being nipped in between the crystalline
masses. The section then received this interpretation.
The protogine, gneiss and mica schists — the whole crystal-
line group — were supposed to represent a series of very
ancient stratified rocks which at some remote and
unknown date had been rendered crystalline by the
action of heat, water, and pressure. At a much later
time, and after considerable disturbance and denudation,
representatives of the Carboniferous system had been
deposited upon them. Another pause followed, marked
by more disturbance and denudation. Then came the
great subsidence in the Alpine region. This, indeed,
began in the Trias, but it did not produce its effects in
some parts till about the age of the Lias. It continued till
the end of the Eocene, when the crust of the earth was
affected by the first of the two great sets of movements
which gave birth to the Alps. Then all the rocks, both
the older crystalline and the sedimentaries deposited upon
them, were bent into great parallel folds, rising arches
alternating with sinking troughs. As the crests of the
former were forced up, the newer and softer rocks were
worn away and removed by the various agents of denuda-
tion, until finally their remnants were preserved only in
the beds of valleys, while the more durable crystallines
towered above them in the mountain peaks. So intense

290

The Geology of Mont Blanc

had been the folding that it had bent the coarsest of the
crystalHne masses (the protogine) back to back in the
very heart of the range, and the inward dip of the newer
strata on either side had been produced by the gradual
" heeling over " of the masses towards the flanks of the
fold ; this last movement being not improbably due to
further compression of the region during the time when
the valleys were actually being excavated. This arrange-
ment of beds is called Fan structure, because they re-
semble the sticks in an open fan. We cannot of course
actually prove that the crystalline rocks, which now form
the principal part of the Mont Blanc massif, were once
wholly buried beneath the Secondary and earlier Tertiary
deposits, I but a study of the geology of the surrounding
region renders this highly probable, and the general
correctness of the statement made above is established
by the following significant fact : — The range imme-
diately north of the Chamonix valley, as has been already
said, consists in almost every part of crystalline rocks,
but on its highest point, the topmost peak of the Aiguilles
Rouges, \\Q find still remaining a fragment of sedi-
mentary rock, from fifty to sixty feet thick, which con-
sists of a thin representative of the Trias covered by
some Lias.

But of late years important modifications have been
made in one part of the above explanation. Formerly it
was supposed that mica schists, and even gneiss, however
coarse, were rocks originally stratified, which had been

' Professor Favre estimates the thickness of the sedimentaries as not less than
4,100 feet (" Recherches Geologiques . . . voisines du Mont Blanc," § 486).

291

The Annals of Mont Blanc

subsequently altered. That is true of many schists,
including some of the mica schists ; it may also be true
of some gneisses, but now it is generally agreed that the
bulk of the latter are directly or indirectly of igneous
origin. In some the parallel ordering of the constituents
was caused by movements while the mass was cooling.
Many of them are granites in which a foliated struc-
ture has been produced by pressure, followed by cer-
tain rather slight mineral changes. Even some of the
mica schists prove to have been formed in this way,
though after a much more thorough crushing. Thus the
foliation and apparent bedding in the crystalline rocks of
the Mont Blanc range is a structure analogous to the
cleavage of a slate among sedimentaries, and thus has
been subsequently produced. Hence as most of them are
igneous in origin, we cannot determine the relative age of
their members by the apparent succession ; we can only say
that the crystallines as a whole are very much older than
the Triassic and even than the Carboniferous strata. The
so-called protogine has been altogether unlucky in its
history. The earlier geologists defined it as consisting
essentially of quartz, felspar and talc. While perhaps it
would be rash to say that the last-named mineral never
occurs, it is certain that the ordinary constituent is simply
a variety of mica. In other words the minerals of the
protogine are identical with those of granite, but as is
common in that rock, one at least of them has become
more or less altered by taking up water. The structure
also, which is often more or less porphyritic, is that of a
granite, allowing for the effects of pressure in rounding

292

The Geology of Mont Blanc

the corners of the larger crystals and producing a slight
foliation.

Besides this, the name protoglne ("first produced") is
unfortunate. It was given because this was supposed to
be the most ancient rock in the whole massif) instead of
that it can be proved to be intrusive in the gneiss/ what-
ever the origin of the latter may have been. As to this or
indeed that of the mica schists of the district, we cannot,
in the present state of our knowledge, say much. Some
of these schists may have once been sediments and be
later in age than the gneisses. Certainly that is true of a
great group of schists which occur south of the Val de
Ferret and in many other parts of the Alps, but I am not
sure that these occur in the range of Mont Blanc itself.

The making of the existing range, as already said,
is principally due to two great sets of movements, the one
at the end of the Eocene, the other closing the Miocene.
The latter, I believe, acted with its greatest intensity in the
central and western Alps and in the northern part of them.
A study of the river system of these regions has led me to
the conclusion that the Bernese Oberland and the Mont
Blanc fjiassif owe their present eminence to this second
movement. If so, there was a time when Mont Blanc,
though a mountain, was not the monarch ; it is a re-

' Favre, " Recherches Geologiques . . . voisines du Mont Blanc," § 53S. Jlr. J.
Eccles, F.G.S., informs me that good examples of intrusion may be seen near the
north border of the Glacier Rond at the base of the Aiguille du Midi, at the base
also of the Aiguilles du Plan, de Blaitiere, and du Charmoz ; also in a gully
descendmg nearly north from the north-west spur of the Aiguille du Tour. In
addition the relations of the protogine and gneiss may be seen on both sides of
the Mer de Glace, but here the rocks are not so well exposed.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

presentative of the newer rather than of the older
dynasty.!

We may pass over the history of the sculpture of the
peaks and passes of the range, for it is similar to that
of any other great mountain chain, such differences as
may exist being merely varietal. The forces of nature for
almost countless years have never ceased to " draw down
Ionian hills " and to scatter the debris from the moun-
tains far and wide over the lowlands. The massif of
Mont Blanc also affords ample evidence that at a time,
geologically speaking, almost recent, the glaciers were on
a vastly grander scale than they are at the present day ;
yet there can be little doubt that even then many of the
Aiguilles and rocky crests rose far above the snows which
swathed the less prominent crags and the lower slopes.
But for this matter also a bare mention is sufficient, for
the same story may be told of every other district in the
Alps.

I. Brevent. 2. Valley of the Arve. 3. Aiguille du Midi. 4. Mont Blanc.
5. Mont Fret)'. 6. Val Veni. 7. Mont Chetif.

Dark horizontal shading : alluvium of the two valleys.
Wide-spaced lines : Jurassic (chiefly).
Dark vertical shading : mica schist and gneiss.
Dotted parts : protogine and coarse crystallines.

" For a discussion of this question see "Alpine Journal," vol. xiv. pp. rii-117.

294

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The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

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297

The Annals of Mont Blanc

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The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

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The Annals of Mont Blanc

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Desor, E. — Excursions et Sejours dans les Glaciers et les Hautes
Regions des Alpes, de M. Agassiz et de ses compagnons de
voyage. Neuchatel, J. -J. Kissling ; Paris, J. Maison, 1844. 8vo.
302

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Desor, E. — Nouvelles Excursions ct Sejours dans Ics Glaciers ct Ics
Hautes Regions des Alpes, de M. Agassiz et de ses compagnons
de voyage. Accompagnees d'unc notice sur les glaciers de TAllec
Blanche et du Val Ferret par M. Agassiz, et d'un apercu sur la
structure gcologiquc des Alpes, par M. B. Studer. Ncuchatel,
J. -J. Kissling ; Paris, J. Maison, 1845. 8vo.

Dewey, O. — The Old World and the New. A Journal. London,
Fox, 1836. 2 vols. 24mo.

Dixon, W. Hepworth. — The Switzcr. London, Hurst & Blackett,
1872. 2 vols. 8vo.

DOBLOFF, J. — Der Mont-Blanc, eine topographisch-historische Skisse
mit Beriicksichtigung der neuesten Litteratur. Vienne, 1880.

DoLLFUS, AussET. — Materiaux pour I'Etude des Glaciers. Paris,
F. Savy, 1864-1870, 8 vol. gr. in-8 et supplement ; atlas, 1872.

DoN'couRT, A.-S. de. — Le Mont-Blanc et ses Explorations. Lille et
Paris, 1887, J. Lcfort, petit in-4 (voir A. J. XIIL, p. 430 ct43i).

Dowsing, W. — Rambles in Switzerland. Kingston-upon-Hull, J. W.
Leng ; London, Adams & Co., 1869. 8vo.

Dubois, A. — Croquis Alpins, Promenades en Suisse et au Pays des
Dolomites. Lausanne, Benda, 1883. i2mo.

DucoMMUN, J.-C. — Une Excursion au Mont-Blanc, 2" ed. Geneve
et Bale, H. Georg, 1859. Brochure, 8vo.

DuFOUR, El. — Les Grimpeurs des Alpes (traduction partielle de la
i'^^ serie des Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers). Paris, 1862, Levy.
i2mo.

Dumas, A. — Impressions de voyage en Suisse. 2* ed., tome
Paris, Dumont, 1837. 8vo.

Du Pays, A.-J. — Une ascension au Mont-Blanc en 1859 (tentative
d'ascension par les freres Bisson ; article dans " 1' Illustration,"
t86o, p. 15 et 16). Paris, Firmin Didot, imp.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

DURIER, C. — Le Mont-Blanc. Paris, Fischbacher, 1877, gr. in-8 ;
2* ed., id., 1880, in-i2 ; 3^ ed., id., 1881, in-12 ; 4' ed., id.,
1897, in-12.

Ebel, J.-G. — Anleitung auf die niitzlichste und genussvollste Art die
Schweitz zu bereisen, T' ed., Zurich, 1793, 2 vols, petit 8vo ;
seconde et derniere ed., Zurich, Orell Fiissli et Cie, 1843, i vol.
Traduction frangaise sous le titre : Manuel du Voyageur en
Suisse, 3^ ed. Geneve, Paschoud, 1818, 3 vols, petit 8vo.

Echo des Alpes. — Publication des Sections Romandes du Club
Alpin Suisse, depuis 1865. Geneve, Jullien. 8vo (Voir aussi
Combe, Ed.)

English, Rev. E. — An Ascent of Mont Blanc, in 1885 ("The
Month," Sept., 1885).

Falcoxnet, l'Abbe J. — Une Ascension au Mont-Blanc et Etude
Scientifique sur cette montagne. Annecy, Nierat, imp., 1887.
8vo.

Favre, a. — Recherches Geologiques dans les parties de la Savoie,
du Piemont et de la Suisse voisines du Mont-Blanc. Paris,
Victor Masson et fils, 1867. 3 vol.in-8, avec Atlas (v. surtout
la liste decartes du massif du Mont-Blanc, vol. iii., pp. 533-546).

Fellows, C. — Narrative of the Ascent to the Summit of Mont
Blanc. London, 1827. 4to. (Privately printed.)

Ferraxd, H. — Promenades, autour du Mont-Blanc. Paris, Fisch-
bacher, 1886. 8vo.

Five Ladies. — Swiss Notes. Leeds, 1875. 8vo.

Floyd, C. G. — An Ascent of Mont Blanc (" Eraser's Magazine,"
June, 1855).

Forbes, Dr. John. — A Phj-sician's Holiday, or a Month in Switzer-
land in the Summer of 1848. London, J. Murray, 1849; 2nd
edition, 1850.

304

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Forbes, J. D. — Travels through the Alps of Savoy and other parts of
the Pennine Chain, with Observations on the Phenomena of
Glaciers. Edinburgh, Black ; London, Longmans, 1843, 8vo ;
2nd ed. 1845.

Norway and its Glaciers visited in 1851 ; followed by Journals

of Excursions in the High Alps of Dauphine, Berne, and Savoy.
Edinburgh, Black, 1853, 8vo. (German Translation by E. A.
Zuchold. Leipzig, A. Abel, 1855. 8vo.)

The Tour of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa (Short account from

the Alps of Savoy). Edinburgh, Black, 1855. 8vo.

On the Geological Relations of the Secondary and Primary

Rocks of the Chain of Mont Blanc (with plate). Edinburgh,
1856. (Extract from " Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.")

Pedestrianism in Switzerland ("Quarterly Review" for 1857,

pp. 285-323).

Notice respecting Mr. Reilly's Topographical Survey of the

Chain of Mont Blanc. Edinburgh, 1865. 8vo. (Extract from
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.)

The Topography of the Chain of Mont Blanc (" North British

Review," March, 1865, pp. 137-157).

Life and Letters. By J. C. Shairp, P. G. Tait, and A. Adams-

Reilly. London, Macmillan, 1873. 8vo.

Fores' Sporting Notes, January, 1889. A Muff on a Mountain, or
How we did Mont Blanc.

Freshfield, D. W. — Across Country from Thonon to Trent : Rambles
and Scrambles in Switzerland and t,he Tyrol. London, 1865.
8vo. (Privately printed.)

Galton, E. — Article on his ascent of Mont Blanc, from " Illustrated
London News " of February y, 1851.

305 X

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Gamet, a. — Du Mont- Blanc au Pelvoux, Lyon, Mougin-Rusand, imp,
8vo.

Gardner, J. D. — Ascent and Tour of Mont Blanc, and Passage of the
Col du Geant between Sept. 2nd and 7th, 1850. Chiswick, 1851.
1 2 mo.

Gautier, Th. — Les Vacances du Lundi, Tableaux de Montagnes.
Paris, G. Charpentier, 1881. 8vo.

Giordano, F. — Ascensione del Monte Bianco partendo dal versante
italiano. Turin, Cotta e Capelloni, 1864. 8vo.

Giornale delle Alpi. — Turin, 1864.

GiRDLESTONE, A. G., The Rev. — The High Alps without Guides :
being a Narrative of Adventures in Switzerland, together with
Chapters on the Practicability of such Mode of Mountaineering,
and Suggestions for its Accomplishment. London, Longmans,
1870. 8vo.

Glover, Samuel. — A Description of the Valley of Chamouni in
Savoy. London, 1821. Subsequent editions.

GcETHE, J. W. — Briefe aus der Schweiz aus dcm Jahre 1779 (publiees
en 1808 dans le vol. ii. de scs oeuvres). Traduction frangaise
par Porchat. Paris, Hachette et Cie, 1862, tome ix., gr. 8vo.
Voir aussi Magasin Pittoresque. Paris, J. Best, imp., i86o,
pp. 227-230, gr. 8vo.

GoTTSCHALK, F. — Das Chamounithal am Fusse des Mont-Blanc,

Halle, 1811.

Gkuner, G. S. — Die Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes. Berne, 1760,
3 vol. in-8 (v. tome i, chap, viii,), Une revision de I'edition
allemande a ete publiee a Londres (= Berne), en 1778, sous le
titre : Reisen durch die merkwiirdigsten Gegenden Helvetiens,
2 vol, in-8. — Une traduction libre, en fran^ais, par M. de Keralio
a paru sous le titre : Histoire naturelle des Glaciers dela Suisse.
Paris, Pankoucke, 1770, i vol. in 4to.
306

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Guide e Portatori ed Escursioxi da essi compiute. Torino,
Candelctti, 1889, broch. in- 12.

GiJssFELDT, P. — Article sur son ascension aux Grandes-J Grasses, le 14
Janvier 1891 ("Deutsche Rundsciiau," Berlin, 1891, tome xviii.)

Der Mont Blanc. Studien im Hochgebirge, vornehmlich in der

Mont Blanc, Gruppe. Paetel. Berlin, 1894.

Hamel, J. VON. — Reisen auf den Mont-Blanc in August 1820. Bale,
1820, Neukirch, in-12 (traduction de Particle du n° d'aout 1820
de la " Bibliothequc universelle," Geneve, Paschoud, intitulee :
Relation des deux tentatives recentes pour monter sur le Mont-
Blanc, par M. le docteur Hamel). Un extrait de cet article,
publiee en anglais par J. D[ornford], a paru dans le "New
Monthly Magazine" de 1821 sous le titre : Mont-Blanc, et un
extrait en anglais de I'article frangais de 1820, dans les " Annals
of Philosophy," de Janvier 1821. Un recit de 1' accident se trouve
dans " The Peasants of Chamouni," London, Baldwin, Cradock,
and Joy, 1823 (v. Alb. Smith, " Story of Mont Blanc," p. i).

Beschreibung zweyer Reisen auf den Mont-Blanc untcrnommen

im August 1820. Vienne, C. Gerold, 1821, in-8 (extrait du Con-
versations Blatt). •

H.AWEs, B. — Narrative of an Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc,
made during the Summer of 1827 by W. Hawes and C. Fellows.
1828. 4to. (Privately printed.)

H[evat], K[irkwood].— My Diary. Notes of a Continental Tour,
1878. (Privately printed.)

HiNCHLlFF, T. W.— Summer Months Among the Alps : with the
Ascent of Monte Rosa. London, Longman, 1857. 8vo.

and Walters, R.— Poaching on Mont Blanc (" Eraser's Maga-
zine" for July, i{

HoRT, F. J. A.— Life and Letters. 2 vols. London, 1896.

307

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Howard, W. — First American Ascent of Mont Blanc ("Analectic
Magazine," May, 1820) ; also Narrative of a Journey to the Summit
of Mont Blanc in July, 1819. Baltimore, 1821 (v. Van Rensselaer).

HuBER, W. — Le Massif du Mont-Blanc (Bulletin de la Societe de
Geographie de Paris, 1868).

Hudson, C, and Kennedy, E. S. — Where there's a Will there's a Way :
an Ascent of Mont Blanc by a New Route and without Guides.
1st edit, London, Longman, 1856, 8vo; 2nd edit, (with additions)
same year.

Jackson, H. H. — A Narrative of an Ascent to the Summit of Mont
Blanc, Sept. 4, 1823 (" New Monthly Magazine," 1827, pp. 458-
469).

Jahrbuch des Schweizer Alpen Club, depuis 1864. Berne,
Schmid Francke et Cie. 8vo. (Voir aussi BuLOW, O. von.)

Janssen, J. — Ascension scientifique du Mont-Blanc (article dans les
"Comptes rendus de I'Academie des sciences," tome cxi., no. 12,
du 22 Sept. 1890, et extrait de cet article dans " La Nature,"
no. du 27 septembre 1890. Paris, G. Masson, gr. 8vo).

Javelle, E. — Souvenirs d'un alpiniste. Lausanne, Payot, 1886. 8vo.
2nd ed., 1892.

Joanne, A. — Geographic du departement de la Haute-Savoie. Paris,
Hachette et Cie, 1879. i8mo.

La Suisse, Chamonix et les Vallees Italiennes. Paris, Hachette

et Cie, 1889. 8vo.

Jones, Harry. — The Regular Swiss Round. London, Strahan & Co.,
1865. i2mo. 2nd edition, 1868.

Lalande, J. — Voyage au Mont-Blanc (" Magasin encyclopedique,"
tome iv. Paris, 1796. 8vo).

Latour (les freres). — Guide pratique du voyageur en Suisse et dans
la vallee de Chamouni. Paris. Vernay, 1873. 32mo.
308

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

La Vallee, J. — Voyage dans le departement du Mont-Blanc. Paris,
1793. i2mo.

Leisure Hour, Nos. of 21st and 28tli July, 1853. A Climb to the
Highest Point in Europe.

Lemercier, Abel. — Ascensions au Mont-Rose et au Mont-Blanc :
Excursion de quinzaine d'un Parisien (" Bulletin de la Societe
generale de Geographic, juillet 1873). Paris, Delagrave tirage
a part.

Le Mesurier, W. H. — An Impromptu Ascent of Mont Blanc.
London, Elliot Stock, 1882. 8vo.

Le Pays. — Nouvelles oeuvres de M. le Pays. Amsterdam, 1674,
in-i2, 2* part., p. 124 et sq. (contient une lettre tres curieux
datee de Chamony en Fossigny, le 16 may 1669 ; v. aussi E. d. A.
1879, p. 20 ; Ann. C. A. F., 1890, p. 26-29).

Leschevin, p. X. — Voyage a Geneve et dans la vallee de Chamoun
en Savoie. Paris et Geneve, 1812. 8vo.

Levasseur, E. — Les Alpes et les grandes ascensions. Paris, Dela-
grave, 1889, gr. 8vo.

Liddiard, W. — A Three Months' Tour in Switzerland and France,
with a Route to Chamouni, the Bernese Alps, etc. London,
Smith, Elder & Co., 1832. 8vo.

LocHON, N. — Recit d'une ascension au Mont-Blanc. Thonon,
Dubouloz, imp. 8vo.

LoMMEL, G. T. — Simplon et Mont-Blanc. Examen de la brochure
de M. le senateur Charton, intitulee : Le Percement du Mont-
Blanc. Lausanne, Rouge et Dubois, 1879. 8vo.

Longman, W. — Modern Mountaineering (appendix to vol. viii. of the
" Alpine Journal.")

L[ongman], W. and T[rower]. H. — Journal of Six Weeks' Adven-
tures in Switzerland, Piedmont, and on the Italian Lakes, June,
July, August, 1856. London, Longman. 8vo.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

LORTET, M. L., Deux ascensions au Mont-Blanc. Paris, Masson,
1869.

Lusi, LE COMTE DE. — Voyagc sur Ic Mont-Blanc, enterpris le 15
septembre, 1816. Vienne, 1816. i2mo.

Magasin' Pittoresque pour 1856. Le Mont-Blanc, ascension de
1786. Paris, J. Best, gr. 8vo.

1875. Ascension de TAiguille Vertc, p. 28-30. Recit abrege

de I'ascension de E. Whymper, d'apres la traduction de A.
Joanne.

Maix, Mrs. — High Life and Towers of Silence. London, Sampson
Low, 1886. 8vo. (See also Burxaby.)

Mallet-Duplax. — Journal historique et politique de Geneve, 1787.

Manget, J.-L. — Chamonix, le Mont-Blanc et les deux Saint-Bernards.
4th ed. Geneve, Gruaz, 1850. i2mo.

Itineraire du voyage a Chamouny, autour du Mont-Blanc, aux

deux Saint-Bernards, autour du lac de Geneve, dans la vallee de
Sixt, etc. 1845 ; 2e ed. i6mo. Get ouvrage a paru en allemand
a Aarau, 1829, petit i6mo.

Martel, P. — Relation d'un Voyage aux glacieres du Faucigny en
1742, publiee par T. Dufour dans " I'Echo des Alpes," 1879
(pour I'edition anglaise, voir sous Wixdham).

Martixs, C.— Recherches sur la periode glaciaire et I'ancienne exten-
sion des Glaciers du Mont-Blanc, depuis les Alpes jusqu'au Jura
(" Revue des Deux-Mondes," livraison du i mars 1847).

Deux ascensions au Mont Blanc et etudes de meteorologie

et d'histoire naturelle (" Revue des Deux-Mondes," livraison du
15 mars 1865).

Du Spitzberg au Sahara. Paris, 1866.

Geologic du Massif du Mont-Blanc (" Revue des Deux-Mondes,"

livraison du i mai 1868).

310

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

MARTIN'S, Bravais et Le Pileur. — Rapport officiel (" Moniteur uni-
versel," 1844).

M[artyn], T[homas]. — Sketch of a Tour through Swisserland, 1787.
i2mo,

A Short Account of an Expedition to the Summit of Mont

Blanc by M. de Saussure of Geneva in August last (appendice
a I'ouvrage precedent dont la preface est signee T. M.). London,
G. Kearsley, 1788. i2mo,

Mathews, C. E. — The Annals of Mont Blanc ; a monograph. With a
geological chapter by Professor Bonney. London, T. Fisher
Unwin, 1898. 8vo.

[Matzewski, lr comte]. — Letter addressed to Professor Pictet, de-
scriptive of ascents to the Summit of the South Needle of
Chamouni and to that of Mont Blanc (" Blackwood's Magazine,"
November, 1818, pp. 180 and 181).

Meckel, C. de. — Relation d'un voyage a la cime du Mont-Blanc.
Bale, 1790.

Meiners, C. — Briefe iiber die Schweiz. Berlin, C. Spener, 1788-1790.
4 vols. 8vo (v. surtout tome iv.).

Meurer, J. — Der Mont-Blanc. Vienne. Spiess. (Osterreichische
Alpen-Zeitung, 1880 et tirage a part.)

Mittheilun'gen des Deutschen u.\d Oesterreichischen Alpen-
VEREINS, depuis 1875. Munich, Frankfort et Vienne.

MoDONi, A. — II Faucigny : Ricordi Alpini. Bologne, 1878. 8vo.

MoORE, A. W. — The Alps in 1864. A private journal. London, 1867.
Svo. (Privately printed.)

MOULINIE, C. E. F. — Promenades Philosophiques et Religieuses aux
environs du Mont-Blanc. Geneve, Sestie, imp. Paris, Scherff,
1817. i2mo.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

MuLLER, Dr. C. — Ascent of Mont Blanc by Mile. d'Angeville ("New
Monthly Magazine," Nov., 1840).

Murray, J. — Handbook for Travellers in Switzerland. Vol. H. The
Alps of Savoy and Piedmont, i8th edition. London, Murray,
1 891. 8vo,

Neue Alpenpost. — Spezial Organ, fiir Alpenkunde, Touristik, etc.
Zurich, Orell Fiissli et Cie, 1876-1882, gr. in 4to.

New Game of the Ascent of Mont Blanc, The. London, Egyptian
Hall (v. A. J. xiv., p. 62).

Noel, B. W. — Notes of a Tour in Switzerland, in the Summer of
1847. London, J. Nisbet & Co., 1848. 8vo.

Oesterreichische Alpen-Zeitung, depuis 1879. Vienne. Holz-
hausen, gr. in 8vo.

Oliver, L. — L'ascension du Mont-Blanc par un Touriste (" La Na-
ture," livraison du 4 octobre 1890. Paris, Masson, gr. in 8vo.

Oxley, T. L. — Jacques Balmat, or the First Ascent of Mont Blanc.
London, 1881. 8vo.

Paccard, M. — Premier voyage fait a la cime de la plus haute mon-
tagne du continent. Lausanne, 1786. 8vo.

Parlatore, F. — Viaggio alia catena del Monte Bianco. Florence,
1850.

Payot, V. — Temperature de la riviere d'Arve, des sources et des
torrents de la Vallec de Chamounix, observee pendant les annees
1855, 1856, et une partie de 1857.

Catalogue des Fougeres, Preles et Lycopodiacees des environs

du Mont-Blanc. Geneve, Cherbuliez, i860. 8vo.

Erpetologie, Malacologie et Paleontologie des environs du Mont-
Blanc ou Description Historique des Reptiles et Enumeration,
des Coquilles vivantes et fossiles ; 1865, gr. in 8vo.

312

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Payot, V. — Florule de la Vallee de la Mer de Glace, 1868.

Oscillations des quatre grands glaciers de la vallee de Chamonix

et enumeration des ascensionnistes au Mont-Blanc. ler ed.
Lausanne, 1867, in-12 ; 2e ed. Geneve, J. Sandoz, 1879 (avec
la liste des ascensionnistes qui ont gravi le Mont-Blanc depuis
Chamonix, de 1786 au 24 juillet 1879).

Geologie et Mineralogie des environs du Mont-Blanc, Geneve,

Georg, 1873. 8vo.

Guide au Mont-Blanc et dans les vallees comprises entre les

deux Saint-Bernards et le lac de Geneve. Geneve, Burkhardt,
1885. 8vo.

Guide du botaniste au Jardin de la Mer de Glace, ou Premiere

notice sur la vegetation de la region des neiges.

Deuxieme notice sur la vegetation de la region des neiges ou

Flore des Grands-Mulets.

Troisieme notice sur la vegetation de la region des neiges ou

florule de la vallee de la Mer de Glace.

Catalogue des principales plantes qui croissent sur la Chaine du

Mont-Blanc. 40 pp. in-4, imprime d'un seul cote.

Catalogue phylostatique des plantes cryptogames cellulaircs qui

croissent dans un rayon de 200 kilometres autour du Mont-
Blanc (Guide du Lichenologue).

Enumeration des mousses rares, nouvelles et peu connues des

environs du Mont- Blanc, suivie de la liste des Diatomees de la
vallee de Chamonix (Bull, de la Soc. botanique de France).

Observations thermometriques et meteorologiques sur la Vallee

de Chamounix.

Catalogue de la serie des roches et des mineraux de la Chaine

du Mont-Blanc et du massif des terrains composant la nature
geologique des montagnes comprises dans un rayon de 200 kilo-
metres autour de cette chaine.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Payot, v. — La Flore de I'excursionniste au Mont-Blanc.

Florule du Mont-Blanc. Guide du botaniste et du touriste

dans les Alpes Pennines. Phanerogrames, Paris, Sandoz et
Thuilier, 1882. i2mo.

Description petrographique des roches, des terrains cristallins

primaires et sedimentaires du massif de la chaine du Mont-Blanc.
Geneve, Stapelmohr, 1885. i2mo.

Peaks, Passes axd Glaciers. — A Series of Excursions by Members
of the Alpine Club. ist series, London, Longman, 1859, 8vo
(for the French translation see Dufour) ; 2nd series, London,
Longman, 1862, 2 vols. 8vo.

Perrix, a. — Histoire de la Vallee et du Prieure de Chamonix.
Chambery, Perrin, 1887. 8vo.

Philips, F. — A Reading Party in Switzerland, with an account of
the Ascent of Mont Blanc on the 12th and 13th of August, 1851.
Manchester, 1851 (privately printed).

PiACHAUD, LE Dr. — Unc asccnsion au Mont-Blanc en 1864 (" Biblio-
theque universelle" et " Revue Suisse," 1865, pp. 66-106, Geneve,
1865. 8vo.

PiCTET, J. P. — Nouvel Itineraire des vallees autour du Mont-Blanc.
Geneve, 1818, petit 8vo ; 1" ed., 1829.

Une course a Chamonix, Paris, 1838.

PiTSCHNER, W. — Der Mont-Blanc, Darstellung der Besteigung des-
selben, am 31 JuH, i and 2 August, 1859. Berlin, i860, in 8vo.
2™« ed. Geneve, Pitschner, 1864.

Le Mont-Blanc. Deuxieme ascension scientifique du 30 aoiit

16 septembre, i86r. Relation sommaire par E. de Catelin,
Annecy, 1861. 8vo.

Putnam's Magazixe, October, 1868. Up and down Mont Blanc.
London and New York.

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Raffles, Thomas. — Letters during a Tour through some parts o
France, Savoy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands in
the Summer of 1817. Liverpool, Th. Taylor, 2nd edition, 1819.
24mo.

Raoul-Rochette, D. — Voyage pittoresque dans la Vallee de
Chamonix et autour du Mont-Blanc. Paris, 1826. 4to.

Lettres sur la Suisse, ecrites en 1819, 1820 et 182 1, 4^ ed. Paris,

Neveu, 1828. 3 vols. 4to (v. tome ii., chap, xxviii).

Ratti, C. et Casaxova, F. — Guida illustrata dclla Valle d'Aosta, 2^
ed. Turin, Casanova, 1889. Svo.

Reglemext et Tarif de la Compagxie des Guides de Chamoxix.
Bonneville, F. Detruche, imp., 1890, broch. in 24mo.

Rexdu, le chaxoixe (plus tard eveque d'Annecy). — Theorie des
Glaciers de Savoie. Chambery, Puthod, 1840 (translated into
English by Mr. Alfred Wills. London, Macmillan, 1874).

Rexsselaer,- J. Vax. — First American Ascent of Mont Blanc ("Ameri-
can Journal of Sciences and Arts," April, 1820, New Haven).

RivisTA Alpixa Italiaxa del Club Alpixo Itallaxo, 1882-4.
Turin, Candeletti. 4to.

RivisTA Mexsile del Club Alpixo Italiaxo, depuis 1885. Turin,
Candeletti. Svo.

RusKix, J. — A Walk in Chamouni (" Friendship's Offering." London,
1S44. Svo).

Mont Blanc ("Keepsake for 1846." London, 1845, Svo),

Modern Painters, vol. iv. London, 1856. 4to).

Saxt' Axgelo, G. L di. — Premiere ascension italienne au Mont
Blanc (" Le Federal," no. du 4 sept. 1840, Geneve).

Saussure, H. B. de. — Voyage dans les Alpes, 4 vol. in-4 : vol. i.,
Neuchatel, Fauche, 1779 ; vol ii., Geneve, Bardc et Manget,
1786 ; vol. iii. et iv, Neuchatel, Fauche-Borel, 1796.

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Saussure, Hexri de.— Voyage dans les Alpes Partie Pittoresque, i"
ed. Paris, 1834 ; 4= ed. Paris, Fischbacher, 1880. i2mo.

Discours prononce a I'Assemblee Generale du C. A S. (V.

compte-rendu de la reunion des Clubs Alpins a Geneve, 1-4
aoiit 1879). Geneve, Jullien et H. George, 1880. 8vo.

ScHEUCHZER, J. -J. — Natur-Historie des Schweitzerlandes : Part I.
Helvetiae Stoicheiographia, Orographia et Oreographia. Zurich,
Bohmische Druckerei, 1716, in-4 ; 2^ ed., Zurich, 1752.

ScHUTZ WiLSOX, H. — Alpine Ascents and Adventures ; or Rock and
Snow Sketches. London, Sampson Low, 1878.

ScHWEiZER Alpen-Zeituxg. — Organ fiir die Deutschen sectionen
der Schweizer Alpenclubs depuis 1883. Zurich, Schulthess, gr.
8vo.

Shelley, P. B. — History of a Six Weeks' Tour, 1817. Mont Blanc,
a Poem.

Sherwill, M. — A Visit to the Summit of Mont Blanc, 25th, 26th, and
27th August, 1825 (three articles and letters to the " New
Monthly Magazine" for 1826, pp. 533-541 ; 1827, pp. 40-47, 150-
155). There is also a French translation : "Ascension du Dr.
Edmond Clark et du cap. Markham Sherwill a la premiere
sommite du Mont Blanc, les 25, 26 ct 27 aout, 1825. Paris,
Nepveu ; Geneve, Delarne, 1827.

A Brief Historical Sketch of the Valley of Chamouni. Paris,

Pihan, Delaforest, Morinval, 1832, broch. 8vo.

SiMON'D, L. — ^Voyage en Suisse. Paris et Strasbourg, Treuttel et
Wiirtz, 1822, 2 vols., 8vo. (English translation. London, J,

Murray, 1823.)

Smith, A. — The Story of Mont Blanc. London, Bogue, 1853, 8vo.
The original story appeared in " Blackwood's Magazine " of
January, 1852, and was reprinted under the title : Mont Blanc
(privately printed) ; there is a French translation of the article b\'
J. Coindet in the " British Review" of July, 1852, p. 41-75.

316

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Smith, A. — A Boy's Ascent of Mont Blanc, by himself (article in the
" Boy's Birthday Book" for 1859, ^^^ other editions).

StATUTO ED ISTRUZIONI PER I'ARRUOLAMEN'TO DELLE GUIDE E

PoRTATORi DEL C. A. I. Alpi Occidextali . Torino, Candeletti,
1888, broch i2mo.

Stephen, L. — The Playground of Europe. New edition. London,
Longmans, 1894.

[Stephex, L.] — Up and Down Mont Blanc (article in the Christmas
number of "Chambers' Journal," 1866. London, Chambers. Svo).

Sunset on Mont Blanc (article in the "Cornhill Magazine,"

October, 1873 ; French translation in "I'E. d A" 1875, pp. 86-99).

Studer, G. — Ueber Eis und Schnee. Die hochsten Gipfel dcr
Schweiz und die Geschichtc ihrer Besteigungen (v. tome ii. et iii.).
Berne, Dalp, 1870-1871. 8vo.

Talfourd, T. N. — Vacation Rambles and Thoughts. 2 vol. London,
E. Moxon, 1845. 24mo.

Tarik des guides [du Valais] Reglements, etc. ; publics par les soins
de la section iklonte-Rosa du S. A. C. Lausanne, G. Bridal, 1877,
br. petit Svo.

Thomas, P. W.— Tlic Death-Roil of Mont Blanc ("Chambers'
Journal," 14th August, 1886).

Tilly, H. de. — Ascensions aux cimes de I'Etna et du Mont Blanc,
Geneve, Berthier, 1835. Svo.

T[issaxdier] G. — La catastrophe du Mont Blanc du 21 aoiit, 1891
(" La Nature," no. du 5 septembre, 1891). Lettre de M. G. de
Faverney.

Un refuge au ]Mont-Blanc ("La Nature," no. du 13 septembre^

1890.) Paris, Masson, gr. in Svo.

L'Observatoire du Mont-Blanc. (" La Nature," no. du 14

novembre, 1891), v. Jaxssex.

317

The Annals of Mont Blanc

ToDESco, E. — Un' ascensione al Monte Bianco da Chamonix (article
dans les " Scritti varii di argomento attenente al Alpinismo."
Florence, 4* annee, pp. 77-81).

ToPFFER, R. — Nouvcaux voyages en zigzags a la Giandc-Chartrcuse,
autour du Mont-Blanc, etc, 2" ^'^•i 8^'°) Paris, 1864 ; 7* ed.
Paris, Garnier freres, 1868, 4to.

Trench, F. — A Walk Round Mont Blanc. London, R. Bentley, 1847.

TscHUDi, I. VON. — Der Turist in der Schweiz. 31st ed. Zurich,
Orell Fiissli, 1890, petit 8vo.

Tyxdall, J. — The Glaciers of the Alps. Being a Narrative of Ex-
cursions and Ascents, an Account of the Origin and Phenomena
of Glaciers, and an Exposition of the Physical Principles to
whicli they are related. London, Murray, i860. 8vo.

Hours of Exercise in the Alps. London, Longman, 1871. Bvo.

The Glaciers and the Transformations of Water. 3rd ed.

Paris, Germer-Baillere et C, 1880. 8vo.

Undrell, Captain. — Article on his ascent of Mont Blanc, in the
"Annals of Philosophy," May, 1821.

UziELLi, G. — Leonardo da Vinci e le Alpi (article dans le " Boll.
C. A. L," 1889).

Vaccarone, L.— Le Vie delle Alpi Occidental! negli Antichi Tempi.
Turin, Candeletti, 1884. 8vo.

Statistica delle prime ascensioni nelle Alpi Occidentali. 3® ed.

Turin, Roux, 1890. 8vo.

Vansittart, N.— Ascent of Mont Blanc (Littell's " Living Age," New
York, November, 1851).

Vautheleret, M. de.— Traversee centrale des Alpes par le Col du
Geant. Abbeville, Retaux. 8vo.

The Bibliography of Mont Blanc

Vernes, F. — Voyage episodique et pittorcsque aux Glacicres des
Alpes. Paris, Gautier et Bretin, 1807. 121110.

Vezian, a. — Esquisse d'unc Histoire Geologiquc du Mont-Blanc
(article dans " L'Ann. du C. A. F.," 1880}.

Vincent, H. — Au Mont-Blanc en ete et en hiver. Grenoble, Vincent
et Perroux, 1882.

ViOLLE, J. — Une Expedition Scientifique au Mont-Blanc (" Revue
des Deux-Mondes," 15 novembre, 1875).

ViOLLET-LE-Duc, E. — Le massif du Mont-Blanc. Etude sur sa
constitution Geodesique et Geologique, sur les Transformations
et sur r etat Ancien et Moderne de ses Glaciers. Paris, Baudry,
1876. 8vo.

Waring, S. M. — The Traveller's Fireside : a series of papers on
Switzerland, the Alps, etc. London : Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy,
18 19. 24010.

Wey, F. — La Haute-Savoie. 2nd edition. Paris, Hachette and Co.,
1865. i2nio.

White, \\\ — To Mont Blanc and Back Again. London, George
Routledge, 1854. 8vo.

Whymper, E. — Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-1869,
London, John Murray, 1871. 8vo. Fourth edition, 1893. (French
translation by Ad. Joanne, under tlie title : Escalades dans les
Alpes, 2nd edition. Paris, Hachette & Co., 1875, gr. 8vo.)

WiLBRAHAM, E. B. — Article in the " Keepsake" for 1832, p. i.

Wills, A. — Wanderings among the High Alps. London, Bentley,
1856, 8vo. 2nd edition, 1858.

The Ascent of Mont Blanc, 1858. (Privately printed.)

The Eagle's Nest in the Valley of Sixt ; a Summer Home

among the Alps ; together with some excursions among the Great
Glaciers. London, Longman, i860. 8vo.

319

The Annals of Mont Blanc

Wilson, G. — Letters from an Absent Brother. London, 2 vols.,
2nd edition, 1824. i6mo.

[Windham, W.] — Relation d'un vo}^agc aux glacieres de Savoie en
I'annee 1741, publiee par T. Dufour dans "I'Echo des Alpes,"
1879.

[WiNDHAM, W., AND Martel, P.] — An account of the Glacieres or
Ice Alps in Savoy. In two letters, one from an English Gentle-
man to his Friend at Geneva ; the other from Peter Martel,
Engineer, to the said English Gentleman. London, 1744. 4to.

Wright, W. D. — Ascent of IMont Blanc (article in the Christmas
Number, 1891, of the " Boys' Own Paper ").

Yates, Mrs. A. — Letters written during a Journey to Switzerland.
London, 1843. 2 vols. Svo.

Zeitschrift des Deutschen und Oesterreichischen Alpen-
VEREixs, depuis 1870. Munich ct Vienne. 8vo.

Zincke, F.-B. — Sexagenarian Mountaineering (" Fraser's Magazine,"
August, 1877).

Zsgimondy, E. — DieGefahren der Alpen. Leipzig, Baldamus, 1885 ;
2^ ed., 1887, in Svo (contient plusieurs commentaires relatifs a
divers accidents survenus dans la chaine du Mont Blanc).
Traduction franpaise de la i" ed. (preface par A. Lemercier),
sous le titre : Les dangers dans la montagne ; indications
pratiques pour les ascensionnistes. Neuchatel, Attinger freres,
1886. 8vo.

ZuRCHER et Margolle. — Lcs Glacicrs. 3e ed. Paris, Hachette
et C*, 1875. 8vo.

Note. — This bibliography has, with a few additions, been taken by
permission from that published by M. Louis Kurz, in the French edition
of his " Guide to the Chain of Mont Blanc."

320

APPENDIX

TABLE OF THE VARIOUS ASCENTS OF MONT BLANC
FROM PACCARD AND BALMAT TO ALBERT SMITH
AND OTHERS, 1786 TO 1851, IN ORDER OF DATE

Number of
Ascent.

9
10

II
12
13
14

Xamc.

Date.

.(Michel Gabriel Paccard

Ijacques Balmat

(Jacques Balmat

-j Jean Michel Cachat

lAlexis Tournier

Horace Benedict de Saussure

Colonel Mark Beaufoy

Mr. Woodley

(M. Doorthesen

(M. Forneret

^laria Paradis

M. Rodatz

Count Matzewski

'Dr. William Howard

(Jeremiah van Rensselaer

Captain J. Undrell, R.N

Frederick Clissold

H. H. Jackson

(Dr. Edmund Clark

(Captain Markham Sherwill ..

(William Hawes

(Charles Fellows

-^21

1786. August 8

1787- July 5

1787.
1787.

1788.
1802.

1809.

I8I2.
I8I8.

I8I9.

I8I9.
1822.
1823.

1825.

August 3
August 9
August 5

August II

July 14
September 10
August 4

July 12

August II
August 19
September 4

August 26

1827. July 25

Appendix

Number of
Ascent.

17
18

24
25
26
27

31
32

35
36

Name.

John Auldjo

The Hon. E. Bootle Wilbraham ...

Dr. Martin Barry

Count Henri de Tilly

Alfred Waddington

/•Henry Martin Atkins |

j Samuel Pidwel i-

\M. Hedrengen )

M. Doulat

[Henriette d'Angevillc |

j M. Eisenkramer r

V Count Karol de Stoppen j

II Marchese di Sant' Angelo

(The Chevalier Jacques Carelli de)
1 Rocca Castello f

|M. Chenal ^

iM. Ordinaire I

( Mr. Nicholson .
(The Abbe Caux.

fW. Bosworth....

] Ed. Cross

Ul. Blanc

M. Jacot

M. Bravais

■ M. Martins ;

,M. le Pileur

Count Fernand de Bouille

(J. Woolley ,

(J. T. Hurt

Archibald Vincent Smith .,

jS. A. Richards

(W. K. Gretton

J. D. Gardner

Erasmus Galton

,Albert Smith

The Hon. W. E. Sackville West
'C. G. Floyd

F. Philips

G. N. Vansittart

1827. August 9
1830. August 3
1834. September 17
1834. October 9

1836. July 10

1837. August 23

1837. August 26

1838. September 4

1840. August 27
1843. August 16

1843. August 26

1843. August 31

1843. September 4

1843. September 10

1844. August 29

1846. July 14

1846. August 5

1847. August II

1850. August 29

1850. September 3
1850. September 6

J 1 85 1. August 13

322

Appendix

TABLE OF FATALITIES WHICH HAVE OCCURRED ON
MONT BLANC, IN ORDER OF DATE

Date.

Travellers.

1820. Aug. 20

18:0.
1864.

1866.

1870.

Aug. 15,
Aug. 9

Aug. 23

Oct. 13

AU£J. 2

. M. Rochester ]
F. Vavassour ... (■
B. Fuller

1870. Sept. 6

1873.
1874.

1882.

1885.
1890.

1890.

Sept. 14
Aug. 31

July 19

Aug. I
Aug. 12

Aug. 19

1891. Aug. 21

1893.
1893.

1895.

Aug. 25

Aug. 27
Sept.

Aug. 18

July 14

B.Young

Capt. Arkwright
Mrs. G. Marke .

'Mr. Randall ...
Mr. McCorkindale
^Mr. Beane

Prof. Fedchenko
J. A. G. Marshall

Prof. Balfour

Mario Rey

Count diVillanova
Herr Rothe

R. L. Nettleship...

Signer Poggi

Signor Cumani ...

R. Schniirdreher

— Reigel

Guides.

[Pierre Carrier '

■j Pierre Balmat

( Augusta Tairraz . . . ,

Frederic Tairraz

Remarks.

Ambroise Couttet...

[Michel Simond

-1 Frangois Tournier
I Joseph Tournier ..

Olivier Gay

, Jean Balmat

Joseph Breton

Edouard Simond...
^ Augusta Couttet ...
'] Augusta Cachat ...

F'erdinand Tairraz
I Alphonse Balmat...
^Johann Graf

Johann Fischer.

Johann Petrus

Gratien Brunod ... -,

f J. J. Maquignaz ...|

•j A. Castagneri I

( Two porters )

Michel Simond.

( Michel Savoie
] Laurent Brun

Avalanche. Party
unroped

Slip on snow.

Party improperly

roped
Fall in crevasse,

unroped
Slip on snow ; no

guides

Avalanche ; bad
guiding

Fall in crevasse
unroped

Climbing in bad
weather. Bad
guidins

Exposure ; incom-
petence of guides

Fall in schrund ;
midnight

Slip on rocks. Two
persons only in
expedition

Two persons only ;
no guides

Slip on rocks, un-
roped

Climbing in bad
weather

Bad weather, bad
guiding, bad rop-
ing
Climbing in bad

weather
Falling stone
Climbing alone
Slip on ice ; bad

guiding
Climbing alone

323

Appendix

TRANSLATION OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY JACQUES
BALMAT TO THE CHEVALIER A. DE LA PLACE AND
PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL DE SAVOIE ON THE
30TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1825.

"Chamoxix, 3isi! August, 1825.
"Sir, — I take the liberty of writing to you to tell you that a large
number of travellers have come to visit the Montanvert, the Jardin,
the Mont Breven, and La Flegere. Two Englishmen reached
the top of Mont Blanc on the 26th at 2.45 p.m. They were only
able to remain eighteen minutes on the summit and were unable to
see the panorama of mountains, the summits and the valleys being
hidden by clouds. These gentlemen were Captain Markham Sher-
will and Dr. Edmund Clark of London. They were led by seven
guides. They experienced much difficulty in climbing the great
slopes near the summit on account of the snow, which was very soft
in places and very hard in others. It was necessar}^ to cut steps in
the ice crust with axes, and this rendered the ascent of the last
slopes very difficult. These gentlemen had great difficulty in over-
coming the rariiication of the air which exists in the higher regions,
" Meanwhile I remain

" Your very devoted Servant,

"Jacques Balmat,
" dit Mont Blanc."

Note. — This letter was written by Balmat at the age of sixty-three, and is copied
in Paccard's manuscript volume.

TRANSLATION OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY ANGELIQUE
PARADIS TO MADEMOISELLE D'ANGEVILLE, ON THE
3RD OF SEPTEMBER, 1846.

" A Mademoiselle d'Angeville.

" Mademoiselle, — Every one in our valley speaks in the highest
terms of your goodness towards the unfortunate, but the experience
of it which my mother-in-law (your predecessor on the summit of
Mont Blanc) has had, shows that all that has been said falls short
of the reality.

3^4

Appendix

" Notwithstanding the great kindness which characterises you, and
the unexampled generosity you have been pleased to show to my
dear mother and to me, I should not have dared to raise my eyes
in petition to you, had not dire necessity compelled me to do so.

" During a short space of time I have had to deplore the loss of
my dear mother-in-law. I have seen a portion of my little property
ravaged by a tremendous flood. I hardly escaped being crushed
under the ruins of my poor abode. Now I am alone with an aged
aunt and a sick child. I have been destitute for some time, having
nothing to hope for except the charity of my neighbours. In this
wretched condition I venture to raise my hands in supplication to
you, whom I justly regard in the light of a new Providence. Excuse,
Mademoiselle, the boldness and the perfect confidence with which
I take the liberty of expressing to you my needs. Condescend,
Mademoiselle, to receive with favour my humble petition, and
believe in the respect and in the everlasting gratitude of the
humblest and most unworthy of your servants.

"AXGELIQUE PAR.^DIS.

" From the house of my mother-in-law,

" Madame Frangoise Paradis,

"September 2, 1846."

— From the collection oj M. Bastard, 0/ Geneva.

325

An ACCOUNT of the

GLACIERES

O R

ICE ALPS

I N

SAVOY,

In TWO LETTERS,

One from an

EngliJJo Gentleman to his Friend at Geneva j

The other from

PETER M ARr E L, Engineer,
to the fa id Englijlj Gntleman.

Illuftrated with a M a p, and two Views of the
Pl aCe, &c.

As laid before the Royal Society.

LONDON,

Printed 'for Peter Mart el,

And Sold by W Meadows in Combtll , P. Vaillant in the Strand;
G. Haii-iins betvveei^ the Two Temple Gates ; R. Dodjley in
Fall Mall; J. Pallaret agaiiifi; Catherine Street \\\ the Strand ;
and M. Cooper in Pajler Nojler Roiv. MDCCXLIV.

(Price One Shilling and Six-pence.)

[']

A LETTER from an Engli/h Gentleman to Mr,
Arlaud, a celebrated Painter at Geneva, giving an
Account of a Journey to the Glacieres, or Ice Alps in
Savoy, written in the Tear 1741. Tranftated from
tb^ French.

Si r,

ACCORDING to your Defire I fend you an Account of our
Journey to the Glacieres. I fhall give it you in the plainefl
Manner, without endeavouring to embellifh it by any florid Def-
criptions, although the Beauty and Variety of the Situations and
Profpeds that we obferved in this unfrequented Part of the World,
would well defervc to bedefcribed by one, who, like you, join to
fo great a Skill in Painting fo lively and poetical an Imagination ;
but thefe not being my Talents, I will, as I faid before, confine
myfelf to the giving you a faithful Relation of the Incidents of our
Journey, and acquainting you with the Obfervations we made. I
ihall add a few Hints, which may be ufeful to fuch as fhall here-
after have the fame Curiolity that we had, and who may perhaps
have Advantages and Conveniences which we had not to make
more accurate Obfervations. It is really Pity that fo great a Cu-
riofity, and which lies fo near you, fliould be fo little known ; for
though ScheucfjzeTy in his Iter Alpinum, defcribes the Glacieres
that are in the Canton of Berne, yet they feem to me by his Def-
cription to be very different from thofe in Savoy.

I had long had a great Defire to make this Excurfion, but the
Difficulty of getting Company had made me defer it: Luckily in
the Month of June laft * Dr. Pococke arrived at Geneva from his
Voyages into the Levant and Egypt, which Countries he had vi-
fited with great Exadtnefs. I mentioned to him this Curiofity,
and my Defire to fee it, and he who was far from fearing Hard-
Hiips, expreffing a like Inclination, we immediately agreed to go
there ; when fome otheis of our Friends found a Party w^s made,
they likewife came into it, and I was commifTioncd to provide
what was neceflary for our fetting out.

* The lame who has lately publiihed fo accurate end iogemoiu an Accouot of his Trareb.

B As

3-29

2 An Account of the Glacieres in Savoy.

As we were afliired on all hands, that we fhould fcarcely find
any of the NecelTaries of Life in thofe Parts, we took with us
Sumpter Horfes, loaded with Provificns, and a Tent, which was
of fome ufe to us, though the terrible Defcription People had given
us of the Country was much exaggerated. I had provided feveral
Mathematical Inflruments to take Heights, and make Obfervation*
with, hoping that Mr. Willia?njbn, an able Mathematician, Gover-
nor to Lord Hadinton, would have been of the Party; but he de-
clining it, on account of the Fatigue which he fear'd he {hould
liot be able to fupport, I chofe not to take the Trouble of carry-
ing them, there being no Perfon in the Compar\y fo capable as
he of making a proper ul'e of them.

We fet out from Geneva the 19^'' oi June, N. S. we were *
Eight in Company, befides five Servants, all of us well arm'd, and
our Baggage-Horfes attending us, fo that we had very much the
Air of a Caravan. The firft Day we went no farther than Bon-
neville, a Town about four Leagues diflant from Geneva, accord-
ing to the way of reckoning there ; thefe four Leagues took us
more than fix Hours riding. This Place is fituated at the Foot
of the Maule, and clofe by the River yfr-ji? ; 'tis furrounded with
beautiful Meadows and high Mountains, covered with Trees,
which form all together a very delightful Situation. There is a
«ery good Stone-Bridge near the Town, but it had fuffered in the
late Innundation of the Arve, which had carried away part of it.
Our Inn was a tolerable one for Savoj as to every thing but Beds..

The next Day being the 20'\ we fet out very early in the
Morning, and paffed the Arve ; our Road lay between that River
and the Mountains, all along which we were entertained with an
agreeable Variety of fine Landfl-;ips. They reckon two Leagues
from Bofmcville to C/u/e, but we were three Hours and an half in
going it.

Clufe is fituated in a narrow Pafs between the Mountains, which
almoft meet in this Place [leaving only room for the ylrve, which
is thus hemm'd in for above a League togethfer.] Before you come
to Clufe there is a kind of Hermitage, upon a Rock on the Right
Hand, where we climb'd up in order to enjoy the Profpeit, which
is delicious; after that we paffed the Arve over a fine Stone Bridge,
of one very large Arch, artdcontinuedour Journey for about an Hour
and an half through a narrow Road, along the Arve, between Rocks

* Vh. Lord Hadintcit, the Honourable | AU-^onh, Pi<otki, P,ue, WmdJ.am, and
Llf. EatUU hii Bretber, and Meil Qlat'UQxd, \ Stilli>igjinr,

330

An Account of the Glacleres m Savoy. 3

of a prodigious Height, which look'd as if they had been fplit on
purpofe to give the River a PafTage. Not to mention the Beauty
of the Vievi'5 all along, we were extremely entertained by con-
tinual Echoes, and the prodigious ratding, caufed by cracking a
Whip, or firing a Piftol, which we repeated feveral Times. We
faw Cafcades on every Side, which fell from the Top of high
Rocks into the Arve, There is one among the reft of fingular Beau-
ty, it is called the "Nan d'Arpena,. 'tis a great Torrent, which falls
from a very high Rock; all ^w^ Company agreed it muft be higher
than * Saleve. As for my Part, I wiil not pretend to decide about it,
I however may veuCure to fay, that the Cafcade of Terni does not
fall from near fo great a Height ; but then the Quantity of Water,
when we faw it, was much lefs than at this laft njontioned Place j
tho' the People of the Country aflured us, that at certain times the
Water is much more abundant than it was then.

After about three Hours riding from Clufe, we came to Saint
Martini Bridge, right againfl Salancbes, which is on the other
Side of the Arve. 'We did not care to go out of our Way into the
Town ; but chofe rather to encamp in a fine Meadow near the
Bridge, in order to refre& ourfelves. From tl'ience v/e fet out
again on our Journey, and after four Hours riding through very
bad Ways, being obliged -to crojs fome dangerous Torrents, we ar-
rived at 3. Utile Village called Servoz. Our Horfes fuffered here
very much, being tied to Pickets all Night in the open Air fqr
want of Stabling ; befides, there was neither Oats, cor any other
Forrage, but Grafs frefn cut ; as for ourfelves, as we had brought
all Neceffaries along with us, we v/ere well enough ofF, except as
to Beds, and that want was fupplied by clean Straw in a Earn.

From thence we fet forward at break of Dayj and paffed the
Arve once more over a veiy bad wooden Bridge, and after hav-
ing clim'd over a fteep Mountain, where we had no fmall Diffi-
culty with oar Horfes, their Shoes coming off continually, and
they often running the rifque of tumbling into the Arve, which
run at the Bottom of the Rock, we came into a pleafant Valley,
where we pafs'd the Arve a fourth time over a Stone Bridge, and
then :firn: had a View of the Glccieres. We continued our Jour-
ney on to Chamouny^ which is a Village upon the North-fide of
the Arve^ in a Valley ,^ where there, is a Priory belonging to the
Chapter of Salancbes; here we cncamp'd, and while our Dinner

* Salev/ is a Mountain, about three I cular Height is about 1 150 frencb Feec.
Miles from GinevA, whofe perpcndi- j

B 2 vnz

331

4 j^H he coviJT of the Glacieres in Savoy.

was preparing, we inquired of the People of the Place about the
Glacieres. They {hewed us at firft the Ends of them which reach
into the Valley, and were to be feen from the Village ; thefe ap-
pear'd only like white Rocks, or rather like immenfe Icicles,
made by Water running down the Mountain. This did not fatisfy
our Curiofjty, and we thought we were come too far to be con-
tented with fo fmall a Matter j we therefore flridlly inquired of
the Peafants whether we could not by going up the Moun-
tain difcover fomething more worth our Notice, They told us we
might, but the greateft Part of them reprefented the Thing as very
difficult and laborious ; they told us no-body ever went there but
thofe whofe Bufinefs it was to fearch for Cryflal, or to (hoot
* Bouquetins and Chamois, and that all the Travellers, who had been
to the Glacieres hitherto, had been fatisfied with what we had al-
ready feen.

• The Bouquet ttts are Animals much
larger, and lefs Shaggy than a Goat ; for
their Figure, fee Plate ^ het.a. They live
in the higheft Mountains, and come down
very rarely, for which reafon the Trouble
and Danger of Hunting them is very
great ; they are very courageous, making
ufe of their great Horns for Defence,
when attaclc'd ; they are very cunning,
and by the Wind fmeli the Hunter a vait
way oif ,' when chafed, they leap an in-
credible Diftance, and being purfued
clofely will throw themfelves down high
Precipices, and by falling upon their
Horns break their Fall fo as not to hurt
themfelves. The Edges of their Hoofs,
or Qaws, are fo fharp and hard, that the
Impreflion of them may be feen on
Stones. Their Blood is efteeroed as a fo-
vereign Remedy in Pleuritick DiforJers,
which is reckoned to be owing to the
Herbs they feed on in thefe Mountains,
particularly an Herb called, in the Lan-
guage of the Countr)', Gmepi. Cha-
mois is a Kind of Goat, only ftronger ;
for their Figure, fee Plate 4. Let. b. They
keep on the high Mountains of the ^Ips ^
they are very fond of licking certain
Rcc;ks, of a kind of (ok crumbling Stone,
vfhich is Salt, and in thole Places the

Hunters go tc look for tBem, and (ur-
prife them, which is however very diS-
cult, for they always have fome of the
Herd (landing on high Rocks as Gentries,
and when they perceive any Danger they
give the Alarm by a Noife they make,
upon which the reft betake themfelves to
the Precipice?, where it is impollible to
follow them. Sometimes this kind of
Sport becomes dangerous, not only by
reafon of 'he craggy Rocks one muft
climb up to, but becaufe it often happens
that the Hunter purfues the Chamois into
Ibme narrow Pais, where there is but
juft Foot hold for one Perfon, having en
one fide a deep Rock above him, and
beneath a frightful Precipice , the Cha-
tmis then having no way to efcape is
obliged to turn .upon the Hunter, and en-
deavours either to jump over him, or
elfe fqueefe between him and the Rook,
in which cafe he puflies the Man down
the Precipice j (o that all he his to do is
either to lay down, or elfe, by flruggling,
make good his Place, and thrul^ the Be^
down the Rock. It is with their Horns
that the linle Reed-canes Ladies carry
are generally tipt, and of their Skins is
tnade the auc Shammy Leather.

l"he

332

An Account of the Glacleres /W Sav^oy. j

The Prior of the Place was a good old Man, who (hewed us many
Civilities, and endeavoured alfo to difTuade us; there were others
who reprefented the Thing as mighty eafy ; but we perceived
plainly, that they expeded, that after we had bargain'd with them
to be our Guides, we fiiould foon tire, and that they fliould earn
their Money with little Trouble. However our Curiofity ^oK the
better of thefe Difcouragements, and relying on our Strength and
Refolution, we determined to attempt climbing the Mountain.
We took with us feveral Peafants, fome to be our Guides, and others
to carry Wine and Provifions. Thefe People were fo much perfuad-
ed that we (hould never be able to go through with our Talk, that
they took with them Candles and Inftruments to llrike Fire, in
cafe we Ihould be overcome with Fatigue, and be obliged to fpend
the Night on the Mountain. In order to prevent thofe among us
who were the raoft in wind, from fatiguing the reft, by pufhing
on too faft, we made the following Rules: That no one fhould go
out of his Rank ; That he who led the way fliould go a (low and
even Pace ; That who ever found himfelf fatigued; or out of Breath,
might call for a Halt ; And laftly, that when ever we found a
Spring we fliould drink fome of our Wine, mixed with Water,
and fill up the Bottles, we had emptied, with Water, to ferve us
at other Halts where v/e fhould find none. Thefe Precautions were
fo ufeful to us, that, perhaps, had we not obferved them, the Pea-
fants would not have been deceived in their Conjedures.

We fet out about Noon, the ^^^ oi June, and crofied the y^ri;^
over a wooden Bridge. Mofl: Maps place the G lacier es on the
fame Side with Chamoign)\ but this is a Aliftake. We were quick-
ly at the Foot of the Mountain, and began to afcend by a very
fleep Path through a Wood of Firs and Larche Trees. We made
many Halts to refrefli ourfelves, and take breath, but we kept on
at a good Rate. After we had paffed the Wood, we came to a
!<jnd of Meadow, full of large Stones, and Pieces of Rocks, that
were broke off, and fallen down from the Mountain ; the Afcent
was fo fteep that we were obliged fometimes to cling to them with
our Hands, and make ufe of Sticks, with (harp Irons at the End,
to fupport ourfelves. Our Road lay flant Ways, and we had feve-
ral Places to crofs where the * Avalanches of Snow were fallen, "

* Avalanche. To explain the meaning which contain fome curious Particular;

of this Word, I believe it will not be un- relating to thofc mountainous Parts of the

entertaining to the Reader to cite fome VVoild. . . V .
Paflages frpm the Deiices dt la Suijp^

and
333

6 /^;« Account of the Glacieres m Savoy.

and had made terrible Havock ; there was nothing to be fecQ but

** Bcfides tiicfe Ice Mountains, the
" Snows are excremely dangerous to
*' Travellers. There often fall tVom thefe
" high Mountains immenfe Balls of
" Snow, which arc called in German La-
" winen, in Italian Lavine, in French
" Avabrabes, which by the [mpetuolity
*• of their Fall make a NoiCe like a Clap
" cf Thunder, fo that thofe that are ar a
" Diflar.ce imagine it to be really fo, as
" I remember it happened to myfelf
" fome Years fince, having heard one
" that fell in the Fallais, though I was
" above twenty Leagues diflant from ir.
" Sometimes it is cauCed by the new fal-
" ten Snow, which being driven by the
«' Violence of the Wuid, forms vaft
" Snov/ballf, which gather by rolling, and

" overwhelm every thing they meet,
" both Men and Bcafts. As it is very dif-
" ficult to avoid them, becaufe they are
" extremely fudden, fo, being very light,
" a Man may remain under them longer
" v/ithout being fufFocaced ; but there
" are others which are occafioned by the
" Thaws in the Spring, which are much
" more dangerous, great MafTes of old
" Snow, melting underneath, fall off a:
" once, making a terrible Noife, but
" ftill more Ravage, no: only deftroy-
" ing Men and Cattle, but even Trees
" and Houfes. Claudian, who lived in
" the fourth and fifth Centuries, informs
" us, that fuch Accidents were known in
" his I'une, Fjd( 4'"^ Conful. Honor'it :

*' tnulros hauferc profunda!
'' Vafta mole nives ; cumque ipfis fsepe juvencis
" Naufraga candenti merguntur plauftra barathro,
" Interdum fubitam, Glacie labence, ruinam
" Mors dedic.

" A Trifle will produce thefe rerrible
*' Accidents in the y/Z/r, the Flight of a
" Bird, the Leaping of a Chamois^ the
" firing a Piftol, a Shour, fpeaking loud,
" the Bells of the Mules and Pack-
" Horfes, or even a gentle Rain are fuf-
" ficient to loolen this Snow, and bring
" it down to the Deftrudlion of PafTcn-
'*' gers; fo little hold has it on thefe fteep
" Places. For this Reafon they always
" take great Care to caution Travellers
** in Places where there is danger of this
*' Sort, to travel early, and in great Si-
" lence, and to get through as fa ft as
*' pofiible, as one would out of a Houfc
" on Fire : And the Voiturins fill with
*' Hay or Straw the Bells of their Beafts,
*' in lome Places, as in the Vald'Avtrfa.,
" in the Grifom they put the Bells on-
'•' ly a Foot above the Ground, that their
*' Sound fliould not extend fo far as to
" caufe Danger, and in feveral Places
" they do not ufe them at all for that
" Reafon. In the Lower ^ngadlne, be-
•* tween the Villages of Laviit and Guar-

d'la^ there are all along the Road fe-
veral Caves made in the Rocks for
Travellers to retire into when they fee
any of thefe Mountains of Snow fall-
ing i but if they are fo unfortunate as
not to be able to reach ftjch a Place,
the only way is to get as clofe to fome
Rock as polTible, and cling to it, fo
as not to be carried away, and to en-
deavour to keep (heir Head free,
to be able to breaih till Affiftance
comes ; for in all thefe Places there
are People paid by the Magiftrates to
look after the Ways, and keep them
always open , and as foon as there is
fallen any Quantity of Snow, they go
and mend the Ways, fmooth the Snows
with large Pieces of Vv'ood, drawn by
Oxen, and iliovel it away, and at the
lame rime evamine all dangerous Pla-
ces to fee if there is no poor Traveller
buried under the Snow. The Hiilo-
ries of Switzerland are full of the ter-
rible Ravages made in feveral Pbces,
at diffefcnt tiroes, by ihefc Avalanches

Trees

334

An Account of the Glacieres in Savoy. 7

Trees torn up by the Roots, and large Stones, which Teemed to
lie without any Support j every ftep we fet, the Ground gave
way, the Snow which was mixed with it made us flip, and had it
not been for our Staffs, and our Hands, we nnuft many times have
gone down the Precipice. We had an uninterrupted View quite to
the Bottom of the Mountain, and the Steepnefs of the Defcent,

<* in 1499. When the Emperor Maxi-
<^ milian made War upon the Grifans, a
" Bcxiy of aooo Men of his Troops
«' having been ordered to paTs a high
" Mountain to go into the Engadiae, aU
« Avalanche filling fuddenly upon them,
«• buried 400 Soldiers, which at firft
** caufed great Confdjon and TcrrOr in
<' the reft, which v/as focn turned into
*' Laughter, when they Ciw all the 400
'* Men Cife and found out ef their fnowy
<' Tomb, not one being loft But the
"■ Year following a Body of Stviizers,
" going into Italy for the Service of the
** Fnnch, was furprized on the Mounc of
*' St. Bermrdy by a horrible Avalanche
»* which deftroyed a hundred of them.
" And in our Memory, in the Year 1695,
" on the 2j" oi February y atTeno'Oock
" at Night, a violent Wind brought
" down a molt terrible Avalanche of
" above 100 Yards in wtdth upon a
" Village in the l^all Madia, v/hicb de-
" ftroyed eleven Houfes, with as many
" Barns and Scabies, (b entirely, that there
" fcarce remained one Stone upon an-
" other, and very much damaged nineteen
*' other Houfes that remained. The
" Violence of the Wind blew open the
" Windows of fome Houfes, and filled
" them with Snowj thirty-four Perfons
'' perilhed in this Storm, fom.e were
" taken alive, almoft mrraculoufly from
" under the Snow, amongft others a
" Mother and two Children. It happens
" very often that Travellers who .are
" caught in the Snows dre happily pre-
" ferved and faved from Death. When
'*' any one is found feemingly dead, with-
'• out Scnfe or Motion, the firft Reme-
" dy is to plunge him in cold Water.
" To fome it Vv'ill appear both barbarous
" and ridiculous to dip a Man, who is
" frozen, and almoft dwV,d with Cold,

"into cold Water J but let thetn know
" that It would be certain Death to any
" one to give him heat fuddenly when he
" is frozen. They begin therefore with
" dipping him inco cold Water, upon
" which his whole Body is covered wirh
" a Cruft of Ice j afterwards he is put
" into luke-warm Water, then proceed-
*' ing by Degrees, they get him into a
" Bed well v/armed, and finilh his Cure
"■ by Cordials and Fomentations. And'
" this Rule holds gOod alfo with regard to
" Fruits, when the Froii has caught them y
" one muft never carry them it once into
" a .warm Place, but the way is to dip-
" them into cold Water, and then into-
" warm Water, by which jneans they be-
" come pretty good again. I wijl dot
" leave this Subjed without obferving a,
" thing, v/hich is truly a phyKcal Para"
" doK, which is, that the Water that runs
" from the Gletfchers, or Ice Mountains,
" that I have mentioned before, is. the
" beft and wholfomeft that one can drink.
" .A Traveller that pafffs thofe Mountains
" can drink no other Water if he is heat-
" ed, wKhout Dangei' of catching a fetal
" Diftemper j but he may without Dan-
" ger drink this Ice Water, whether faft-
" ing, or after eating, and it has a kind
" of balfamick Virtue to roftore and for-
" tify after any Fatigue , this is a knowa
" Faift, and proved by conftant Expe-
" rienoe. The Ihhabitants of the /il^
" know no other Remedy in Diarrhoea's,
" Dyfenteries, and Fevers, than this Wa.
" ter of the GUt/chers, and a celebrated
." Phyfician has recommended it for the
" Tooth-Ach. A Man who pafles thro'
'' thele Pans-ought carefully to avoid two
" Things, vix. drinking common Water,-
" and Qeeping near a Fountain, or in the
" Snow, Gnce they commonly prove
« falsi." r

join'd

335

8 A-i hccovni of the Glacleres m Savoy.

join'd to the Height v/here we were, made a View terrible enough
to make moft People's Heads turn. In (hort, after climbing with
great Labour for four Hours and three Quarters, we got to the Top
of the Mountain ; from whence we had the Pleafure of beholding
Objects of an. extraordinary Nature. We were on the Top of a
Mountain, which, as well as we could judge, was at leaft twice as
high as Mount Sakve, from thence we had a full View of the Gla-
cieret. I own to you that I am extremely at a Lofs how to give
a right Tdea of it ; as I know no one thing which I have ever ittn
that has the leaft Refemblance to it.

The Defcription v/hich Travellers give of the S6as of Greenland
ieems to come the neareft to it. You muft imagine your Lake
put in Agitation by a ftrong Wind, and frozen all at once, per-
haps even that would not produce the fame Appearance.

The Glackres confifl of three large Valleys, that foroa a kind of
Y, the Tail reaches into the Val $AoJle^ and the two Horns into
the Valley of Chamoigny , the Place where we afcended was be-
tween them, from whence we faw plainly the Valley, which forms
one of thefe Horns.

I had unluckily left at Chamoigny a pocket Compafs, which I
had carried v/ith me, fo that I could not well tell the Bearings as
to its Situation ; but I believe it to be pretty nearly from North to
South, Thefe Valleys, although at the Top of a high Mountain,
are furrounded with other Mountains; the Tops of which being
naked and craggy Rocks, fnoot up immenfely high ; fomething re-
fembling old Gothic Buildings or Ruines, nothing grows upon
them, they are all the Year round covered with Snow ; and our
Guides affured us, that neither the Chamois^ nor any Birds, ever
went fo high as the Top of them.

Thofe who fearch after Cryftal, go m the Month of Auguji to
the Foot of thefe Rocks, and ftrike againft them with Pick-axes ;
if they hear them jefound as if they were hollow, they work there,
and opening the Rock, they find Caverns full of Cryftalifations. We-
fliould have been very glad to have gone there, but the Seafon was
not enough advanced, the Snow not being yet fufticiently melted*
As far as our Eye-fight could reach, we faw nothing but this Val-
ley ; the Height of the Rocks, which furrounded. it, made k im-
pofliWe for the Eye to judge exadtly how wide it was ; but I ima-
gine it muft be near three Quarters of a League. Our Curiofity
did not flop here, we were refolved to go down upon the Ice ; we
had about four hundred Yards to go down, the Defcent was ex-
celfively fteep, and all of a dry crumbling Earth, mixt with Gra-
vel,

336

A4 Account of the Glacieres /;^ Savoy. 9

vcl, and little loore Stones, which afforded us no firm footir.g ; fo
that we went down partly falling, and partly Aiding on cur Hands
and Knees, At length we got upon the Ice, where our Difficulty
ceafed, for that was extremely rough, and afforded us good foot-
ing ; we found in it an infinite Number of * Cracks, fome we
could ftepover, others were fevera! Feet wide. Thefe Cracks were fo

* " In forne Places there are found for inferring a wonderful Adventure which

Mountains of Ice, which not only never
raelc, but always increafe by the falling
of frefh Snow, fo that by little and little
they extend themfelves, and cover the
Country all about them The Germam
call them Gletfcher, wc call them com-
monly Glacieres. Thefe Ice Mountain";
are moftly of an immcnfe Height, and
(ometiines they fplit fro.n Top to Bot-
tom, which they do with fo horrible a
Noifc, that one would think the whole
Mountain was breaking in Pieces ; tlicfe
Clefts differ as to the Width and Depth ^
there sre fome two, three, or four Feet
wide, and three or four hundred Yards
deep, and if a Man falls in he is almoft
inevitably loft, being either killed by the
Cold, or drowned in the melted Snow :
However, in many Places, one is oblig-
ed to p.iis over thefe Mountains, there
being no other Way, and when there is
oy Snow new fallen it is very dangerous,
for the Ice covers thefe terrible Clefts,
fo that the Travellers are taken as Birds in
a Snare, and fall in and perifli. To avoid
thefe Misfortunes Travellers take Guides,
who with long Poles found the way to
fee there is no Cleft, and when they find
one they muft jump over, or elfe they
pafs over a Board, whirh they carry for
that Purpofe The Difficulty augments
when there is Snow new fallen, for then
one kes no track of the way at all, and
one muft obferve certain Poles fet up to
fhew the wsy, which the Grifom call Sta-
-as , but m many Places the Inhabitants
fet up none, that the Travellers may be
obliged to pay them well for being their
Guides On thefe Occafions it is nccc-
(f^ry to have Iron Cramps to ones Shoes,
not to flip, and vvithil take great Care where
one fets one's Feet , and on this Occa-
Aon I hope the Reader will not blame mc

happened fome Years ago to a Hunter of
Gluris, named Gafper Stoeri. This Man
being in purfuit of Chamois, with two
other Hunters on Mount Limmercn, and
thinking he was walking on the Snow
very fafcly, fell into a deep Cleft of the
Ice : His Companions, v/ho loft fight of
of him, were io great Uneafmefs, and
cxpc(fled no otherwife than that he muft
be killed, either by the Fall, or by the
Cold of tlie Ice. Neverthclefs that they
might not reproach themfelves with letting
him perifK, without endeavouring to help
him, they ran to the neareft Cottage,
which waj fall a League off, to look for
a Rope, or fomething eife to affift him ;
but finding nothing there but an old Blan-
ket, they cut it into Icaig Slips, and wen:
to the Hole where their Companion was.
While they were going and coming, poor
Stent was almoft dead with Cold, being
up to his Middle in ic'd Water. The
Depth of which was fo great under him,
that he could not fee to the Bottom, and
by extending his Arms and Legs, he
held himfelf faft againft the Sides of
the Cleft of Ice, fo that he was (liui
up there, as it were, in a clofe, cold, and
deep Dungeon. Vou may imagine in
what a Situation he was, he expected no-
thing but Death, and was recommending
hb Soul to God, when his Companions
arrived, who let down the Slips they
had cut, to pull him out ; he had Strength
enough to tie them about his Body, and by
this Means was drawn up to the Top of
the Pit j but 2s he wasjuft upon the Pomt
of being delivered, unhappily the Slip
which held him up broke, and he fell again
into the iced Water, and was in greater
Danger than before. He arried down
with him a Piece of the Slip which broke,
and the Remainder was not IcDg enough
C deep,

337

10 /^« Account of the Glacieres tn Savoy.

deep, that we could not even fee to the Bottom ; thofe v/ho go In
fcarch of Cryftal are often loft in them, but their Bodies are gene-
rally found again after fome Days, perfedly well preferved. All
our Guides allured us, that thxfc Cracks change continually, and
that the whole Glaciere has a l;ind of Motion. In going up the
Mountain we often heard fometliing like a Clap of Thunder,
which, as we were informed by our Guides, was caufed by frefh
Cracks then making ; but as there were none made while we wero
upon the Ice, we could not determine whether it was that, or
Avalanchei of Snows, or perhaps Rocks falling ; though fince Tra-
vellers obferve, that in Greenland the Ice cracks with a Noife that
refembles Thunder, it might very well be what our Guides told
us. As in all Countries of Ignorance People are extremely fuper-
ftitious, they told us many ftrange Stories of Witches, ^c. who
came to play their Pranks upon the Glacieres, and dance to the
Sound of Inftruments. We fliould have been furprifed if we had
not been entertained in thefe Parts, with fome fuch idle Legends.
The Boiiquetms go in Herds often to the Number of fifteen or
iixteen upon the Ice, we faw none of them; there were fome Cha-
mois which wc fliot at, but at too great a Diftance to do any Exe-
cution.

There is Water continually iffuing out of the Glacieres, which
{the People look on as fo very wholefomc, that they fay it may be
drank of in any Quantities without Danger, even when one is hoc
with Exercife.

The Sun flione very hot, and the Reverberation of the Ice, and
circumjacent Rocks, caufed a great deal of thaw'd Water to lie
in all the Cavities of the Ice j but I fancy it freezes there con-
ftantly as foon as Night comes on.

Our Guides alTured us, that, in the time of their Fathers, the
Glaciere was but fmall, and that there was even a PafTage thro*
thefe Valleys, by which they could go into the Val d'AoJie in fix
Hours: But that the Glaciere was To much increafed, that the
PafTage was then quite flopped up, and that it went on increafing
every Year.

to reach him, and, as sn additipnal Mi(^ wesk Inftrument, by a Miracle of Provi-

fortune, in this fecofvd FjI he broiie his dcnce, was drawn ou: of thfs terrible

Arm. However his Companions did not Pir, and though he had at firft fainted

lofe Counige, they divided the Slip again, away, God gave hinJ Strength to come to

and joining the Pieces end to end, lower 'd himlelf, and to bear the Fatigue of being

them down to him j he with great Diffi- carried to a Houfe where he entirely re-

culty, with his broken Arm, tied it round covered." Vui. Del'ues da la Swjfe^ Tom.

bis Body, while with the other he held to i. pog ji bf ftj.
tbe iiidcs uf bi£ Dupgeon and wuh ibis

An Account of the Glacleres /« Savoy. ii

We found on the Edge of the Glaciere feveral Pieces of Ice,
which we took at fir ft for Rocks, being as big as a Houfe ; thefe
were pieces quite feparate from tlje Glaciere. It is difficult to
conceive how they came to be formed there.

Having remained about half an Hour upon the Gluciere^ and
having drank there in Ceremony Admiral Femons Health, and
Gucceis to the Brilijb Arms, we climb'd to the Summit, from
whence we came, with incredible Difficulty, the Earih giving
way at every ftep we fet. From thence, after having refted our-
felves a few Minutes, we began to defcend, and arrived at Cba^
viouny juft about Sun-fet, to the great Aftonifhment of all the
People of the Place, and even of our Guides, who owned to us
they thought we {hoyld not liave gone through with our Under-
taking.

Our Curiofity being fully fatisSed, we left Chamouny the next
Day, and lying at Salanches, we got the 23'' to Bonneville. The
Nearnefs of this Place to the Maule raifed in us an Inclination to
go up it. We fet about this Talk the next Day early in
the Morning ; we fancied that after the Glacieres every Mountain
would be eafy to us, however it took us more than five Hours hard
labour in getting up j the Mctni being extremely fleep ; though, after
two thirds of the Way, there is a fine green Turf quite up to the Top,
which ends in a Point, the Mountain being like a Sugar-Loaf on
one Side, and quite perpendicular on that Part which lies fartheft
from Geneva. From this Point there is a moft delightful View,
on one Side, upon the Lake, Geneva, and the adjacent Parts ; on
the other, upon high Mountains cover'd with Snow, which rife
around, in form of an Amphitheatre, and make a moft Pidurelque
Profpeft. After having ftay'd fome time here, we returned back,
and went on to Annecy, where we lay, from whence the next
Day we got to Geneva.

Thofe who are delirous to undertake this Journey, ought not
to fet out till towards the Middle of Auguji -, they would at that
time find not fo much Snow on the Mountain. They might go to
the Cryftal Mines, and divert themfelves with (hooting of Bou-
quetins ; the Oats would then be cut, and their Horfes would
not fuffer fo much. Although we met with nothing which had the
Appearance of Danger, neverthelefs I would recommend going well
armed ; 'tis an eafy Precaution, and on certain Occafions very ufe-
ful, one is never the worfe for it, and oftentimes it helps a Man
out of a Scrape. Barometers to meafure the Height of the Moun-
tains, portable Thermometers, and a Quadrant to take Heights

C 2 with.

339

12 /4/ Account of the Glacleres m Savoy.

with, would be ufeful, if there were a Mathematician in Company.
A Tent would not be neceffary, unlefs for thofe who had a Mind
to examine every thing with the greatefl: Exadnefs, and make Ob-
fervations ; in this Cafe one might pitch it upon the Mountain,
and pafs the Night in it, if it were neceffary, for it did not feem
very cold there.

With thefe Precautions one might go through the other Parts of
tbefe Valleys, which form the Y, and one might find out whether
the Cracks change daily as we v/cre told j one might alfo Meafure
thofe excelTive high Rocks which are on the Side of the Glaciere, and'
Ciake many other curious Obfervations, according to the Tafte and
Genius of the Travellers ; who, if they were inclined to Botany^
might find an ample Field of Amufement.

One who underftood Drawing might find wherfewithal to inr-
ploy himfelf, either on the Road, or in the Place itfelf j in fliort,.
a Man of Genius might do many things which we have not done.
All the Merit we can pretend to is having opened the vs'ay to others
who may have Curiofity of the fame Kind.

It would be right to take Vidluals ready drefs'd, and Salt Meat,
Bread and Wine, for there are fome Places where one can get no
Provifions, and the little there is to be had in other Places, is very
bad. We bought a Sheep, which we kiPed, and drefled upon
the Spot.

It is neceflary to carry Halters to tie the Horfes, cut Shoes,
Nails, Hammer, ^c. for they lofe their Shoes continually in thofe
ftoney Roads. *

With fuch Precautions all kinds of Journeys become eafy and
agreeable, even in the moft defart Countries, and one is then more
in a Condition to obferve with Care and Accuracy, whatever oc-
curs worth Notice.

This is the Subrtance, Sir, of what I can recoiled of our Jour-
ney. My having fo long defer'd giring you this Account is owing
to the Incapacity I found in myfelf to fay any thing worth being
prefented to a Perfon of fo good a Tafte as yourfelf. However,
upon the whole, 'tis your good Tafie which ought to encourage
me : Your lively and penetrating Imagination, which unites in
one, both the Poet and Painter, will at once lay hold and pcrfedt
what I have but flightly fketched. I am, with the greatefl Efteem,

S I K,

Tour mojl Obedient Humble Servant,

340

[ >3 ]

An ACCOUNT of a Journey to the Glacieres in
Savoy, m a Letter addrejfeci to //^(? Englifh Gentle-
many Author of the foregoing Letter^ by P, Martel,
Engineer. Tranjlated from the French.

Sir,

SINCE your Departure iox England \ have had an Opportunity
of going to the Glacieres of Chamouny aloDg with four
Friends, whofe Cnriofity had been raifed by reading your Letter,
which has been liked by all People of Tafte, and refolved to en-
deavour to make.thofe Obfervations vs^hich you was defirous to have
made laft Year. I therefore took with me every thing that ap-
peared neceffary for that Purpofe, and made ufeof all poffible Pre-
cautions to fucceed, in the Manner you will fee.
f I do not prefent this Account to you, Sir, as a Work fit to be
compared with yours, but rather as a Memorial, which will ferve
to fupply your Journal with what you would have chofen to have
put there, and which you certainly would have inferted yourfelf
had you had Inftruments with you.

You will firft of all fee what Inftruments I provided, and what
Precautions I took -, you will fee alfo a Journal of my Obferva-
tions, to which I ftiall add an exad Account of what we faw. I
fhall endeavour to explain the Phyfical Caufe which fupplies the
Glacieres. I fhall put at the End of this Relation a View of the
Valley of Chamouny % taken from the Church ; a View of the Val-
ley of Ice, taken from Montanver^; a Map of the Road from Gc-
7ieva ' to the Source of the ^rve, redified from Obfervations made
upon the Places ; and fome Defigns of Chamois and Bouquetins ■»,
which you may perhaps like to fhew to your Friends in England.
I fhall join the Obfervations of one of my Friends, and Fellow
Travellers, upon the Plants which we found both upon the Moun-
tain, and m the neighbouring Places. Laftly, I fliall compare our
Obfervations and Menfurations, with thofe of the celebrated Mr.
Fatio de Didllicr, whuh are inferted in the Appendix to the Hi-
flory of Geneva. Be afTured, Sir, that this Relation is very exaft,

all
' Place 3. fPhic 1. f Plate 2. - Place 4..

14 /^-^ Account of the Glacieres /;; Savoy.

all the Operations have been repeated, and calculated twice with
great Care, (o that you may rely on the Exadnefs of every thing
contained in this Account. Before J come to the Point, it may be
proper to tel! you who were the People that compofed our Com-
pany. There was a Goldfmith very well flulled in Minerals ;
an Apothecary who was a good Chemifl: and Botanift ; Monfieur
Martin and Mr. Girod, whom you know to be very curious;
which made us a Company pretty well qualified for this Under-
takii ct; -efpecially as each of them, according to his particular
Turn^ contributed to difcover fomething, and befides that were
very ferviceable to me in making my Obfervations.

I took with me a good Barometer, included in a wooden Tube,
which I filled at every Station, according to the Method of Torri-
■celli, with all pofTible Precaution ; and for this Purpofe, carried
a good deal of Mercury to be always provided in Cafe of Acci-
dents : I had with me my Semicircle of ten EngliJ}.> Inches Radius,
with fome Sea Companies, a Camera-Obfcura, and all Implements
for Drawing. I took alfo a Thermometer of my own make, fill-
ed with Mercury, divided into a hundred equal Parts, from the
freezing Point, to boiling Water, anfwering to i8o Parts of Fa-
renheit's Thermometer, beginning, at 32, and ending at 212. I
divided my Barometer into Inches and Lines, French Meafure, to
have at once the Height cf the Mercury. 1 left at Geneva with
Baron Rotberg a Barometer and Thermometer, fimilar to thofe I
took along with me ; that I might compare our Experiments, with
the Variations of the Barometer, in cafe the Weather had varied ;
but the Weather being all the Time fine, the changes were not
fenfible ; your Journal ferved us as a Guide, both for our Rout,
and for feveral Precautions you mention as ncceflary.

I muft obferve to you that before our Departure, I waited on
Ptofeflbr Calandrini, to get fome farther Inftrudlions, concerning
the Proportion of the Height of the Mercury, at different Diflan-
ces from the Center of the Earth; he communicated tome a Ca-
non to make a Table by, for that Purpofe; but I preferred the
fundamental Experiment, and the Tables of Mr. Scheutzer, for
Reafons which may be ittn in the Philofophical Tranfa^ions
N°405. You will find here all the Heights of the Mountains ex-
adly calculated by thofe Tables, according to the Height the Ba-
rometer flood at, and I found them agree more €xa(5tly than any
other with my Trigometrical Operations.

We left Geneva Aug. 20. 1742. Before we fet out I tried my

Barometer

342

An Account of the GJ.icleres hi Savoy. 15

Barometer, which upon the Side of the Rhone flood at 27 Inches
t'.- *; and the Thermometer at 18 D. above the freezing Point
which anfwers to 60, of Farenbeit. We dined at Bonneville ;
where the Barometer was at 26 vt ; which make 6 Lines lefs than
at the Side of the Rhone at Geneva ; thus it appears that the Arve
is at Bonneville, above the Level of the Rhone 403 F. \o I. c L.
French Meafure ; which is not a very great Rife, confidering the
Diftance is 5 Leagues, or 15 Miles Englijb.

We left Bf'nneville at half an Hour after two, and reached
Clufe about fix, and got to Salanches that Night. We made feveral
Trials of the Echoes, which you mention in the Valley between
thefe two Places, and found they continued full four Minutes.
The great Drought had intirely flopped the fine Cafcade you men-
tion, at the Nan Darpena. At Salanches I tried my Barometer,
which was at 26 t-, which was ten Lines lefs than at Geneva,
and gave us in Height 670 F. 10 7. o L. above the Rhone. The
Thermometer was not changed at all. Going from Salanches to
Servoz we went through PaJJiy a Village fuuated almoft at the
Foot of a Mountain of the fame Name. This Parifh contains fe-
veral Hamlets, which extend near three Leagues ; Paji is on the
right Side of the ylrve going down the Stream, and on the other
Side is fituated the Village oi St, Gervais, near four. Miles beyond
the lafl Hamlet of PaJ/i. Leaving Sf. Gervais we began to climb
the Mountain, and paffed over a little Bridge, under v/hich runs a
Water called la Gouille, which falls from the Mountain, and car-
ries with it a very black Sand ; neverthelefs near the Bridge there is
a little Pond at the Bottom of a Hill, where this Water is vaflly
clea,r and beautiful. Not far from thence there is a Water which is
called the Nan des bois : This too carries along with it a black Sar>d,
v/hich the Inhabitants fay is blacker the more abundant the Water
is : From thence we arrived at Servoz, on the right Side of the
ylrve in a very narrow Valley, from whence we began to difcover
the high Mountains which furround the Glacieres, the Barometer
flood at 7. 25 -TT, which is 7. i tt lower than at the Rhone, and
gave for Height F. 1306. o. 7. and from Salanchet, the Diffe-
rence of 7. -Ti which is F. 636. o. i. in five Leagues ; this being
the greateft Declivity that the Arve has from its firft Source : For

• All the Meafures mentioned here are French Meafure, the Foot being to our
Foot as 114 to 107.

D hen

343

1^ ./^/^ Account of the Glacieres in Savoy.

here it rolls from Mountain to Mountain 'till it comes to the Plain
of PaJJi. At Servoz they {hew'd us Lead-Ore, which to me
feem'd to be of little Value-, they aflured us that this Valley of
Servoz was formerly a Lake. There is ftill remaining an old Tower,
at a fmalUDiftance from the Arve, which they call the Tower of
the Lake. They add moreover, that en the Side of this Lake,.
there was a Town called the City of Et. Peter, which was fwal-
lowed up, and that the Lake having broke thro' its Banks, run all
out into the Arve, and there remains only now a marfhy Valley.

From Servos we took the Rout of Chamouny, we had the Jirve
on our right Hand, butfoon pafledit over a very bad Bridge, called
PontPeliJJier; from whence we came to that fteep Mountain,
which they call les Monties, or the Stairs, where one of our Hor-
fes loft a Shoe and almoft all his Hoof; from thence we entered
into the Valley of Chamouny, having on our left xh^Arve, and on
our Right a fine Hill, which reaches as far Southward as the
Mountain called Montblanc. Here we found feveral Signs of Iron
Ore, at leaft they no ways differed from thofe by which they find
out Iron Mines in Burgundy. A League farther we came to the
Village of Foiiilly, which is only a Hamlet of Chamouny, and
from thence we arrived at Moncoir, where there is a Church be-
longing tQ Chamouny ; and from thence pafling the Arve, over a
Bridge, we arrived at Chamouny in the Evening. Here I tried the
Barometer, which at the Side of the Arve flood at 25 F. -A, which
is I /. 44 lower than at Geneva ; from whence I concluded that the
Arve at this Place was above the Level of the Lake 1520 F. 5. 5.
The Night between the 22"^ and 23*^1 hung out my Thermometer
in the open Air, and found it in the Morning two Degrees above
the freezing Point, which anfwers to 35 ^ Degrees of Farenheit,
This made us cloath ourfelves warmer, in order to go up the Moun-
tain; for which Place we fet out about fix in the Morning, hav-
ing with us feven Men both to afTifl us in climbing, and to carry
Provifions; we took in other Refpedts the fame Precautions as you
did, and I carried my Inftruments with me. At a Halt which we
made after three Hours climbing, I tried my Barometer, which
gave me i /. -rr lower than at Chamouny j and by the Table, 1
found that we had mounted 1179F. o. i. from the yfr-ur at
Chamouny, after two Hours and half more very difficult climb-
ing, we got on the Top of the Mountain called Monfanver; from
whence we faw the Ice Valley, and were ilruck with Aftoniihment

344

An Account of the Glacieres hi Savoy. 17

at fo extraordinary a Sight. After havipg taken a View of it while
we refted, I tried the Barometer, which ftocd at 22 -r' which was
2 -fy lefs thin at Cbamouny, which gives for the Height of the
Mountain 2427 F. 8. 10. and above the Level of the Lake

In order to find a Place to Dine in we defcended towards the
Ice, and got behind a kind of Mound, of great Stones which the
Ice had raifed, as I will explain hereafter. The Barometer rofe
iwo Lines, which (hewed us wc had gone down F. i^g. 7. 8. in
this Place we dreffed our Vicfluals, and dined under the Shade of a
great Rock. The Thermometer 'was got down to only one Degree
above the freezing Point, which anfuersto about 33 4 of Faren-
heit. We were not able to ftay here long by reafon of the Cold,
which obliged us to get into the Sunfhine, altho' we were dreflcd
as in the Twiddle of Winter ; and after Dinner every one went ac-
cording to his Inclinations, fome upon the Ice, others to look for
Cryftal ; for my Part I took tv/o Men with me, and returned to
Montanvcrty where 1 remained near three Hours, which tim.e I
employed in making a Plan of the Glacieres, which I have put at
the End of this Account. I was affiled in this Operation by my
Guide, who was a very intelligent Perfon, not only knowing the
Country, but having alfo affifted in the laft Survey, which the King
of Sardinia had caufed to be made of Savoy. 1 have more reafon
to believe this Map to be exadl, becaufe 1 have compared it with
a Map that I faw at the Grejier's of Cbamouny, which was of great
Service to me. The Nearnefs and Height of the Mountains ren-
dered it impoflible to make ufe of my Camera Obfcura, to take a
Profpeft of the Glacieres, fo that leaving Montanvert, I arrived at
the Priory of Cbamouny at Seven in the Evening.

My Companions were next Morning in fo great a hurry to go
away, that I had not time to draw any Views as I intended ; ail
I could do was to take with my Semicircle the Height of the
Mo?2i Blanc, by two different Operations which correfponded
exactly. I did the fame for the Montanvert, where we had been
the Day before, and juft fketched out ths View oi Cbamouny, here
annexed, taken from above the Church, from whence I could fee
the Mountain where the Arve takes its Source, the chief Outlets of
the Glaciere ; the higheft Mountains j and the Villages, as you
will fee in Plate 3.

D2 I fluU

345

i8 Aft AccovnT of the Glacieres m Savoy.

I Ihall here interrupt my Narration, to give you a more di-
ftind: Idea of the Vailey of Chamouny, the Glacieres, and what-
ever fcemsd to me to be moft remarkable,, during the (hort
time virhich I remained there. Firft of all then, The Valley of
Chamoiiny may be confidered as reaching from the Top of the
Mountain called the Monieeit as far as the Mountain, from
from v/hence the Arve takes its Source, which is called the Col dff
Balme^ v/hich bounds it to' the N. E. The Maps give this Val-
ley the Form of a Crefcent, but if it were fo it ought to be
narrow at the Ends, and wide in the Middle j but li is oa
the contrary rather narrowell in. the Middle j however it muil
be owned that is bends confiderably. At the Entrance into- it
from Servoz it runs from Weft to EaCx, and afterwards to N»
E. fo that it forms an Elbow about the Middle.

The Length of thia Valley is about eighteen EngUp Miles 7
cs for its width, at leaft in the Middle, it cannot be above 400
Geometrical Paces, or about half an EngliJJ) Mile, it contains^
feveral Hamlets, the four principal ones are, Fouilly^ juft as you
come into it 3 Mcntcoiry where, there is a Church en the Left
of the Arve -, the Priory, which is in the Middle, properly called
Chamotmyt and is on the right Side of the River j and Argeniiere
near the End of the Valley. This Valley is bounded on the
N. E." by the Col de Balme, where the Ar-ve rifes from two
Springs, at a very little Diftancc from one another ; having the
Glacjeres to the S. E. all along the Valley, which reach as far
as above St. Gervais, in the Valley of Salenches, where there
is a Glaciert\ called Glaciers -de St. Gervais, which comes, from
Mont Blafic, bending a: little towards the South, and not following
the Curve of the Valley,

The N. W. Side is bounded by the Mountains of Valorjine,
and the S. W. by the Paflage which goes to Servoz. The Ar*o2
runs quite through the Middle of the Valley, receiving in its
Paffage the Arhaircn\ and many other Rivulets and Torrents,
which only have Water v/heii the Snows melt. To have a di-
ftindl Idea of the Glacieres you muft fuppofe a great Valley,
nearly parallel to that of Chamoimy^ but much higher, it being
lituated on the Top of high Mountains. This Valley may be
about twelve Miles long, and about two broad ; a great Part of
it may be feen from Montanvert, which is the Mountain we
went up. From thence you fee many Points of Mountains,

iliooting

346

^n Account of the Gkcieres m Savoy. 19

(hooting up to a prodigious Height, altho' the Place on which we
were is near F. 2^2j. 8. Pans Meafure high above the Valley, the
Barometer being lower by 2 ■?% Lines at the Top of it than at the
Bottom, and having calculated the Height of tliis iVIountain, by a
trigonometrical Operation, upon a Eafe of 1440 Feet, I found
nine Feet more, and this by two diflerent Operations. Having
from the ikme Bafe meafured the Height of the higheft Point
of the Mofii' Blanc, I found by two Operations 10939, taking
in the Height of the Mountain where we were, and from the
Rhone 12459 Feet. Moft of thefe Points are all covered with
Ice, from tlie Top quite to their Bottoms, v/hichjoin the G/a-
eieres of each Side.

I can think of nothing more proper to give an Idea of this Val-
Fcy, than the Comparifon you have made ufe of, namely, a great
Lake, which being violently agitated by a ftrong Wind, fhoald
have been frozen all' at once. For all the Glaciere when io&n.
from Montanveri has at arfl: that Appearance; but as Toon as
you come near it, you perceive that feme of the Incq^uality or
Waves are more than forty Feet high.

This great Valley has many Oudets between the Mountains ;
five of which, being the principal ones, come into the Valley
of Chamounyy and thefe Extremities", or Outlets, are what the
Inhabitants of Cbampuny call Glaciers. Thefe Outlets are very
fleep, fome more fo than others. Now to judge of the Caufe,
which occafions a perpetual Ice in this Valley, we muft confi-
der its Situation in two Refpeds; Firjl, As to the Sun; and
Secondly, As to the Atmofphere. We muft confider its greateft
Length, as lying from the Sunrifing in the Summer Solftice, ta
the Sunfetting in the Equinox, by reafon of its Curvity, being,
of all Sides furrounded with very high Mountains, and that
chiefly on the South Side, where there is the Mountain des Ef-
chaux, which is very high. The North Side of this Mountain
is always covered v/ith Ice, while the Mountain, which is op-
pofite to it. on the other Side of the Glaciere, has no Ice at all
on it. As to the Atmofphere, you muft remember that the Sur-
face of the Ice is raifed above the Valley of Chamouny ziti
Feet. This great Height caufes the Air to be always very cold
in this Valley of Ice, of which I will add fome inconteftable-
Proofs. We were there in the Month of Augujl, in very fine
dry Weather, without any Appearance of Rain, nor was there

any

347

lo /^;7 Account <?/ the Glacieres ht Savoy.

any Wind ftirring all that Day we were upon the Mountain, but
always a clear Sun {hine; neverthelefs my Thermometer defcended to
two Degrees above the freezing Point, which anfwers nearly to
35 4 of Farenheit ; and this in the Valley cf Chamouny^ where
the Air is not near fo piercing as it muft nccellarily be on the
Ice Valley, where the Thermometer funk one whole Degree,
under the Rock where we dined, befldes when we fet out from
Chamoziny in the Morning, we pafTed drylliod over the Esds of
many little Streams, which defcend in the Day-time from the
lyiountains, and which ran abundantly at our Return in the
Evening; fo that we were forced to go over tlie Foot Bridges,
T^hirdly^ We faw upon the Valley of Ice a vafl Number of
little Refervoirs, containing a very fine Water, which immediately
congeals after Sunfet ; and that in the greatefl Heats, as all the
Inhabitants of the Country aflured me unanimoufly, not having
remained late enough on the Mountain to have feen it myfeln
But this Obfervation is confirmed by the little Rivulets above
mentioned, which ceafe running in the Night. If one confidera
the Height of thefe Mountains, which I have already mentions
ed, whofe Tops lofe themfelves in the Clouds ; if one confiders
the vaft Quantities of Water, which muft come from, thsm by
the melting of the Snow, that covers them upon the leaft Raina
that happen in the Plain, and that this Water and Snow turn
into Ice immediately at Sunfet ; it is eafy to difcover the Caufe
which fills thefe Valleys with Ice. Thefe Reafoas, in my Opi-.
nion, are fufficient, without having recourfe to the Eife<Ss qf
Nitre ; nor indeed have we found any Appearance, of it in the
Tafte of the Ice : And I may add, that, having put fonne of
this Water into a Silver Spoon, and. made it evaporate by Fire,
it left neither Sediment, or any Films, nor any other Marks
of Nitre : So that I am firmly perfuaded, that Nitre has no
Share in the Produdlion, or the Confervation of this Ice. For
Ice, produced by an artificial Congelation, has an acrimonious Tafte;
whereas this produces, a fweet Water, equal to that of cur beft
Springs. The Glacieres in the Ice Valley are not always in the
fame State, they fometimes augment, and fometimes diminifh;
it Is probable they have been more abundant ; by the. Marks which
remain they, muft have been 80 Feet higher than they are now.
One fees on both Sides of the Glacjeres, and in the Outlets, a
white Stone, mixed with a white Sand, very like the Rubbifh of

old

348

An Account of the Glacieres /« Savoy. 21

oTd Buildings. The Stone appears calcin'd, and breaks like Lime
that has been expofed fome time to the Air ; the Edges of the
Glacieres are very fteep, probably becaufe the Ice rifes againft
the Bank. The Place where we dined was a kind of large Pa-
rapet of Stone-work, the Stones of which were very large, and
heaped, one a Top of' the other like, a Wall, being very fteep to-
wards the Ice, vi'ith very little or no flope. This kind of Wall
was about 80 Feet high, and 2a thick j behind it was a kind of
2 Terras which joined the Mountain, from whence we could
not fed the Ice without getting on the Parapet. It is to be db-
fcrved, that the Glaciere is not level, and all the Ice has a Mo-
tion from the higher Parts towards the lower ; that is to fay,
that it Aides continually tov/ards the Outlets into the Valley,
which has been remarked by many Circumftances. .F;/y?, By
great Stones, which have been carried quite into the Valley of
Chamouny ; they fhewed us one of a very large Size, v/hich fe-
vera] old People afliired us, that they had feen upon the Ice. I
liave already faid,. that the Waves, for fo I call the Inequalities-
of the Ice, were fome of them 40 Feet high. I will now add,
that the Hollows between them run all tranfverfly to the Courfs-
of the Ice ; fo that in the Valley they lay one way, and in the
Outlets another, always crcffing the Diredlion of die Ice : The
Cavities between the fmall V/aves are all full of a ver}' clear
Water ; there are on the Ice an infinite Number of Clefts,
of different Widths, fome twenty Feet long, and four or five
\Vide, others lefs. Thefe are almoft all in the weak Parts of the
Ice, ;". e. in the Hollows of the Waves, and all direfted like the
Waves in a tranfverfe, or oblique Manner. 'Tis by thefe Clefts
we could judge of the Thicknefs of the Ice; in the Hollows it is
only 5 or 6 Feet thick, in the high Waves 40 or 50. The Refle-
ftion of the Light in thefe Clefts produces the Effedl of a Prifm j
and 'tis very beautiful, even from the Mountain, to. fee the Mix-
tures of blue and green arifing from thefe Clefts, and the Refer-
voirs of Water, "efpecially when the Sun fhines on this vafl Valley
of Ice. By thefe fame Clefts you fee under the Ice, Waters which
run from it, at leaft in the Day-time, which fometimes mult touch
the inferior Surface of the Ice, as tney did then, of which I fhall
give two Proofs, which appear inconteftable, Firfi^ Our Guides
pufh'd a Pole a great way in, and having let it go, it rofc again
of itfelf, which could be occaGoned by nothing but the Water.

Th&

349

iz An Account of the Glacieres /« Savoy.

The other Proof is, that when any have had the Misfortune to fall
intothefe Clefts, which has happened to fome Searchers of Cryftal,
they have been found again upon the Ice, perfedily preferved after a
hm Days, as foon as there has been a little Rain, or mild Weather.
The Caufe of this can only be the Increafe of the Water, which,
not finding a fufficient Paflage under the Ice, rifes by thefe Clefts, .
and fo gets rid of every thing that is lighter than itfelf : But be-
caufe the PalTage for fo large a Quantity of Water is not fufficient,
though the Number of Clefts be very great, it is very probable,
that it often raifes the whole Mafs of Ice. One might draw from
this many Conjedures, both for difcovering the Caufe of the In-
creafe of the Glacier es, during the Time of the greateft Heats, and
alfo to explain the Elevation; of the Stones on the Edges.'

I have already faid, that the Thickaefs of tlie Ice is very con-

fiderable, and I, will now fay foniething upon its Confiftence. We

found it generally much lighter, and much thinner towards the

Edges of the Valley, than in the Middle : For although both the

one and the other fwini upon the Water, yet that in the Middle

finks the deepeft. I obferved before that tlie Mountains or Points,

which Vt^e faw from the Mountain which we went up, are very

high, and" that there are many of them. 1 particularly mentioned

three of the principal of them, namely, one towards the South,

and two towards the Weil ; that which is towards the South, and

which v/e firft difcovered before us, is called UEguille du Dru %

this Point looks very like an Obelifk, the Top of which is loft

in the Clouds, making a verj' acute Angle at the Summit, and

not much unlike a great Gothic Tovi^er, built of white and brown

Stone, the Parts of which are very rough. For we muft obferve,

that the Pieces which fall off break in a perpendicular Diredlicn,

leaving here and there little Farts by themfelves, which make the

Mountain look as if it was compofed of an infinite Number of

little Towers. The Effeil of this is very beautiful when the Sun

ihincs on them, by reafon of the agreeable Mixture of Clair Qb'

fcur^ which is prodigioufly varied : This Mountain is too fl:eep to

have any Ice upon it, or indeed much Snow. The two other

Points on the- Weft Side are UEguille de Montmallet^ which is

covered always wieh Ice, and is the neareft the VEguille du Dru j

and Mont BlanCy v.'hich is the fartheft to the Weft, 'Tis this

Point of Mont Blanc, which is fuppofed to be the Heigheft in all

*ib.'r. GladereSi aucl perhaps cf ail the Alps. Many Perfons of the

Country

350

yJn Account of the Glacieres m Savoy. 23

Country who have travelled aflured me, that they had feen it from
Dijon^ and others from Langres, which is 135 Miles diftance. For
the Top of it is eafy to be diflinguifhed, becaufe it is blunt, and
quite fteep on the North-fide; if the Sides were prolonged, fo as
to make an Angle at the Top, I imagine it would be of 25 or 30
Degrees. This Mountain is entirely covered with Ice, quite from the
Top down to the Bottom.. The Mountain which we went up in
order to fee the Valley of Ice has three Names, theEaft-fide is called
Montanvert, and that towards the Weft Blaitiere, and that in the
Middle the Charmaux. Upon this Mountain there rife four Points
fomething like the L'Eguille du Dru, which are called the Points
oi Charmaux. All thefe Points are abfolutely inaccelTible, feme by
reafon of the Ice, which covers their Surface almoft entirely, as
Mont mallet z.y\dL Mont Blanc, and others on account of their Steepnefs,
*Tis at the Foot of thefe Mountains, and along the Valley, of the
Glacieres, that they find Cryftal, ind not under the Ice, as
fome have pretended. The Cryftal is found in the very Subftance of
the Rock, after this Manner: Thofe who go in fearch of it know-
where to find it by certain white and blue Veins, which they fee
upon the Rock. Thefe Veins are either alone, or many of them
together, which unite in one Point ; they ftrike upon the Extremity of
the Veins, and when they hear a hollow Sound they break the
Rock, and find the Cryftal in Cavities, which are fometimes many
Feet deep, which they call Ovens. Cryftal is a Stone which, in
my Opinion, is produced by a gentle Vegetation, and not by Con-
gelation ; every one knows that they are Shoots, all of the Figure
of aHexagon,' joined one to another, almoft like the Cells in Honey
Combs. Thefe Shoots are fometimes unequal in Thicknefs and
Length, but all terminate in a Point, as if they had been cut
Diamond Faftiion, they all ftick to a kind of Stone of an irregular
Shape, which is^ kind of Root to them, partaking of, the Nature
both of Rock and Cryftal, of a blue, white, black, and brown Colour,
extremely hard and heaiy ; this Stone is called the Matrix. We
muft obferve, that when once the Cryftal is taken away, there
never comes any other, although the Matrix be left ijci the fame
Place where it was found : And this has made fome People think
that Cryftal was formed from the Beginning of the World. Ithappens
fometimes that Pieces of Rocks fall down vvith the.Ovens of Cryftal
contained in them, and loll upon the Ice. 'Tis for this Reafon that
the Countrymen often find Pieces of Cryftal on the Sufface of the Ice,

£ and

351

44 ^^ Account of the Glacleres m Savoy.

and fometimes adhering to it, and even in the Current of the Wa-
ter, which forces itfelf up thro' the Clefts of the Ice. There are fome
Places where the Cattle crofs over the Ice to go and feed at
the Bottom of the Mountains, on the gther Side of the Valley, in
Places v.'here the Sun can come, and where there is fome Pafture,
and they do it the more eafily, becaufe the Surface of the Ice is
fprinkled over with Gravel, ^r fmall Particles of Rock, which the
Wind probably brings from the neighbouring Mountains. We found
alfo upon the Ice many large S.tones, which in my Opinion had
fallen down from- the Tops of the Mountains, altho' the People
of the Place pretend that they were raifed from the Bottom of the
Glacieres. I haye already obferved, that the Valley of Ice has a
Communication with the Valley of Chamouny, by five Openings,
each of which has a Name, as will be feen in the Plan at the End
of this Account. The Glacieres ftretch by diverfe Openings and
Vallies, as far as the Valley of Courmayeu, in the Vat d'AoJic^ but
not by an uninterrupted Communication as formerly, by reafon
of the falling down of fom.e Pieces of the Mountain : And there-
fore it is impofiible to go from Chamouny to Courmayeu^ by the
Valleys of the Glacieres. Of the five Openings which end in the
Valley of Chatnouny, that which is called the Glacier des Bcis is
the moil confiderable, not only for its Beauty and Largenefs, but
becaufe the IXAvtvArbairon has its Source there; it comes out from
under the Ice, through two Arches all of Ice. 'Tis a Sight equally
beautiful and extraordina.'^y to fee the Inequalities which rife above
thefe PafTages more than So Feet in Height, and v/hich appear to
be the fineft Cryftal in the V/orld, refledling an infinite Number
of bright Colours, juft as if one looked through fo many Cryftals,
as there are Excrefcenclcs of Ice. For you muft imagine this
Place, as compofcd of a vafl Quantity' of vertical Shoots, adher-
ing, to each other, and terminating unequally both above and be-
low. 'Tis not without great Difficulty tliat we came to this
Place, fo worthy of Admiration ; we were even forced to go thro'
one of the PafTages where the Water was not io abundant as at the
other, and not without Danger, by reafon of the Pieces of Ice
which fall oft fometimes, which our Guides have feen happen. —
The Arbdiron is a large Stream which falls into the Arve; it comes
from under thefe Arches, and carries along with it a vafl many
Particle^ of Gold,, as the Goldfmith who was with us fhewed us.
The Rivulet of Argentiere^ which comes from the Glacier of the

fame

352

An Account of the Glacieres tn Savoy. 25

fame Name, carries with it alfo Pieces of Gold and Silver, which
has not been obferved at the Source of the Ar-ve. I imagaine that
the Arbaircn has another fource befides the melting of the Ice, be-
caufe the Water never fails no more than that of the Arme, which
rifes in a ?vIountain, where there is neither Ice nor Snow in Sum-
mer. However that may be, the Ar've and the Arbairoit carry
along with them a very fine. and white Sand, which makes the
Water look as if Soap had been diflblved in it ; it keeps this Co-
lour, till it receives the Nan deBois into it, of which I have al-
ready fpoke. Which brings a very black Sand, that changes its
Colour to a dark grey, which it keeps till it falls into the Rhone
below Geneva. I imagine it may take along with this laft men-
tioned Water fome Gold Duft, for we obferved in croffing this
Nan de Boh a vaft many Stones, which feemed to contain both
Gold and Silver. All the Glacieres^ at leaft thofe whip h are- call-
ed the Glacieres of Cbamoun)\ are fituated on the left Side of the
Arve J there is indeed a little one on the other Side, in the Moun-
tain oi Valorfme, but it is not confiderable, and has no Communi-
cation with the reft. Before I quit Chamouny,. I'll fay a Word con-
cerning its natural Hiftory. The Inhabitants of this Country are very
good fort of People, living together in great Harmony, they are ro-
buft, live to a great Age, and have very few Beggars among them ;
they don't begin to cultivate their Lands till the Spring, after the
Snows are melted, which is fometimes at the End oi Aprils and fome-
times at the End oi May ; then they begin to Plough, and Sow their
Grains, fuchas Rye, Barley, Oats, Beans, and Buckwheat, which they
reap in September, And of all thefe Grains they make a kind of
Cake, which is very hard, becaufe they dry it in the Sua after it is
baked, and they preferve it thus many Months. They don't make
ufe of Wheat but for Children, and that in very little Quantity.
'Tis furprifing to fee how the Mountains are cultivated, in Places
that are almoft perpendicular, where they Plough and Sow as cle-
verly as can be done on the Plains. This we firft obferved near 5^-
lancbes. Fruits ripen very late in this Country, for we faw Cher-
ries there which were not quite ripe, and we found Flowers and
Fruits on the Mountain, which are never feen with us, but in the
Spring. We obferved, as we were going up the Mountain, a fine
clear Mineral Water, partaking of Iror^ and Sulphur, it is very de-
licious and cool ; {heir Honey is white, refembling very much that
of Narbonne for Colour, but not for Tafte. The Sheep which arc

kept

353

2 A

i6 An hoc oviiT of the Glacieres m Saroy.

kept near the Glacier lick the Ice, which fervcs them far drink ;
the)' are left without any one to watch them, there being in this
Valley no Beaft of Prey, thoDgh Bear?, Wolves, and Foxes abound
in the Country all about. Nothing inhabits here but Chamois^
Bouquetins, who keep in the high Mountains, and a great Quan-
tity of Marmotes ; this is the Account the Inhabitants gave us of
this Animal. They fleep fix Months of the Year, that is, all Win-
ter, and in the Sumnier they provide a warm Couch againft their
Time of Sleeping ; for this End tliey cut Herbs with their Teeth,
and in order to carry them to their Holes one of them lays on its
Back, and the others load, it like a Cart, and then drag it by the
Ears to the Hole. They pretend alfo that they provide againft be-
ing furprized, by placing Ccntinels, who give them thfi Alarm by
a whiftling Noife ; they eat thefe Marmotes, and find them very
good, and ufe their Fat to burn in Lamps ; there are no Birds of
Prey in this Valley, nor Crows, neither are there ever any Swal-
lows. 1 obferved a remarkable kind of Grafshopper, much refem-
bling a Dragon Fly, with long Legs. We ftaid at Cbamouny from
TueJ'day Evening to Thurfday Morning ; but I could make no more
Experiment with my Barometer, becaufe it had been damaged. We
went from thence, and lay at Clufe, and from that Place to the
Mountain called the ilfi7?<7c', which I look upon to be fomewhat higher
than Montanver, becaufe we were half an Hour longer in going up
it, although the Road is very even, as well as deeper. I widied
to have had my Barometer to take the Height of it, but I was forced
to content myfelf when I got up to the Top to obferve the Angle of
Pofition of the Glacieres, with refpedl to Geneva, which I found
to be 158 Degrees precifely. 1 looked down on all the Objedbs
about us with great Pleafurej the Profpe(fl put me in mind of that
fine Plan which you have i'ccn in our Publick Library, for the Plain
below, icsn from this high Mountain, at firft Sight gives one the
fame Idea. 'Tis wonderful to fee thofe Places, which we take to be
nothing but high Mountains, divided by fine and fertile Valleys,
covered with all forts of Trees and Fruit, nn infinite Number of
Villages, which being in deep Bottoms, appear from thence to
be fituated in a rural and agreeable Manner. In a word, all the
Pains I took to claniber up this Mountain were fufficiently fecom-
penced by a Pcofpedt fo beautiful and fo uncommon. After hav-
ing flayed in this Situation about half an Hour, we went down
again, and continued Our Joorney. We lay at Contatiiines, from

whence

354

An Account of the Glacieres /;? Savoy. 27

whence we arrived at Gene^oa, Satuday Morning the 26*, all vaftly
well fatisfied with our Journey, and without any other regrei than
not having llayed longer at Chatnouny, to haveconGdsrcd the Bei;uties
of the Places thereabouts. Thofe who may hereafter be defirous to
undertake thistroublefome and curious Journey, ought to add to the
Precautions which we have~pointed out, that ofimploying more time
in it, and, if poffible, to come round by Switzerland, which would be
very eafy from Chamouny. Nothing could be more agreeable than
this Journey, by reafon of the Rarity and Variety of Views which
continually occur -, but then it would be right to view the Maul^
in going there. Suffer me. Sir, to addrefs this Account of our
Voyage to you, as the Perfon to whom of right it belongs ; you
marked us out a way which was eafy to follow by the Help of your
Dire<5tions, I hope you'll pardon the Incorredtnefs of my Style,
and want of Method in putting things together ; I committed to
Paper whatever occured to me and my Companions ; 'tis Truth
alone which can recommend thefe Papers, and 'tis that alone which.
can engage you to receive them favourably, and as a Mark of the
fincere Regard with which

/ am,

SIR,

Tour mojl Humble

and mojl Obedient Servant ,
P. M.

P. S. In going up Monfainver, througn a very narrow and dif-
ficult Path, towards the Glaciere de Bois, we found fome fine Plants,
without either quitting our Guides, or our Company, or going out
of the Path ; namely, Pyrola folio mucfonato ; Confolida Sarace-
nica minor Alpina ; Alchymilla Alpina minor quinque-folia ; Lami-
rum album Plinii ; Afclepias jiore albo j ViSiorialis longa ; Eu-
phrafia Alpina luteiiJJoribus ; Meum Athamanticum ; Car Una acau-
lis ; Helleborus albus ; hapathum of many Kinds, Not to men-
tion many other Plants, which would rather make a Catalogue
than a Relation of a Journey. All along this Mountain there are
many kinds of Pine and Fir ; there are alfo many Larch Trees
in Latin Larix conifer a folio deciduo -, we found there fome fine-
Agaric, and in the Trunks of feveral Larches there were Hori-
zontal and Lateral Inciffions, by which the Italians had extradb-

355

2 8 /f;/ Account of the Gkcieres in Savoy.

ed Turpentine. At the Source of the Arbairon, which is at the •
Foot of the Glacier e de Bois, in the Valley oi Chamouny, and even
in the Bed of this Source of the Arve^ which was not covered with
Water, we found the following plants ; namely, Mufcus capilla-
cius lanuginofui dettfljfimus ; Lythophytoii album nodoj'um j Sedutn
eilpinum J'ubhirfutum, corona foris purpurafcente, difco viridit
and many other kinds of Seduvi.

Compar'ifon of our Ohjenmuom with thofe of Mr. Fa-
tio de Duillier, vjh'ich a>'e mferted m the Appen-
dix to the Hiftory of Geneva, 4th Edit. Tom. II.
pag. 450.

" r-j^ H E Height of the Mountain called the Maudite is above
" _£' the Level of the Lake at Jeaft 20C0 French Toifes, or
♦' about 4374 Englijh Yards.'*

I faid above, that vi'e found the Height of the Arw at Cha-
moimy 1520 F. above the Level of the Rhone at Geneva ^ and the
Height of the higheil ?»lountain 10939 F. above the Arve at Cba^
tnoimy, which in all make above the RborK F. 12,459. 5'S' ^bich
being reduced to ^oifes^ give 2076. 3. 5. t^. Now Mr.Fatio has
found it above 2000 Toijes above the Lcv£l of the Lake, 7 Leagues
above Geneva, where it muft at leaft be 50 Feet higher than Gf-
nrva ; io I take it that we have correfpondcd pretty exadiy in our
Operations. It is to be remarked alfo, that Mr. Fafio's Obfervation
was made at 45 Miles from the Mountahj, and minejuft at the
Foot, and confequently much kfs fubjed to Refraftion.

FINIS.

ADVERTISEMENT.

GEometrj'. Trigor.oitittry, Surveyia^g Fortifications, Gunnery, Mechanicks; and Ceverd
. oiher Branches of the MathematicKi, are aught (in Fitncb) both at Home and Abroad^
according to the beft and moft expcdiycas Methods'. Alfo Land-Snrveying, and Maps and
Plans executed in the correfteft Manner,

By M PETER M A RT E L of Gmevn, Engineer,
'. At the Crt^ head in ^ten Strut, SUn i to be heard of likewife at S/tv/gbter'i Coffee Hsuje.
-. Where may be had.

He alfo makes and fells. Pocket and other 7htrmmetert, with feveral Improvements, and the
diffinent Graduations of FarmM/, Reaumur, Sir //kac Nrvjtsn, Df. //a///, and oth;.'? placed
in fuih a Ahnner on the Inllrument, as lo be eafijy compared one with tbe'othcr. " '

mi s\

,^i.a/M!"^

Cl/ti^'y

//tt«nx ,frt^i^^

^. ?^X'

(■iJ4^f7fi:^A-^

'^■T'tt 'U- U4 -^et^.

o*<-

. lA/t^Lt^l^ut^ fot^

357

fi^e^^frnt^

Imp,.,™.-,,. M„M,,„

INDEX

ACONXAGUA, 279, 284

Agassiz, 196

Ainslie, Charles, 200, 201

Aldworth, Mr., 12

Allee Blanche, i, 39,52,208,211,

216, 220
Aimer, Christian, 209, 235, 260
Aimer, Hans, 207
Aimer, Ulrich, 237
Altels, 244
Ames, E. L., 200
"Ancien passage," the, loi, 102,

104, 129, 140, 167, 170, 201, 219,

225, 231, 232
Anderegg, Jakob, 209, 211
Anderegg, Melchior, 204, 205, 208,

209, 235, 260
Anderson, Eustace, 200
Anderson, J. S., 207
Angelo, II Marchese di St., 160
Angeville, Count A. d', 156
Angeville, Mdlle. d', 119, 156, 158,

159, 160, 168, 180
Annecy, 14, 94
Aosta, 2, 14, 61
Ararat Mount, 278
Argcntiere Glacier, 184
iU-kwright, Captain, 231, 232, 255
Arlaud, M., 11, 15, 18
Arolla, 198

Arve river, i, 7, 8, 65, 246
Arve, Stephen d', 103

Atkins, H. M., 153, 154, 155, 156
Auldjo, John, 138, 139, 141, 142,

145, 176, 180
Auvergne, 24

Backler, d' Albe, 94

Bacon, Lord, 195

Bagnes, Val de, 198

Baillie, Hon. Mr., 12

Balfour, F. M., 238

Ball, John, 199

Balmat, Adolphe, ^^

Balmat, Alexis, 77

Balmat, Auguste, 103, 172, 253

Balmat, Edouard, 118

Balmat, Gedeon, 165, 169, 170, 172

Balmat, Jacques, 10, 26, 51, 52, 54,
64. 70, 71. 73, 76, 77. 78, 80, 82,
84, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98,
99, 100, 10 1, 102, 103, 104, 105,
106, 109, 118, 122, 131, 136, 149,
167, 174, 175, 203, 204, 206, 248,

254, 275
Balmat, Jacques (servant), 77
Balmat, Jean Michel, 33, 249, 250,

251

Balmat, Joachim, 161

Balmat, Matthieu, 123, 136, 154,
I 226, 227

Balmat, Michel, 148, 154
I Balmat, Pierre, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49,
I 52, 60, 77, 86, 187, 227, 229

359

Index

Balme, Col de, 147, 194

Barbey, Albert, 216

Barclay, A., 250

Barclay, F., 250

Barry, Dr. M., 146, 147, 148, 149,

152
Bartholomeus, g
Basle, 141
Battandier, 44, 47
Bavaria, ex-King of, 143
Bean, J., 234
Beaufoy, Col. Mark, 108, 109, no,

112, 113, 114, 276
Beaumont, C. de, 156
Bee a I'oiscau, 59, 60, 77
Bennen, J. J., 205
Benoit, Simon P., 231
Beverley, Wm., 181, 182, 185, 194
Bielke, Count, 97
Bionay, 42, 202, 245, 246
Bionnassay (Aiguille), 45, 206
Bionnassay (Glacier), 39, 40, 41,

48, 219, 220, 245, 246
Bionnassay (Village), 44, 45, 46,

47. 49- 50. 52, 53. 202
Birkbeck, John, 196, 208, 209, 216
Blackwood' s Magazine, 121
Blanc, M., 164, 165
Blanford, Mr., 229
Blomfield, C. J., 200
Bonhomme, Col du, 245
Bon Nant, river, 245, 246
Bonnet, Charles, 19, 97
Bonneville, 12, 14, 16, 94, 178
Bosses du Dromadaire, 39, 51, 166,

202, 204, 205, 218, 219, 240, 269
Bossons, Glacier des, 41, 57, 65,

87, 109, 117, 124, 151, 184, 194,

202, 228, 232, 249
Bosworth, Mr., 164
Bouille, Count F. de, 168
Bourrit, M. T., 24, 25, 28, 34, 35,

37. 38, 39. 40. 41. 42, 43. 44. 45.

47. 49. 50. 88, 94, 98,99, 100, loi,

109, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118
Bourrit, the younger, 43, 47, 48
Bowlby, F. A., 207
Bravais, M., 165, 166, 167, 168
Brentford, 180
Brenva, Col de la, 210, 221
Brenva Glacier, 61, 208, 209, 210,

216, 218, 219, 242
Brevent, the, 29, 48, 127, 139, 140,

249. 253
Briquet, M., 207
Bristol, Lord, 21
Brouillard Glacier, 216, 217, 220,

237. 238
Brown, F. A. G., 212, 213, 214, 216
Browning, Mr., 229
Brun, Laurent, 242
Brunod, Gratien, 239
Bryce, James, 278
Buet, the, 29, 49
Bugey, 157
Burford, Robert, 193
Burgundy, 24
Burnett, Bishop, 4
Butler, Dr. Montagu, 198
Buxton, E. N., 211, 213
Byron, Lord, 193

Cachat, Jeax, 166, 167

Cachat, J. Michel, 76, 77, 109, 113,

116, 248
Cachat, Jean Pierre, 47, 49, 77
Cachat, Jean, Pierre the younger,

211
Calotte, the, 91, 96, 204, 214
Cambridge, 94, 238
Camper, Mr., 113, 115
Candolle, M. de, 20
Carelli, Le Ch. J., 160, 161
Carrel, J. A., 214

360

Index

Carrier, Jean, 173, 184
Carrier, Joseph, 31, 34, 52, 103
Carrier, Michel, 10, 103, 105
Carrier, Michel, the younger, 139,

161
Carrier, Pierre, 123, 187, 227, 229
Carson, Dr., 198
Castagneri, A., 239
Caucasus, the, 253
Caux, the Abbe, 163
Chambery, 25
Charles X., 150
Charles Emmanuel III., 10
Charlet, Joseph, 130, 132
Charlet, Matthieu, 172
Charpentier, 196
Chateaubriand, 156
Chatelet glacier, 217
Chatteris, 171
Chede, Lac de, 138
Chenal, M., 175
Chertsey, 176, 180
Chetwynd, Mr., 12
Chillon, Castle of, 194
Chimborazo, 128, 278, 284
Clark, Dr. Edward, 33, 133, 134,

135. 142, 150. 176
Claude, 193
Clissold, Frederick, 126, 127, 128,

129, 130, 132, 133
Cluses, 8, 9, 12, 16, 178
Cockburn, Major, 250
Conches, 19
Coleman, E. T., 200
Combin, Grand, 198
Combin, Petit, 198
Comte, Alfred, 241
Constantinople, 182
Contamines, 2, 25, 246
Conway, Sir Martin, 279
Coolidge, W. A. B., 3, 6
Corridor, the, 84, 137, 140, 146, 164,

170, 172, 188, 201, 203, 205, 206,
207, 208, 210, 219, 233, 234

Coryat, Thomas, 4

Cote, La (Village), 65, 70

Cote, Mur de la, 137, 148, 152, 155,
170, 172, 188, 189, 194, 201, 203,
205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 219,
231, 233, 234

Cotopaxi, 278

Courmayeur, i, 63, 65,95, 1^*2, 202,
207, 208, 212, 213, 214, 215, 217,
219, 220, 221, 229, 237, 242, 243,
266, 282

Couteran Dame, 28, 74, 77

Couttet, Ambroise, 230

Couttet, Auguste, 139

Couttet, David, 123, 161

Couttet, David (the 3-ounger), 154,

Couttet, Eugene, 123
Couttet, Frangois, 77
Couttet, Jean Claude, 35
Couttett, Jean Marie, 28, 31, 34, 37,

38, 40, 42, 43, 45, 47, 49, 52, 53,

60, 62, 77, 78, 79, 93, 104, 122,

166, 248
Couttet, Jean Marie, the younger,

139, 164
Couttet, Jos. Marie, 123, 127, 128,

130. I33» i34> 136, 139. 141. 144.

145, 148, 151, 158, 159, 170, 172,

227, 229
Couttet, Michel, 161, 165, 167, 169,

170, 172
Couttet, Pierre, 145
Couttet, Simon, i6i, 162
Couttet, Sylvain, 232, 264, 265
Couvercle, 26, 150
Coxe, Rev.William, 28, 40, 43, 46, 99
Cramont, the, 217
Creux, de Genthod, 22
Cross, J. E., 164, 165, 254

36]

Index

Croz, Michel, 253

Cuidet, Frangois, 38, 40, 45, 47, 48,

49- 53
Ciimani, Signor, 242
Cupelin, Eugene, 154
Cuvier, 20

Daxckerts, Justixiax, 8
Dannemora, 192
Davies, Rev. J. LI., 200
Dauphine, 24, 69, 206
Derniers, Rochers, 140, 142
Despland, Frangois, 148, 150, 152
Dessailloud, Matthieu, 145
Devouassoud, Alexander, 173
Devouassoud, Alexis, 123, 130, 132,

145
Devouassoud, Ambroise, 169, 170
Devouassoud, Augustc, 187
Devouassoud, Frangois, 253, 254
Devouassoud, Jean E., 169
Devouassoud, Julien, 33, 139, 150,

152, 154, 227
Devouassoud, Michel, 150
Devouassoud, Simon, 130
Dickens, A. D., 200
Dickens, Charles, 181, 182
Dijon, 17, 86, 168, 178, 179
Dole (Town), 178, 179
Dole (the mountain), 23
Dome glacier, 212, 213, 214, 215,

216, 219, 220, 221, 239, 240, 243,

266
Doorthesen, M., 116, 117
Dora Baltea river, i
Dornford, Joseph, 225, 226, 227
Doronicum, 5
Doulat, M., 175
Dragons, 6
Dranse river, 198
Ducroz, Madame, 118
Dumas, Alexandre, 54, 91, 92, 93,

94, 95, loi, 102, 103, 104

Durier, M., 39, 43, 44, 51
Dykhtau, 283

Ebel, Dr., 10

Eccles, James, 216, 217, 218, 242

Egypt, 182

Eiffel, M., 271

Eisenkramer, M., 156, 158, 168

Elbruz, 253

Ellis, Mr., 199

Engadine, 6

Entreves, 208

Etna, Mount, 150, 151

Pastes, les du Moxt Blaxc, 103
Faulhorn, the, 147
Fausette, Major, 250
Favernay, Count de, 240
Favret, Michel, 139, 145
Favret, Pierre Frangois, 77
Fedchenko, Prof., 235, 236
Fellows, Charles, 135, 137, 139, 140,

167, 274, 275
Fer a Cheval, 90
Finsteraarhorn, 199
Fischer, Johann, 214, 237
Flegere, the, 55, 193, 249, 250, 253
Floyd, C. G., 176, 183, 185, 190, 191
Folliguet, David, 154, 155
Folliguet, Francois, 47, 49
Forbes, Prof. J. D., 171, 172, 191,

196, 228
Forneret, M., 116, 117
Frangois (of Sallanches), 40, 42
Frasseron, 118
Freshfield, D. W., 253
Fresnay glacier, 216,217,218,237,

238
Fuller, B., 229

Galtox, E., 173, 174
Gardner, J. D., 171, 172, 173
Garland, P., 250

362

Inde:

Gay, Olivier, 233

Geant, Aiguille du, 238

Geant, Col du, 88, 104, 116, 168,
201, 202, 206, 207, 208, 212, 219,
229, 236, 239, 242, 267

Geneva, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 16, 86, 94,
96, 98, 153, 157, 160, 168, 178,
179, 182, 183, 184, 194, 225, 245

Geneva, Lake of, 45, 178, 183

Genoa, 69

Genoa, Gulf of, 115, 141

Genthod, 89, 90

George IV., 134

Gersdorff, Baron de, 98, 100

Gervaix, Frangois, 40, 42

Gervaix, Nicolas, 47

Gesner, Konrad, 3

Girod, M., 15

Glacieres, Les, 10, 11

Glarus, 3, 244

Glockner, Gross, 254

Glover, Mr., 249

Goethe, 21

Goldau, 244

Goiiter, Aig. du, 41, 42, 44, 46, 48,
49. 53. 56, 58, 60, 202, 203, 205,
206, 219, 241, 246, 263, 267, 268

Gouter, Dome du, 46, 51, 52, 57,
60, 61, 64, 66, 81, 82, 93, 117,
169, 202, 204, 205, 206, 211, 213,
219, 240, 246

Grand Plateau, 61, 69, 83, 84, 95,
102, 140, 142, 145, 148, 152, 155,
162, 164, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174,
181, 187, 194, 201, 203, 204, 205,
219, 225, 227, 243, 278

Grands Mulcts, 57, 60, 65, 78, 79,
87, no, 112, 114, 116, 117, 118,
I20, 122, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129,
131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 138,
140, 142, 145, 146, 148, 149, 151,
153. 155. 158, 159. 161, 162, 163,

164, 166, 169, 170, 172, 173, 174,
186, 188, 190, 194, 201, 211, 215,
219, 225, 227, 234, 243, 262, 263,
264, 265, 266, 267

Grandcs Jorasses, 239

Grange Julicn, 209, 212, 213, 214

Gretton, W. K., 171, 254

Griaz glacier, 39, 41, 47

Grindclwald, 196, 253, 258

Grises Aig., 213, 214, 215, 216, 267

Grove, F. C, 211

Guide du Voyageur en Suisse, 10

Guildford, 180

Gussfeldt Paul, 218

Hadixgtox, Lord, ii

Hadow, Mr., 205

Hall, Capt. Basil, 121

Haller, 20

Hamburgh, 175

Hamel, Dr. Joseph, 93, 126, 127,

139. 145. 148, 176, 187, 223, 224,
225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 232

Hammersmith, 180

Hannibal, 3

Hardy, Rev. J. F., 199, 200

Harrow, 238

Harvey, General, 21

Hash Thai, 199

Hawes, William, 135, 137, 139,

140, 167
Hawkins, F. V., 200
Hayward, R. B., 200
Hedrengen, Mr., 153, 154, 155, 156
Heidelberg, 147

Henderson, Gilbert, 225, 226
Herens, Col d', 198
Hill, Mrs., 250
Hinchliff, T. W., 196, 200
Hodgkinson, G. C, 204
Hohenthal, Comte dc, 144
Hort, Rev. F. J. A., 198, 200

363

Index

Howard, Dr. Wm., 121, 122, 123
Hudson, Charles, 196, 201, 204,

205, 206, 208, 223
Hurt, J. T., 170

Illimani, 284

Imfeld, X., 216, 271

Impressions de Voyage Suisse, 54

Imseng, Abraham, 207

Itinera, Alpina, 5

Jackson, H. H., 130, 131, 132, 133,

136
Jacot, M., 175
Jacottet, Dr., 271
Janssen, M., 270, 271, 272
Jaquet, G., 36
Jaquet, J. B., 36
Jaquet, Joseph, 36, 37
Jardin, the, 26, 123, 127, 139, 249,

250
Jerrold, Douglas, 181
Joad, Mr., 204
Joseph II., Emperor, 21
journal dc Lausanne, loi
Juehl, 20

Jungfrau, 196, 223
Jura, the, 3, 23, 79, 178

K., Countess, 154, 156

Kasbek, 253, 283

Kennedy, E. S., 196, 199, 200, 203,

204, 208, 220, 223
Kennedy, T. S., 213, 214, 215, 216
Kitchin, Dr., 191
Kurz, Louis, 216, 220

Langres, 17

Lasnier, Jean M., 209

Lausanne, 94, 150

La Villette, 202

Le Fayet, 245, 246, 247

Leonardo da Vinci, 3

Le Pileur, M., 165, 168, 263

Leschevin, P. X., 94, 99
Les Ouches, 41, i6r
Lightfoot, Rev. J. B., 200
Lombardy, 69

London, 94, 179, 182, 183, 184
Longman, W., 200
Loppe, M. Gabriel, 103
Louis, XVI., 24
Lusi, Count de, 119
Lyons, 3, 141, 152, 168

McCorkindale, Rev. G., 234, 235

Macdonald, R. S., 211

Macon, 3

Maquelin, M., 207

Maquignaz, J. J., 239

Marke, Mr., 233

Marke, Mrs., 233

IMarshall, J. A. G., 237

Martel, Peter, 15, 16, 17, 18, 249

Martigny, 2, 123, 184, 194, 244, 250

Martin, M., 15

Martins, M., 165, 168

Mather, Mr., 205

Mathews, B. St. John, 199, 200

Mathews, C. E., 200

Mathews, G. S., 209

Mathews, Wm., 197, 198, 199, 200

Matzewski, Count, 119, 120, 251

Mauvoisin, 244

Maxime (of Sallanches), 37, 42

Maynard, W. R., 200

Mechel, Chretien de, 8

Melun, 177, 179

Mer de Glace, 56, 92, 171, 185, 228,

248, 249, 250
Meudon, 270, 272
Meunier, Lombard J. B., 31, 32,

34> 37. 40. 41. 43. 47. 77. "3. "5
Meyer, Baron de, 98
Meyringen, 253, 258
Miage, Col de, 211, 213

364

Index

Miage glacier, 104,211,212,213,

214, 219, 220, 245

Midi, Aig. clu, 41, 52, 82, 117, 120,
124, 128, 131, 151, 166, 201, 206,
207, 219, 251, 267

Mieulet, M., 215

Milan, 141, 179

Mole, the, 14, 15, 23, 31

Mollard, Frederic, 263

Mont Avril, 198

Mont Blanc de Courmayeur, 217,
218

Mont Blanc, Glacier du, 212, 214,

215, 216, 219

Mont Blanc de Taciil, 82, 202, 206,

207, 219, 267
Mont Cenis, 4
Mont Joli, 157
Mont " Maley," 8
Mont Maudit, 56, 82, 151, 202, 206,

207, 208, 210, 219, 267
Mont Pilatus, 6
Mont Rouge, Col du, 198
Mont Velan, 197
Mont Ventoux, 3
Monte Rosa, 3, 112, 196, 223
Monte Viso, 152

Mont du Brouillard, 214, 215, 216
Montanvert, 13, 16, 171, 185, 207,

236, 250, 253, 259
Montagne de la Cote, 26, 27, 31, 52,

53. 57. 71. 73. 75. 7^, 77. 81, 88,
98, 109, no, 113, 114, 122

Montagnes Maudites, 7

Moore, A. \V., 208, 209, 210, 212, 216

Merges, 184

Morshead, Frederick, 215, 282

Mugnier, Jean, 161, 165, 167

Napoleox, 3

Nepal, 284

Nettleship, R. L., 241, 268

Neuchatel (Lake), 69

Newton, Sir Isaac, 5

Nicholson, IMr., 163

Noire, La, 236

" Nouvelle Description des Gla-

cieres," 24
Novara, 179
Nyon, 79

Oberlaxd, 6

Ordinaire, M., 175

Orsieres, 2, 165

Ouchy, 184, I go

Overland Mail, the, 182, 194

Oxford, 94, 225, 241

Paccard, Ambrose, 33

Paccard, Francois, 28, 52

Paccard, Josephine, 33

Paccard, Marie C, 33

Paccard, Michel, 28

Paccard, Dr. M. G., 32, 35, 36, 37,
40, 42, 47, 50, 51, 52, 63, 64, 69,
70. 73. 76, 78, 82, 91, 92, 93, 94,
95, 96, 97. 98, 99. 100, loi, 104,
105, 107, 112, 113, 122, 123, 127,
155, 174, 203, 27s, 280

Paradis, Maria, 118, 135, 159

Paris, 94, 160, 177, 179, 183

Paris, Comte de, 159

Parnassus, 284

Pasteur, Henry, 215

Pasteur, William, 215

Payot, 118

Payot, Alphonse, 217, 254

Payot, Frederick, 271

Payot, Jean, 254

Payot, Joseph, 236

Paj'ot, Michel, 216, 231, 242, 254

Payot, Pierre, 169, 170

Payot, Prosper, 236, 237

Payot, Venance, 102, 163, 264

Peasants of Chamonix, the, 176

Peel, Sir Robert, 191, 192

Pelerins, Les, 100, 135, 151, 190

36c

Index

Perren, Peter, 205
Perroux, Pierre, 36
Peteret, Aiguille Blanche de, 218,

238
Peteret, Aiguille Noire de, 242
Peteret, Col de, 218, 220
Petit Plateau, 81, 87, 104, iii, 114,

166, 169, 240, 242
Petits Mulcts, 65, 95, 128, 134
Petrarch, 3
Petrus, Johann, 238
Philips, F., 176, 183, 184, 190, 200
Pictet, Professor, 121, 127, 225
Pidwel, S., 153, 154, 155, 156
Piedmont, 66, 69
Pierre a I'echelle, 124, 136, 139,

i47> 151. 154. 186, 194, 207
Pierre-Pointue, 124, 133, 136, 139,

142, 14s, 146, 151, 153, 155, 159,

169, 186, 264, 265, 267, 268, 281
Pierre Ronde, 37, 40, 41, 47, 49, 52,

246
Pioneer Peak, 279, 284
Pitschner, Aiguille, 27
Plongeon, 156
Pococke, Dr., 10, 12
Poggi, Signor, 242
Pointe Rouge, 61
Poland, 192
Pollock, Sir F., 4
Popocatapetl, 278
Pornet, Henri, 37
Prague, 242
Prest, E. B., 200
Price, Mr., 12
Pringle, Capt., 144
Priory, the, 9, 77, 88, 147
Provence, 76
Prussia, King of, 143

Ramsay, J. H., 207
Randall, Mr., 233, 234, 235
Ravenel, Franfois, 77

Reichard, 10

Reigel, Mr., 243

Reilly, A. Adams, 211, 213, 215,

263
Rensselaer, J. Van, 121, 123
Rey, Emile, 238, 260
Rey, Mario, 239
Rhine river, 4
Rhone river, i, 4, 7
Richards, S. A., 171, 184, 254
Richmond, 180
Riffel Alp, 198
Riffelberg, 198
Roc Rosset, 37
Rochers du Mont Blanc, 214, 215,

216
Rochers Rouges, 83, 84, 87, 93,

102, 105, 119, 125, 126, 128, 129,

131, 132, 134, 137, 161, 162, 167,

188, 225, 228, 271, 272
Rochester, J. M., 229
Rodatz, M., 175
Rothe, Herr, 240
Rouse, H. T., 228
Rousseau, 4

Rouvier, Abraham, 8 '

Ruskin, John, 27

Saas, 258

St. Bernard (Great), 179, 194, 250

St. Bernard (Little), 50

St. Gervais, 2, 16, 42, 43, 44, 50, 51,
S3, 157, 178, 202, 203, 204, 205,
206, 219, 245, 246, 247, 263, 264

St. Martin (Bridge), 12

St. Martin (Village), 178

St. Ours, 20

Sala, G. A., 181

Sales, Francois de, 9

Saleve, 7, 23

Sallanches, 9, 14, 16, 40, 43, 49, 76,
157, 170, 183

Sardinia, King of, 100, 143

366

Index

Saussure, H. B. de, 19, 25, 27,35, 1 186, 187, 188, i8g, 191, 192, 193,

43. 46, 47. 4^. 49. 50. 5i< 53. 7 1> 72, | 194,195,200,281

75. 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 87, 88, ! Smith, A. V., 175

89,90, 92, 94, 96, 97, 100, 106, 108, i Smyth, Christopher, 196, 201

109, no, III, 112, 113, 114, 115, I Smyth, Grenville, 196, 201

120, 124, 133, 142, 157, 167, 168, I Snowdon, 126, 192

176, 183, 191, 192, 202, 205, 225, ! Southwark, 180

253, 262, 263, 275, 277, 280
Saussure, Madame de, 88
Saussure, Nicholas de, 19
Savoie, Jean Louis de, 9
Savoie, Philippe de, 9
Savoix, Michel, 242
Savoy, 206, 252, 276
Scheuchzer, J. J., 5, 6, 11
Schniirdreher, Dr. R., 242, 243
Seiler, Alex., 198
Sella, Quintino, 215
Selligue, M., 225
Semur, 178, 179
Senebier, 20
Sens, 177, 179
Servoz, 12, 179
Shepherd, Rev. E. J., 200
Sherwill, Markham, 33, 119, 133,

134, 135, 142, 150, 176, 274, 275
Short, Rev. W. F., 205
Shuckburgh, Sir George, 30
Siberia, 235
Sikkim, 284
Simler, Josias, 4
Simond, Ambroise, 169, 228
Simond, Auguste, 166, 167, 253
Simond, David, 150, 152, 154
Simond, Gaspard, 241
Simond, Jacques, 139
Simond, Matthieu, 150
Simond, Michel, 231, 240
Simond, Pierre, 26, 27
Simond, Pierre Joseph, 154
Sixt, 90, 103, 254
Smith, Albert, 112, 113, 174, 176,
177, 179, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185,

Spielman, 181
Spitalmatten, 245
Stafford, 164
Staines, 180
Starke, Mrs., 10
Stephen, Leslie, 205, 223
Stevenson, E. J., 196, 201, 202
Stillingfleet, Mr., 12
Stoppen, Count K., 156, 158
Sulzbach, Prince of, 10
Sweden, 192

" Swiss Travel and Swiss Guide-
books," 6
Switzerland, 2, 206

Taconxay glacier, 60, 65, 87, 194

Tacul, the, 120

Tairraz, Auguste, 187, 227

Tairraz, Basil, 173

Tairraz, Frederic, 229, 230

Tairraz, Jean, 183, 187

Tairraz, Jean M., 118, 148, 150,

152, 173
Tairraz, Jean Pierre, 72, 96
Tairraz, Jean Pierre the younger,

130. 139
Tairraz, Joseph, 173
Tairraz, Marie, 265
Tairraz, Pierre, 148
Tairraz, Victor, 118, 173
Talfourd, T. N., 164
Tartarin, 222
Taugwald, Peter, 211
Taylor, Rev. Lsaac, 200
Tenda, Col de, 254
Teneriffe, Peak of, 81
Tete Noire, 123, 184, 194

367

Index

Tete Rousse, 39, 44, 202, 246, 247,

267
Tetnuld, 253
Tetu, 76, 79
Thackeray, W. M., 181
Thames Tunnel, 137
Thielman, Herr Von, 278
Thruston, Frederick, 250
Tilly, Count H. de, 150, 151, 152,

153. 154
Tissay, Victor, 28

Tonnerre, 178, 179
Tour, Col du, 165
Tour Village, 165
Tournier, Alexis, 76, 77
Tournier, Frangois, 231
Tournier, Jean Michel, 47, 49, 52,

53.77.115
Tournier, Josef, 231
Tournier, Simon, 148, 154
Trelatete glacier, 245
Tronchet, Anselm, 130
Trower, Henry, 200
Tuckett, F. F., 205
Tupungato, 284
Turin, 94

Tyndall, Professor, 281
Tyrol, 69

UXDRELL, CaPTAIX J., 123, I24, I25

Urban, Pope, the Second, 9
Utterson, Kelso, 216

Val Ferret, i

Vallee Blanche, 120, 207

Vallot, J., 268, 269, 270, 271, 277

282
Vallot Observatory, 269
Vallot Refuge, 40, 240, 241, 243,

268, 276
Val Montjoie, i
Valorsine, 8
Val Tournanche, 258
Vansittart, G. N., 176, 187, 190, 191,

192

Varallo, 160

Vavassour, F., 229

Venice, 4, 153

Vernon Admiral, 14

Vierge La, 236

Villanova, Count de, 239, 240

Villeneuve, 184

Vines, Mr., 279

Visaille, 239

Visscher Nicolaus, 8

Vivarais, 24

Vogel, 3

Vosges, the, 23

Voyages dans les Alpes, 20

Voza, Col de, 41, 50, 241

Waddington, a., 175

Walker, Frank, 209, 210 / \ "^

Walker, Horace, 209

Walters, Robert, 200

Watson, Rev. H. W., 200

West, W. E. S., 176, 183, 185, 190

Wetterhorn, 196, 223

Whymper, Edward, loi, 278

Wilbraham, E. B., 144, 145, 146

W^ilkie, Sir David, 138

Wilkinson, Miss, 233

Williams, J. B. S., 200

Williamson, Mr., 11

Wills, Alfred, 196, 200

Wilshire, C. W., 200

Windham, WiUiam, 10, 12, 13, 14,

15, 17, 18, 19, 248, 249
Woodley, Mr., 113, 115, 116, 117,

276
WooUey, J., 170

YoUL, G. v., 200
Young, Bulkeley, 231
Young, Sir George, 231

Zermatt, 198
Zurbriggen, 279
Zurich, 3, 5

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