MONT BLANC-SAUSSURE'S ASCENT. 25 subject; there is nothing in Europe between which and this Cerberus of the Alps a comparison may be drawn and description facilitated. The only method by which the untravelled reader may approach to something like an estimate of its transcendent dimensions, is to reflect, that the snowy mantle which envelopes its triple head and circumference, exceeds an altitude of 4000 feet perpendicular and 9000 feet horizontally, from the Dôme of Gouté to the summit; and that the height of the snow and ice, estimated from the source of the Arveron to the summit, cannot be less than 12,000 feet perpendicularnearly three times the height of Snowdon, in North Wales! The entire height of the mountain above the sea is stated, by De Luc, at 15,304 feet, or 15,662, according to Sir George Shuckburgh; but, according to the Ortographie de l'Europe," in the "Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires," lately published by the Geographical Society of Paris, Mont Blanc is stated at 15,732 feet, English. Of the various attempts to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, the first was made in July 1776, by M. Coutteran, and three guides, from Chamouni; but which, like many others that followed, entirely failed. In July 1786, Jacques Balmat, one of six guides of Chamouni, being separated from his companions, who failed in another attempt, passed the night on a spot above the Dôme of Gouté, at an elevation of 12,000 feet above the sea. On his return to Chamouni, he was seized with a severe indisposition, the effect of extreme fatigue and intense cold; but speedily recovering, under the treatment of Dr. Paccard, a physician of the place, he offered, as an expression of gratitude for his attendance, to conduct him to the summit of Mont Blanc. His offer being accepted, they set out together on the 7th of August, and, having completely succeeded in their enterprise, remained on the summit about half an hour. The cold was so intense, that their provisions were frozen in their pockets, the ink congealed in their inkhorns, and the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer sunk to 1830. The ascent was performed in fifteen hours, but their return was attended with incredible difficulty, owing to the great debility of sight caused by the reflection of the snow. On their return to Chamouni, at eight in the morning, their faces were excoriated, their lips much swollen, their eyes inflamed and bloodshot, and Dr. Paccard almost blind. To convey some idea of this tremendous journey, it may be proper to observe, that although the distance, in a straight line, from Chamouni to the summit, was not more than eight or nine miles, yet the real extent of this arduous walk is between forty and fifty; and, owing to the frightful glaciers and endless H circuits which the traveller must encounter in his ascent, cannot be accomplished in less than eighteen hours. Stimulated by the success of this enterprise, SAUSSURE, attended by a servant and eighteen guides, left the priory of Chamouni on the first of August, in the following year, and began his celebrated ascent. He passed the first night at the top of La Côte, 5000 feet above the Priory. The second day they had to cross the glacier of this name, a very difficult and dangerous passage, owing to the frightful chasms with which it was intersected. One of the guides, sent to reconnoitre, narrowly escaped destruction, being precipitated into one of these traps, but was saved by the wise precaution adopted in fastening themselves together with ropes. As they ascended, the snow was traversed at intervals by prodigious apertures, shewing distinctly its horizontal strata each corresponding with a year; but the depth was incalculable. At four o'clock in the afternoon, they reached the second platform, and encamped at a height of 1455 toises above the Priory-90 toises higher than the Peak of Teneriffe! Here the guides began the excavation which was to be covered by the tent, and to serve for their night's lodging; but they had scarcely thrown up five or six spadesful of snow, before they were utterly unable to proceed, without resting every few seconds. One of them was in great pain all the evening; and Saussure himself, to whom the mountain air had hitherto proved a salutary medicine, was exhausted with his meteorological instruments. Their thirst, which was insufferable, they endeavoured to allay by melting the snow with a small chafing-dish, but which afforded a very slow and scanty supply to a party of twenty persons. At this elevation no living creature is to be seen-not a sprig of vegetation: it is the exclusive region of eternal cold and silence. During the night, Saussure, overcome with the close and heated air of the tent, was compelled to seek relief in the open air. He found the moon shining with indescribable brightness in a sky black as ebony; while the planet Jupiter issued, all radiance, from behind the loftiest neck to the east of Mont Blanc. The light reverberated from this vast basin of snows was so intense, that only stars of the first and second magnitudes were visible. Re-entering the tent, he went to sleep, but was soon awakened by the startling thunder of an avalanche, which swept over part of their next day's route. At day-light they found the thermometer 3° below freezing. Having to dissolve snow for breakfast, and to be taken with them, they set off late; the ascent was every where along the edge of precipices, and the snow so hard, that the leaders of the party were obliged to hew out their steps with a hatchet. MONT BLANC-SAUSSURE'S ASCENT. 27 Having arrived at the last rock, the atmosphere was so much rarefied that their strength was soon exhausted. Saussure could not take above fifteen or sixteen steps without drawing breath, and from time to time became so faint as to be compelled to sit down; but, as the respiration returned, he regained his strength, and, at eleven o'clock, reached the summit in perfect safety, and achieved an object which had been the sleepless ambition of many years. His first impulse was to turn his eyes on Chamouni, where his wife and two sisters were watching his steps with a telescope; and where, at the same instant, he had the satisfaction to see the banner hoisted as the signal, previously agreed upon, that their fears were suspended by discovering his safe arrival on the highest pinnacle of the old world. Here, one view cleared up what years of labour had not been able to solve to his satisfaction. The tent was erected, and the table and philosophical apparatus set before him; but, in preparing his experiments, he was compelled every few seconds to pause for breath. So long as he continued perfectly at rest, he felt little or no inconvenience, except a sensation of nausea at the stomach; but the instant he exerted himself, especially in stooping, his respiratory functions became almost suspended, and compelled him to gasp for several minutes like a person struggling with asthma. . . . . Saussure and his party continued on the summit till half-past three in the afternoon, having had four hours and a half for making several most interesting experiments. The descent to the first platform was very difficult, steep, and appalling, owing to the brilliancy with which the precipices were lighted up. They again reposed on the snow, about 200 toises lower than the preceding night, and were now satisfied that it was the rarefaction of the atmosphere, and not fatigue, which had so painfully incommoded them on the summit. Here they supped with appetite, and Saussure made his observations without inconvenience. He assigns 1900 toises as the height at which his respiration becomes painfully obstructed. The following day they recrossed the glacier of La Côte, observing fresh chasms opened during their expedition; and about mid-day reached the Priory, amid the tumultuous greeting of a numerous crowd of anxious friends and spectators. The extreme fatigue and exhaustion which Saussure experienced in this ascent is supposed, and with great probability, to have abridged his days. It may amuse the reader to be told that, during his excursions in the Alps, Saussure wore a full-dress scarlet coat and gold-laced hat. He relates that, while he was seated on Mont Breven, the lace of his hat attracted the electric fluid from a passing cloud, and occasioned a hissing sound. In the same month, the following year, M. Bourrit and his son, accompanied by Mr. Woodley, and Herr Camper, set out on the same expedition; but, being dispersed by a storm, only M. Bourrit, his son, and three guides, reached the summit. Mr. Woodley, and the other guides, returned to Chamouni with their hands and feet frozen. Their leader, M. Bourrit, also had nearly lost the use of his limbs, and was only restored by washing for thirteen days in ice-water. The next year another English gentleman, named Beaufoy, made the attempt, and succeeded, but at the expense of severe suffering. Three years later, the perilous expedition was revived by four other Englishmen, but failed. One of the guides was killed, another broke his leg, and the gentlemen themselves were all severely wounded. On the 10th of August, 1802, M. Forneret, of Lausanne, and a M. d'Ortern, accompanied by seven guides, reached the summit, and returned in safety to Chamouni, after encountering a severe storm, but declared that nothing should ever tempt them to repeat the frolic! In August 1808, the intrepid Jacques Balmat once more scaled these tremendous boundaries, and carried with him fifteen inhabitants of Chamouni, among whom was a female adventurer, who still enjoys the distinction of Maria de Mont Blanc. In 1820, the attempt of Dr. Hamel, of Geneva, was another failure, attended with the melancholy loss of three guides, who perished in an avalanche near the summit. Among the more recent instances, is the ascent of Dr. E. Clark and Captain Sherwin, in August 1825, which the latter has narrated, with much interesting precision, in the New Monthly Magazine. During the descent, a pleasing incident occurred, which is thus told: Towards one o'clock, at a still elevated point, we suddenly espied, under the shade of a large fir-tree, a small party with a cloth before them, as if enjoying a repast. On a nearer approach, our guides told us it was Maria de Mont Blanc come to welcome us. She had arranged upon the ground, on a clean napkin, a can of milk, a large jug of cream, and delicious brown bread, and, advancing to receive us, invited us to partake of her cheer. Seating ourselves accordingly on the green turf around this welcome and unexpected feast, Maria, at our request, furnished us with the following particulars of her history:-When she was twenty years of age, her youthful ardour and love of mountain scenes led her to join a party of guides, who were going on an exploring excursion to Mont Blanc. Maria set out in good heart with her companions, and bore her share of the fatigue with a prowess seldom equalled by a female. They continued their march till they had passed the plain of the Grand Plateau, when, in her ascent towards the Rocher Rouge, her strength failed her, and for some time she could advance no farther. Her spirits, however, were still good, and her companions had too much kind feeling to think of enjoying the selfish pleasure of accomplishing their task without making her a participator in the glory. They admired the fortitude which she had hitherto evinced, and unanimously resolved that Maria should be the first female who had ever stood on the summit of Mont Blanc. They kept their word; and, by incessant exertion, succeeded in placing her upon the pinnacle of Europe. From this extraordinary epoch in a woman's life, she has borne the exalted. title of Maria de Mont Blanc.* By an order of Napoleon, crosses were erected on Mont Blanc, as well as on Monte Rosa. In accomplishing the former of these, old Coutet had the superintendence; and, although fixed with great care, and in a workmanlike manner, in four hours the cross had declined greatly from the perpendicular, and in a few days was entirely carried away by the hurricanes.† Our remarks on the geology of Mont Blanc must necessarily be very brief. The inference drawn by this intelligent philosopher, Saussure, respecting the vertical position of the beds of granite that compose a principal part of these mountains, is, that they were originally horizontal, and have been subsequently elevated by some tremendous convulsion of nature. The summit of Mont "And thus th' ambition of her sex, To prove the wish and power were ample + The summit of Mont Blanc is a ridge, running east and west, and so narrow that two persons could not walk abreast on it. No rock is visible within a distance of 60 or 70 toises from the top. The surface is a scaly varnish of ice, and of firm consistence. The highest rocks are all granite. Two animals only were seen-one, a small grey moth, the other, a Myrtillus butterfly, at 100 toises below the summit. The last plant with visible flowers was the Silene acaulis, 1780 toises above the sea-lichens were observed on the very highest rocks: among others, the Sulphureus and Rupestris of Hoffman. The thermometer, in the shade, stood at 5° 3′ below freezing; and at Geveva, at the same hour, 52° 6' above it. At 3 P. M. the hygrometer in the sun was at 44, that in the shade at 51; at Geneva it was, at noon, at 76.7, from which it appears that the air on Mont Blanc was six times less moist than at Geneva. This accounts for the extreme thirst suffered during the expedition. By the electrometer, the balls diverged three lines: the electricity was positive. Saussure was surprised at this, and attributed its weakness to the great dryness of the air. Water required half an hour to boil, whilst, at Geneva, it boiled in half that time; the ebullition was effected at 187o, and performed in a kettle heated by an Argand lamp. The colour of the sky was an intense blue. The wind blew from the north, and was piercingly cold; but, on the south side, the air was mild and temperate. By some interesting experiments on lime-water and caustic alkali, it was ascertained that, even at this elevation, the air was still impregnated with carbonic acid. Shadows were colourless. Smell and taste, perfect-wine and provisions retaining the same flavour as at the foot of the mountain. A pistol fired on the summit was no louder than a cracker let off in a room. Balmat's pulse beat 98, Saussure's servant 112, and Saussure's 100, in a minute. At Chamouni, in the same order, they beat 49, 60, 72. The loftiest points discovered were the Schreckhorn and Monte Rosa. I |