The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-18 00:00:00

FRANCE.

BOURSE, March 17.—The arrival of the English
funds with a rise of a has given buoyancy to the
market. Three 9, for the Account, are now at 60f.
40c., and Mobilier at 1,075 f. Railway Market
quiet, bat with slight variation in prices up to the
present time. Threes again receded towards the
close, but Mobilier was well maintained. The
market left off as follows
4i per Cents .. 93 50
Do. end month....
3 per Cents
Do. end month 66 25
Credit Mobilier 1067 50
Do. end
Bank Shares 3312 50
Credit Foncier 1330
Roman

Italian Loan
Do. end month —
New ditto ......
Do. end month —
Russian
Austrian
Spanish Three 3 52
Home Debt
Deferred
FAYB.

ILA IL

Amount.

Casts.
1007 50 ..
960 .. 960

Orleans
Northern ....
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 943 76 .. 945
New ditto - • • ---
S rathern
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lotrimrd .
North of Spain
Saragossa 587 60 .. 590
Ditto to Barcelona - .2 280

The Late. Alpine Catastrophe.

The tourist who so marvellously escaped in t
late accident, near Sion, in the Valais, gives the
following account of the occurrence :—" On the
28th of February, Mr. Boissomet and I left Sion, at
half-past two a.m. with feer guides, to mount the
Haut de Cry—a mountain of 9,700 feet high, in
the neighbourhood of Sion. My friend had as
guide Bennet), the first guide in the Valais. I
had a simple chamois hunter who knew the
mountain, but only that one. The night was
splendid ; we walked up the pine forests, and a
little before seven saw the sun rise above the moun-
tains. It was one of those eights almost too beauti-
ful to describe; the air was calm, the sky cloud-
less, and the temperature a half degree above
freezing point (centigrade). We measured the
height, and found it about 7,000 feet. Our progress
found no obstacle, and about twelve we were within
750 feet of the summit. We had been enjoying the
splendid day, and we were so happy. Suddenly
the snowfield, on which we were crossing diago-
nally, tore above us, and the lower part began to
descend with us ; we had started an avalanche
under our feet. I made one desperate attempt to
stop our progress, by driving my pole deep intothe
snow. It was useless. We were all six carried
down lowards the valley, and stopped only after
having passed over 1,800 or 2,000 feet of ground.
The rope tore between the first and second guide, but
this was useless, as nothing can arrest an avalanche
e n.
The
descent
of the size of that which had started ; it was
several t
h hundred
yardsmway have taken about oneide, and of an enormous
length.
minutthee,nlghhta, my
dtimleaett prayer. During the descento think of home, and to make,
as I
I was buried once, then I cams again to the sur-
face; the motion ceased, the avalanche had stopped ;
its last wave covered me. Instinctively I threw
up my arms to protect my head; in the moment
the avalanche stopped it froze. I then thought I
should be crushed to death. It was dark, and
I was suffocating. 1 could not move, for 1 was
frozen hard. At last I felt that my hands, as
far as the wrist, had motion. 1 uncovered
the snow above my head; at last I saw a little
light, but my hands could not reach my mouth,
the arms being imprisoned. I pierced, with a
last terrible effort, tae crust of snow that was before
my mouth. I felt air again. God had saved me.
Oa my right hand Bennen, the guide, lay dead ; on
my left my poor friend. You cannot imagine how I
came down again into the plain, it took five hears
and thence I went to Sion in a carriage. My feet
had suffered from frost ; thank God, the surface
alone has suffered, and my doctor says I shall soon
be well again. My poor friend and his guide were
found again, one on the day following, the other
Tour days after. The other three guides escaped
with slight wounds, save my personal guide, who
had nothing. It was he who took me out of the
611071 and ice, as he sat my boucle.'