The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-31 00:00:00

AN ASCENT OF MONT BLANC.

Mr. F. Campbell Clay says :—I started from Chamounix
last Tuesday week in company with two Englishmen (Lieut.
NV— and Mr. S—), after an arduous preliminary
struggle with the chef des guides, who would on no account
allow us to attempt the ascent with less than seven guides.
My companions were determined not to take more than five,
and after a very long and stormy discussion they carried
their point. Our party then numbered 16—namely, three
novices, five quid es, and eight porters carrying provisions
as far as the (rands Mulets.

It was a beautifully fine morning, and though the baro-
meter was low our hopes were high, our limbs were strong,
and our Alpen stocks trusty; so, turning our backs on the
village, we cheerfully wended our way through the hanging
woods in which the path commences. For two hours did
we toil onwards and upwards through the grateful shade.
Then the path, leaving the forest, emerges upon the
moraine formed by the beautiful Glacier des Boissons. We
skirted this beautiful moraine until we arrived at the head
of the glacier; and, as it is necessary to cross it here, our
guides made their final arrangements for entering upon the
domains of the winter king. Veils, masks, and spectacles
were assumed. Two guides went some distance in advance,
while we were severally attached by a small but stout ern (1
to one another. Our descent upsii the icc was made with
great cant ion, for the midday sun was very powerful, the snow
was soft and treacherously concealed the deep crevasses
which yawned about us in every direction. Our route lay
directly under some mighty precipices of ice, in which were
imbedded huge blocks of granite, and here our guides made
us hurry as fast as possible. We did not know at the
moment the danger we incurred, but within three minutes
after we had gained a more secure station a roar and a shock
made us pause and look round. One of the enormous masses
of stone had become detached by the heat from the face of
the ice, and smashed to fragments in its fall, was sweeping
the inclined plain we had just crossed, carrying death and
destruction in its path.
Our next difficulty lay in a crevasse much broader
than ordinary, over which a ladder was placed horizontally,
from which we inferred that the 'said ladder was to serve
as a bridge over the gulf. And so it proved ; creeping cau-
tiously forward on our hands and knees, and scarcely daring
to breathe, we passed over the chasm, which was so deep
that we could not see the bottom. Having passed safely
over this, the appearance of the Grands Mulets directly
above us cheered our flagging energies with the hope of a
speedy temporary termination of our toil. Although the
sky was all this time quite clear above and around us, the
scene below, in the Vale of Chamounix, had assumed a
very different appearance Huge masses of menacing clouds
were drifting hither and thither; lightning was darting
among them, and the growl of the thunder below echoed
back the equally awful roar of the avalanche above us.
The clouds were rapidly rising, concealing peak after
peak of the hills below, and wo strained every muscle to
gain our resting-place before the storm reached us. we
breathlessly stumbled through the snow and slipped upon
the ice—now on our feet, now on our hands and knees, and
occasionally upon less dignifid parts of our persons. Again
and again we caught sight of those delusive Grands Mulcts
and again and again did we lose them as we wandere
through the intricacies of the crevasses and icy hills. A
length, just as the first heavy drops of rain warned us that
the storm was upon us, we reached the foot of the rocks,
and right joyfully did we scramble up to the rude hut
which the guides have built upon them. At this moment
the clouds below us parted, and the faint sound of the can-
non at Chamounix announced that the residents there had
marked our progress so far on our way.
In a short time the storm was raging about us in all its
fury. It now snowed heavily, and the lightning and the
thunder were awfully grand among these desolate hills. The
guides predicted that any further ascent on the morrow
would be impracticable, and, as we lay down upon the wet
floor to attempt to sleep, our hearts were heavy with fears
that all our labour had been in vain. A great improvement,
however, had taken place by 4 o'clock next morning. The
moon was sinking serenely behind the mountain above us,
while a beautiful rosy tint, shooting far up into the heavens,
announced that before long the sun would be visible. All was
soon bustle and activity among our party. A hasty break-
fast was swallowed, and at 5 o'clock we cheerfully resumed
our work. Again there was not a single cloud in the
heavens as high as we stood; but at our feet, filling the
vale and stretching along as far as the eye could see, was a
dense mass of motionless vapour, looking so smooth and
solid that one would have thought it easy to sail upon it
from our feet to the utmost horizon. Not a breath of air
stirred these masses, but different shades of colour played
upon them, like the reflexion upon water of clouds above,
while the peals of the high mountains which pierced
through the vapour looked like rocky islands in a vast
sea. We were compelled to turn our backs upon this
beautiful scene, and soon were once more toiling ever
upwards, through the snow and over the ice. The snow
was not so soft as our guides had apprehended, and walk-
ing upon it was consequently so much easier. Up to the
Grand Plateau, about three hours' ascent from•the Grande
Mulets, we managed to get along without much difficulty
or any danger, barring the avalanches, the voices' of which
we heard frequently, and the white skirts of which we saw
occasionally. From this point the ascent becomes more
rapid and dangerous. This Grand Plateau is bounded by
precipices on every side, save that on which we ascended,
and as our guides led the way to a distant corner we were
totally at a loss to know how we were to get on. At last
we fronted a smooth icy hill, 100 feet high, all but
perpendicular, and not showing on its smooth snow-covered
surface one crevice or irregularity to enable us to climb up
its face. The pickaxes of our guides were soon at work,
hewing out rude steps in the ice in a zigzag direction, four
or five steps to the right, then as many to the left, for even
with the aid of these impromptu stairs it would have been
impracticable to ascend in a straight line. We followed
with extreme caution, and after long and laborious toil
surmounted the difficulty, but only to meet with another,
exactly similar, at the end of another plain. We thus clam-
bered on for hour after hour till we grew faint and it-17-
most began to despair. The air was intensely cold at the
height to which we had now attained, and so much rarefied
as to cause much suffering to my two companions, but they
continued to struggl3 on most manfully. At last, to our
extreme delight, after a continued ascent of eight hours,
our guides pointed to a huge mound of ice rising before us,
and announced it to be the summit. Faint and worn as
we were this intelligence inspired us with fresh ardour,
and at last we stood cn the highest peak of. the " monarch
of mountains," and were repaid by such a view as we can
never hope to see again. Round us in every direction were
snow-covered hills, giants in themselves, but mere dwarfs
compared with our giant. Tier behind tier they rose in a
perfect amphitheatre and shot their icy peaks into the azure
sky. I cannot attempt to describe the awful sense of
silence, solitude, and majesty which the scene ins pred .
Not a sign of life was visible except our own party; not a
soundus. TheB place d e
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mortal eyes have ever beheld, such as no mortal imagination
can conceive.
was
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The descent, if more rapid, is also more fatiguing than
the ascent, and we arrived, thoroughly worn out, at Cha-
mounix at 11 o'clock at night, amid the roar of cannon, the
sound of music, and the congratulations of the inhabitants.
We had spent 16 hours in ascending and nine in coming
down Mont Blanc.

THIS DAPS MAREETS.

CORN EXCHANGE.

The supply of English wheat on sale here to-day was
moderately extensive, and for the most part of fair quality.
Good and fine samples were in moderate request, at full
prices ; but inferior parcels ruled dull, at barely late rates.
In foreign wheat—the show of which was rather large—
sales progressed slowly, and in retail, on rather easier terms
for low descriptions.
Floating cargoes of grain changed hands to a fair extent,
at previous currencies.
The trade for barley was in a sluggish state, yet no change
took place in prices.
On the whole the malt trade was steady, but the business
doing was far from extensive.
Fine oats maintained their value; inferior kinds, how-
ever, moved off heavily, and prices were with difficulty
maintained.
Beans and peas were a dull inquiry at drooping cur-

rencies.
Most kinds of flour were neglected, and American brands
were rather cheaper.

-
ARRIVALS THIS WEEK.
Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flour.
En
ash.
...... . zoo i ) 1,230 3O 1 670
IriL.. .......... -7 i ___
y0rgign........ 19,820 i 20,360 1
sackl
_ 22,300 brie.