Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-11-24
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Correspondence of the Ksowoe Courier
HEIDrLDERG, Sept. 25, 1860.

we resume our journey
We reached at last the beautiful valley of
Chamouny, weary, drabbled set and spent
the evening bya blazing fire, making spccula-
tlons rs to tho future state of the weather,
aud concluding not to venture out again until
1T cleared up ButneXt morning it was bcaut-
fully clear and there lay the great glacier,
MGR dc Glacc, right opposite my window, and
as stood gazing at it down came mighty
avalanche, witha rumbling sound like distant
thunder. There ton, stood the great Mont
Blame, in all his glory. This great mountain
has been described so often that will not at
tempt a description. Byron says:
Mont Blanc is the monarch Of mountains
They crowned him long ago,
On throne of rocks, robe of Clouds
On diadcm of snow"
We took guido, went up by the Chapcau
and oyer the Morcds Pas, a path on the side
OF prccipice, with steps cut in the rock, and
rope stretched along to hold to-a place re-
quriug steady head and sure foot From
there W. crossed the NIer dc Glace. The snow
was in very good plight, all the wide crcviccs
were brdgcd over with plank by men who
We're busy with mattocks digging steps in the
snow where it was steep OF dangerous, and
who cxactcd a few sous from every one that
passed along their path over the "wary crys
tal cliffs" The view from Montanvcrt over
this " sea of icc," extends several miles up the
side OF Mont Blanc, and amply rcpays the toll
1t costs to get there. a party had started up
to the summit the day before We were there,
but found 1t too stormy, and had to come back
after getting two thirds of the way up. The
ascent requires three days, guide and carrier
to every traveller, $3.50 or $500, and very
steady head; and, after ALL it is an accident
if the prospect is worth anything. Three
EnSiishtncn and guide had fallen over a
prccipice just week before WAS there
Their fall caused AN avalanche which brought
down great stones, crushing and manvlinv
thcm in a terrible manner Their bodies were
recovered the next dry and buried An
American was lost near the same place last
summer.
After spon ling nearly two days in Chomou-
NY, we aglin rotraced our steps over the Col
dc BilmO, whore we were so fortunate as to
obtain very fine view of Mont Blanc ana tho
surrounding peaks; and the sumo evening
took the cars at Martigny to Sion G.atin, Sc
dunum) the capital of the canton Valais, and
most important town in this part of the valley
of the Rhonc. The climate here is said to be
nearly as warm MS in Italy, producing grain,
wine aud silk in abundance. The only real
summer day have seen this year was in walk
a"S up IhiS Fdllcyi WHlcn, lKc tho principal
mountain of Jerusalcm, richly deserves the
name of Zion, "Me sunAy." Above Sion is
valuable mine OF Michel or German Silver,
used by the Swiss for small coins, and lately
adopted in the United Statcs one cent niece
quite an Improvement on the ugly old coppcrs.
a little lower down are the baths Of Saxon,
containing iodine, and good for cutaneous dis.
eases. At Sidors we left the Rhonc and as.
ceodcd the Dala, n small stream rushing down
from the Gemmi pass. The carriage road
along hero is wonderful piece of engineer
ing; IN some places it is tunnelcd, in othora,
cnt in the sides of tho rock, with precipiccs
OF hundreds of feet, both above and below.
AT the head of this river, in circular ba-
sin, surrounded by precipiccs several thousand
feet, arc the baths Of Lcuk or Ioeche, recon.
mended in cases of rheumatism, &c. The
springs are warm, (l009 to 1927 and the pa.
tcnts stay in the water Ave hours in the fore.
noon and three in the afternoon In ordor to
drive off tho ennui the ladies and gentlemen
all bathe togethcr--sitting, dressed IN long
WOODEN gowns, up to their necks in water, With
little floating tables covered with newspapers.
coifce, tobacco, booku, cards, chess &c. An
American stroller" thus describes his debut
there; |" In the present instancoI establish
cd firmly principle ia natural philosophy,
viz /; That heavy bodies will sink more rapidly
than light ones. AS the result of this undo
waiting principle, found, to my modification,
shat, while was descending step by step, my
. a a