The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-09-01

''i''ooiVuj j. ne WOdUS optjUNut oi
getting guides and mules is quito for
NAL Blanks are filed and signed,
and several entries made on different
books. Half an Aour after this cere-
mony and after due preparation, we
were notified that our mules were wait
ing for us. If one Of Our party had
been a little heavier we might have
been called Brown, Jones and Robin
son, so nearly did two-thirds of the
party resemble that famous trio, whose
varied experiences over the same
scenes constantly brought to mind that
most felicitous production OF Doyle.
Notwithstanding the jeers of my com
panions over our animals, / shall speak
respectfully of the one bestrode, be-
cause he carried me safely over all dan
gers, real or imaginary; and in going
up or down steep places, | felt no mis-
giving 50 long as / could see the ears
of my mule, which, to be candid, were
huge and frequently obscured for a
second or two a distant mountain
peak From the hotel we crossed the
Arve, keeping along its shore in the
center Of the valley, through meadows
for a mile or SO when we turned at a
angle to the mountain of which, by an
easy grade Il don't speak for the
mule through pine groves, by zig
gags, over the paths Of avalanches, ev-
cry turn increasing my enjoyment, re-
ducing the apparent size of houses,
meadows and objects in the valley,
that seemed only a stones toss distant,
until we finally arrived at the Pavilion
on the brow OF the hill / write hill
because it seemed such in contrast
with the towering peaks from four
thousand to seven thousand feet above
Montanvert, which is six thousand and
eight hundred feet above the level of
the sea, and covered with vegetation
to the very top.
There Saussure composed a rude
hut of boulders, sticks and turf,
which was succeeded by q cabin
built by an Engishman, named
Blair, and called Chateau de Blair
ll77S- S1-and that in turn by the
present Inn, or Pavilion, where we
dismounted for lunch and rest. From
= that point our mules were sent back
to meet us after we had done the
foot-work The view from Montan
vert is singularly striking, wonderful
and varied. The beholder seei
stretched out below and above him
the vast sea of ice, called Aler d.
Glace, extending through and up thu
gorge six miles, branching out SOM
two miles above its mouth, or lowe
end. into side rayines. From on
3 stand point the surface of the ice wa
about three hundred feet below
I About thirty persons, several ladie
e among them, each accompanied by
e guide, were threading their way across
T We were not long in putting on
f .batons into active service or in land
Il ing on the ice, the crossing of whic
affords no little excitement consider
d able amusement, sometimes fear, an
. always intense interest
/ 1t is utterly impossible to convey b
= words the sense, the spirit, the powe
: which the Mer de Glace and its cog
V nate grandeur and sublimity of pil
}. on pile, on all sides, of bare, black an
a grey rocks, some snow-capped and rs
S ing to height of thilteen thousan
b feet, grim and frowning all aroun'
n and charming cascades--foaming an
5 dashing over thousands of feet of roc
q to disappear under the great sea
n ice. produce on the beholder III
d vast glacier, its surface creyiced, di
/ PLAYING forms of architecture and sta
d uary surprisingly real, and in mar
IS places with assures hundred an
u sometimes six hundred feet deep; I'll
a. enormous boulders big things on Il
lie weighing hundreds of tons, resin
Il on the surface long distance fro
i'll the side OF the gorge; the piles OF roc
le and debris on each side-called me
lg raines rising frequently thirty, fort
III fifty feet above the ice, forced up
is the irresistible, slow but surely onwai
is, passage of the glacier to the vale
at the roar of the torrent below the &c
r. fed by thousands of rills or strear
re from the melting of the glacier, I
+. this, and much beside is, you will co
llf clude, quite sufficient to keep the min
,ir at such time, active. The beautii
It. blue color of the ice in the creyices {
tn all sides, / never tired of looking at.
ch Tho holes in the glacier which I
de boulders make by the action OF t
er suns rays, from their perfection al