Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-06-10

GENKyA. MAY %. is

sisted of four gentlemen. An Englishman
joined us here for the trip, and we were all
in the mood for mountain seeing We took
seats on the Banyuette of the diligence 80 as
to have the best possible view of the country
we traversed The vehicle itself is on an
Alpine scale, and it sways back and forth
on the smooth road like "a ship in a storm, II
reminds one of ocean voyage. The i've
horses, three leaders abreast, that furnish
the motive power, are urged along by the
perpetual lash and shouting of the driver,
and the ride is race. in which the poor
spurred animals are never allowed to walk.
We reached Chamouni at PM, after a
drive of nearly fifty miles through the val
lies and gorges of Savoy. Our excursion
all the more interesting because none OF
US could speak French. In ordering dinner
and in directing the business affairs of the
excursion, the Englishman and myself would
often combine our French, make up a SEN
tence with such words and phrases as VIC both
could speak, and then launch it at the head
of inn-keeper or guide. 1t was always efec-
tive, and from the appearance OF those 10
whom we conversed, | judged it was highly
amusing. Certainly we enjoyed it as much
as they did
The next morning we were up early, before
sunrise, and after breakfast started with our
Alpine slaves for the Montanvcrt and Mer de
Glace. After a hard ascent Of four hours we
reached the summit, and had the first view
of the icy sea and of the stupendous rocky
needles which hem it in, and around which it
winds its billowy course. The Mer de Glaze
is river OF ice, from one to two miles wide
and twelve miles long. 1t travcrses the gorges
of the mountains at an altitude of more
than eight thousand feet above the sea level,
and pours over the brow or cliff of the noun
tain, at Montanvert, in stupendous cataract
of ice for four thousand feet into the valley
below. 1t is if the cataract and fall of
Niagara with hundred times much water
flowing over them were instantaneously crys-
talized into ice, only the fall is four thousand
instead of one hundred and sixty feet. The
Mer de Glaze looks like a sea that has been
frozen solid at the elimination Of a storm
Its huge pillows of ice of every form and
shape, with their high crests and deep GREY
ices, give proof of mighty agencies at work
to form them, that are beyond human calcu-
lation All along this icy stream are i'm
mense boulders of granite which it has
detached from the mountain side and brought
down in its bosom it has filled up the val
ley where it debouches with extensive piles
ofdebris, which have been ground into powder
from the rocks above in the course of its
resistless movement. Here everything. cx-
cept the pansies and little wild flowers that
nestle under the snow Of the mountain slopes.
is on the grandest scale. The mind is utterly
unable to compute distances and magnitudes
so vast. We slept in valley higher than
the summit of Mansfield. We asccnded
from thence a hill as high nearly as Mount
Washington, and there huge battcmcnts Of
rock overhung our heads or Shot up into the
sky like needles, from six to eight thousand
feet higher, while in the centre OF the field
of vision Mount Blanc reposed in perennial
calm and majesty, 50 far off that two doye
are needed to ascend to the summit, 50 near
that it seems as if you might reach forth
your hand and lay it on top Of his white and
venerable head. But let US descend t. the
Mer dc Glace. The guides insist upon our
closely following them 1t seems needless
as we first put foot on the solid sea and walk
on ice SIX hundred feet deep. But soon we
learn their wisdom. A French savan behind
us goes through the snow into a crevasse,
sin king slowly up to his arm-pits and des-
tined to sink deeper still had not his guide
saved him in the nick Of time. Yet on we
90, climbing the waves and peering down into
the crevices. and wondering Mt the cerulcan
tints of the ice, old almost as the rocks which
form its banks.
We pick ur, as we proceed from the rocky
deposits on the surface. small crystals. bits
of malachite, and chalcedony, and cornclian,
out of which the beautiful bj0uterle, for sale
at all points in Switzerland, has been cut
But it was another thing to get off this sen,
and land upon the other side The ice as it
struck the farther bank in its course, had
been twisted and broken and thrown into the
most gigantic confusion. We had to ascend
and descend blocks Of ice as large as house,
sometimes climbing steep slopes of the slip
perry material, and then creeping along the
precipitous sides, as over a steep roof, know
ing all the while that single mis-step would
precipitate us down into crevices from which
there might be no rescue, and into which no
living thing could fall and come back alive
And yet all this seems at the time of no
special danger | would not think of trav-
ersing the roof of our church, if it was made
of ice, though a guide should precede me,
cutting scant steps for the feet. But to do
an equivalent thing here is a common occur
ence, and seems to have no peril. The
familiar incidents of Alpine life would he
strange adventures at home. | am told that
twenty to twenty-five per cent. of the num-
Der who have attempted the ascent of Mount
Blanc have persisted, and yet ask a noun
taineer if it is dangerous, and he will say
s'No''
The Mavais Pas, down which we went is
narrow pass cut in the stone, of only d foot
in width, and winding round and down the
bare face of perpendicular precipice of five
the smooth rock, on the other clean des-
cent that makes one dizzy even to look down.
AS 1 disappeared over the rock, after the
guide, one of our party following me to the
edge and seeing only my hat on the perpen-
dicular face of the precipce, and not seeing
the path cried out, 81 For Gods sake where
are you going? Don't go there !, But in