Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-09-22
Mont Blanc.

The reader who has never visited Swift
erland can form no conception of the gran
deur of its mountains, and of Mont Blanc.
the monarch of European mountains. The
whole chain Of the Alps, from Dauphiny
to st. Gothard, stands developed at Nyon,
to the extent of one hundred miles. In the
centre Mont Blanc, his comparative di-
mansions magnified rather than diminish
ed by distance, rears his snow-capped head
proudly above the suite of humble grada.
tions on each side Of his snowy throne
The mountains that seem to form group
around Mont Blanc are from six to seven
Thousand feet in height. On a clear even.
ing the view is grand beyond description
and most travellers content themselves
with this glimpse rather than undergo the
exposure and fatigue of travelling in those
icy glacier regions. which are computed to
be 900 square miles in extent. The water
| from the melting of the snow Of these re-
gions forms the lakes of Switzerland, and
the two lovliest rivers in Europe, the
Rhone and the Rhine.
! To make the dangerous ascent Of Mont
Blanc requires two days. journey from
Chamouni, and the expense is about $3.50.
The ascent is never undertaken with less
than six guides. each of whom risks his
life every time the ascent il made, no mat
ter what his experience may be, and they
require 100 francs pay for the exposure
and risk that they incur. Several ladies
have at different times made the ascent,
and some have lost their lives in the fool
ish undertaking. The skin Of most people
peels off after the ascent, their eyes be-
| come weak, and they suffer more or less in
health. De oaussurs-who, after twenty
seven years of longing and sfruitless en-
deavor, reached the summit IN 1837-says
that the desire to make the ascent had be-
| come with him species of disease. He
says: 1.-THE arrival on the summit did not
give me Immediately all the pleasure which
might have been expected, because the
length of the struggle and the sense Of the
trouble which it cost me to reach 1t SEEM
ed, as it were, to irritate me. and 1t was
with a kind of wrath trampled the snow
upon The highest point. Besides, I feared
that might not be able to make the OBJ.
servations which desired. so greatly was
troubled by the rarity of the atmosphere
and the difficulty felt in breathing, and
in working at this height. We all suffer
ed from fever. scarcely believed my own
eyes l seemed to myself to be dreaming
when I saw beneath my feet the terrific,
majestic peaks-the acute SUBMITS Of
Midi, Argentiere and LeGeant. the very
base of which it had been so difficult and
hazardous for me to climb. But now un-
derstood their connection and their form,
and was able at one single glance to clear
up the uncertainty which years Of labor
would not have done. When any adventu-
Blanc, numerous spectators take up their
station or the sides of the Bremen, from
which the progress Of the party, as soon
as it has emerged on the snow line, may
be traced the whole way to the summit
Great is che excitement at Chamouni when
they are seen returning in the evening
across the plain toward the inn. "Here
they come. the men who have been up
Mount Blanc!" Earth seems like velvet
to them; they walk not like common men;
honor and glory await them; twelve of
them 1.-THE guides) get five and twenty shil-
lings each, aid the thirteenth has his name
painted on a board by the side of De
Saussure. He has perrilled his life score
of times in the last forty eight hours, but
it is over now. He has been on the tip
top of Europe, has stood like fly on the
cold tip Of the earth 8 nose, and must 60
straight home and write book descriptive
of the perils he encountered, the sensation
he felt, and the grand discoveries be made.
They nearly all do it, and that is one OF
the reasons why they make the ascent
The first ascent of De Saussure was in the
interest of science; all that have followed
it have been stimulated by vanity. Many
persons make the excursion to Chamouni,
at the foot of the great mountain. but the
great majority content themselves with
sitting on the cosy seats at Geneva and
watching the last rays of the evening sun
glancing on its ice-encased summit.-C. c.
r. IN Baltimore american.