Page images
PDF
EPUB

218

CHAPTER X.

Valley of Chamouny-Excursion to Montanvert-Mer de GlaceThe Lodge-Troops of Visitors-Descent to the hamlet of Les Près-Chamouny-Table d'Hote-The English on the Continent -Evening walk-The Church-Books of Devotion-Passage of the Col de Balme-View of Mont Blanc and the High AlpsReturn to Martigny-Cascade of the Pisse-Vache-Saint Maurice -Canton of Vaud-Bex.

AT half-past five o'clock (July 29th), we set out

to visit that wonder of the world, the Mer-de-Glace. A more propitious morning could not have been selected for such an excursion. Mont Blanc, de fond en comble, was unveiled to our sight. The "King of Mountains," whose height above the level of Chamouny is 11,532 feet, does not, however, as viewed thence, appear of an elevation corresponding with the closeness of our proximity to its enormous base. We discern with a gratifying perspicuity the respective conformations of the Dromedary's Hump and the Dome that characterise its summit: but immense as is the space which it occupies in the landscape, this grandest object imparts no very forcible idea of its being so much more lofty than the opposite and neighbouring chain. It is easy to account for this circumstance. In the first place, "the point of sight," speaking with reference to the rules of perspective, is here taken "too near the canvass." In the second, the upper parts of Mont Blanc on this side are chiefly of a rounded

shape, and, except a few comparatively trifling spots, covered with snow.

We were attended by a guide named Jean Marie de Coudeté, a steady, active, attentive man, above the middle age; furnished with a mule for the purpose of lessening the fatigue to each in turn; and provided with walking poles, made of light wood, about six feet in length, and shod with sharp pointed ferrules of iron. After crossing the Arve, and proceeding for half a mile along the swampy borders of that river, through pasturages and oat-fields, we began the ascent of the Montanvert, which is a part of Mont Blanc, within the line of vegetation.The multitude of persons of both sexes who have encountered this task, well know that it is one of no inconsiderable fatigue to undertake on foot; and a somewhat irksome affair even for riders, in consequence of the intricate windings and almost invariable steepness of the path, among rugged rocks and through thick woods of fir. For ourselves, it may truly be affirmed, that we were animated to exertion, not to say shamed out of inertness, by the sight of four young Scotish ladies, who, each seated on a mule, with a guide holding the rein, and accompanied by their brothers, followed briskly after and soon overtook us. Some few parts of the ascent are less difficult than the rest; and from one of the rude terraces that serve to mitigate the labour of continued climbing, we took a bird's eye view of Chamouny, and marked the confluence of the Arveiron with the Arve. The open corn fields of the valley bore witness to its fertility and productive cultivation; but its general aspect is that of a cold and cheerless expanse.

About half way up we halted at La-Fontaine whence

a small rill called the Caillet takes its source; and there we gladly sheltered ourselves awhile beneath the shade of pines and larches from the sun's rock-reflected heat, which had already become oppressive. On that spot we found not only a treat for water-drinkers, but "choice fruit," milk, brandy, and kirschwasser, which were most importunately proffered to us by a bevy of lads and lasses, true children of the mountain, to whom this travelling season affords no despicable harvest. We pursued thence an upward course, sometimes through pleasant borderings of alpine shrubs and flowers; at others along the precipitous side of a fearful ridge bestrewn with the havoc of winter storms; a scene of devastation-trees broken, uprooted, dead, at random cast from the steep, where and whence had form'd and fallen

"The avalanche-the thunderbolt of snow.

At half-past nine o'clock we reached the top of Montanvert, nineteen hundred yards above the level of the sea. The astonishing and unparalleled scene of the Merde-Glace was now lying beneath us, far extending downwards to our left and upwards to the right-hand. The effect of the scene is indescribable; but the objects of which it is formed may admit of some explanation. They consist of a valley between two lateral ridges, part of the widely spread base and side of Mont Blanc; and this is filled with a solid and connected mass of ice to the depth in some parts of many hundred feet. Every year adds to its contents. The snows falling on the higher points of the mountain, become encrusted with a coat of ice, mighty fragments of which, dislodged by thaws, tumble continually into the great ravine: one enormous body presses

upon that which has preceded it, and by its own weight the whole is gradually moved downward to the bottom of the valley. This celebrated glacier it appears has been extending itself lower and lower for years, and threatens to destroy the little village at its foot.* To compare this marvellous appendage of Mont Blanc, as some have done, to a stormy sea, suddenly deprived of motion by the power of congelation, is only calculated to convey an erroneous notion of it. The simple fact of its being an inclined plane at once destroys the illusion created by any resemblance to waves which the Mer-de-Glace may exhibit. At a very remote distance, the surface offers somewhat the appearance of billows, white and tempest tost." But, when descending from Montanvert, we approach, and especially when we walk upon it, we see the thing in its true and natural light, as a vast sloping tract of ice and frozen snow, accumulated in great hillocks, broken into huge blocks, or piled up into pyramids and pinnacles: in the variety of irregular forms which these lumps assume, the angular and the conical predominate; the wavy figure is rarely to be found among them. We proceeded some distance on the glacier to inspect more closely the melted snow formed into little bluish ponds, the water of which the guide informed us was in a good state for drinking. The crevices on every

* "The glaciers will sometimes decrease for several years successively; that is to say, the lower extremity of the glacier, situated in the fertile part of the valley, loses a quantity of ice on account of the thaw. At other times the glaciers will increase and descend into the valley, and cover meadows and cultivated hills. It is generally in spring that the glaciers increase; and when during the course of the year they have advanced further than usual into the interior of a valley, they are generally seen to diminish for several years together."-Ebel.

hand are frightful to look into: we threw large pieces of ice into some of them, and from out of "a great depth," measured by the length of the interval, a hollow splashing sound issuing, told us that there was liquid at the bottom.

The Aiguilles, or natural spires of stone, indented on their edges and tops with sharp points of different sizes, curved as well as straight in form, here rise to an inconceivable height around us. Some appeared quite bare; others slightly streaked with ice. From the crags of several, glaciers suspended themselves. Many of these awful rocks were only half covered with snow, which on others lay so thick as to hide all but the acute shapes of the needles, that seemed to have pierced their hoary cloaks as if disdaining to be concealed. Near the superior range we see the Mer-de-Glace* dividing itself into two channels: one, to our left looking upwards, winds past the Aiguille-verte and extends to the Col-deFerret: the second making a broader sweep touches the base of that peak, which amidst gigantic forms, is still appropriately distinguished par excellence by the title of

the Giant.

The surface on which we trod was so slippery, and the chasms to whose dark blue margins our course unavoidably brought us, were so alarmingly numerous, that not being provided with cramponst to our shoes, we should but for the firm foot and staying hand of our guide, have

• A Gentleman of Geneva assured me that the Mer de Glace extends twenty leagues in various directions. He had himself walked upon it seven leagues.

Iron frames fitted to the heels, and each furnished underneath with three or four iron pegs.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »