upon us; and as they generally occasion avalanches, my thoughts were naturally directed to the possible instant precipation of us all 2,000 feet down the steeps of the mountain. I had but little sleep through the night, and with our thin cloth we were but half covered; so that I was in frequent watch for day. At length I perceived a lambent light, which had stolen from the eastern horizon, feebly illumining the summit, till it glowed softly with a planetary lustre, and seemed insphered, as it were, in the dark blue firmament; when, as twilight brightened into a cloudless morning, it blushed like a rising harvest-moon. Now, therefore, I roused the guides; but cold and dangerous as was our resting place, half of them were loath to leave it; neither were they required, as we had now no dangers to encounter. I omitted to look at the thermometer; but Marie Coutet who had been in the habit of attending to it upon great elevations, afterwards told me that he considered it had not descended lower than 18°; our lemons, however, and a bottle of the best hermitage, were frozen. As we advanced, the rising sun kindled the summit, as it were, into a lamp of burning gold-a scene which inspired us with new animation. Favret and myself were the only persons not subjected to severity of suffering, particularly in regard to the breath :as to the rest of the party, some lay down, and though others kept their standing, yet they were obliged to bend their bodies, and hang down their heads, to obtain easier respiration. Having, as we supposed, walked about twenty-five miles since our departure from the priory, at half past five the whole party reached the summit; but coldness, fatigue, little rest for two nights, an incessant attention to our footsteps, and that state of equanimity which had been requisite in surmounting so many dangers, rendered us incapable of fully enjoying the grandeur which was now displayed around us. I still had no appetite; my principal beverage was snow; the wine continued frozen, and its taste was unpleasant; but I found a few spoonsful of a spirituous syrup very agreeable. The warmth of the atmosphere rapidly increased, and we were greatly refreshed by a slight involuntary slumber upon the bare snows. The thermometer in the sun was at 70°; yet our expedient of bottling the snow continued ineffectual. The summit presented a much larger area than Coutet had ever before seen, although this was his sixth ascent. It is supposed, therefore, that a portion of the previous altitude of the mountain had fallen; and hence, as Mont Rosa differs in height from Mont Blanc only about one hundred feet, it is probable that they may sometimes approach nearer to equality of height than is often considered. Bonaparte had a column of wood raised, respectively, on Mont Blanc, Mont Rosa, and Mont Buet, for the purpose of facilitating surveys; these columns were erected several years since; but as they are now invisible, it is supposed they have been swept away by avalanches. The plane of the summit was triangular, and almost equilateral; declining from its north side, which was nearly horizontal, parallel to, and facing the valley of Chamouni; the distance from the middle of this side to the opposite angle being not less than five or six hundred feet. The plane declined from the horizon about 200 feet, and was intersected by a fissure, which ran parallel and near the side next to Chamouni, presenting in appearance the formation of a crevasse. As an example of the little effect produced upon my respiration at so high an altitude, I felt not the least ill consequence from running a considerable way down the plane; while one of the guides, who was only walking, became so greatly affected, that he was obliged to lie down. I sat upon the head of the pinnacle, which rises at the angle next to Cormayeur, and looked down a vast uninterrupted rocky precipice, retreating perpendicularly several thousand feet, into a declivity of ice and snow, which slanted down to other cliffs, overshadowing the vale. The air was perfectly still; the sky of a deep cerulean tint; and the contrast of this richness and solemnity of shade magnificently increased the splendor of the sun. We descried only two or three small travelling clouds; but these foreboded a gradual termination of our fine weather. A thin hazy circle skirted the horizon, dimming all objects in the extreme distance, or, it was thought, the Mediterranean might have been discerned. All distant low land, as well as the waters of the Genevan lake, were slightly obscured; but the extreme range of the Alps rose clearly in view, from which Mont Rosa " upheaved its vastness," pre-eminent in majesty and splendor. Amid this wildly-varied immensity, the distant Schreckhorn dwindled into a diminutive peak; while, of all the magnificence which was VOL. LXIV. stretched around us, the sublimest spectacle was presented by the monarch upon whose crown we trod; for over a tract of seven miles in breadth, and five and twenty in length, were seen, crowded together in confused perspective, hundreds of rifted pyramids, boldly towering over tremendous and most resplendent glaciers; while a range of aguilles upon the southern side of the mountain rose with a still more subduing sublimitysome of them soaring seven thousand feet almost perpendicularly above the vale, and refulgent with vast accumulations of ice and snow. Having remained upon the summit three hours, we commenced our descent at half-past eight. I had previously surveyed the mountain, and was convinced that the usual line of ascent was the only one now practicable. We intended to descend by the eastern side of the Rocher Rouge; but as there was no visible support to a vast bridge of snow, over which we must have crossed, we retraced our footsteps. Having halted at the Rocher Rouge, we found, that our articles, which had been frozen, were now moistened by the heat. The descent of all precipitous places is far more dangerous than the ascent; and we had, therefore, to fear mostly the declivities leading to the Grand Plateau. Marie Coutet tied a rope round my waist, holding one end in his hand; and in my attempt to descend the parapet of congealed snow we before had passed, I fell ; Coutet saved me with a rope; and I further secured myself by striking my baton into the ice. At this instant Coutet let fall the rope ;the least slide would now have been fatal; since at the foot of the 2 X 1 declivity opened an immense crevasse. Fearing the result of any attempt to descend to me for the rope, I succeeded in throwing it up to Coutet; but the moment I gained the foot of the parapet, he also fell, and threw me down; having, however, previously fixed my baton into the ice, and receiving the assistance of a guide, who had now arrived, we were both saved. Near this place we found a bee, which lay upon the snows; but, one of the guides keeping it for some time in his hand, it revived, and flew away. On our arrival at the Grand Plateau, the ropes were again fastened round us, in the same manner as when we ascended, and in this way we rapidly advanced to the Grands Mûlets; the guides, who had suffered so severely during the ascent, now easily keeping pace with the rest of the party. Placing ourselves in a sitting posture, we slid down, with great velocity, several embankments of three and five hundred feet in the line of descent. This expedient was not attended with danger, as there were no visible crevasses; and our velocity would have carried us over any which might have been concealed. In some places, our footsteps left a hole in the snow, and once my foot sunk into a deep cavity; so that we probably passed over some hidden abyss, which was sometimes suspected by a long water-coloured streak. If, in these cases, the traveller throws himself down, and holds his baton horizontally, and at right angles with the crevasse, he will add greatly to his security; since cre vasses, whether visible or invisible, are generally at right angles with the line of ascent. We had not rested since we left the summit; and my guides wished to repose awhile under the cool shade of an overhanging mass of snow;-a pleasure I declined. We arrived at the Grands Mûlets at half-past one. The guides made a hearty dinner; I still had no appetite, but drank freely of the clear water, which rilled down the rocks. During nearly the whole of my stay, I was occupied in taking a parting leave of the scenery around me; and whilst our dangers were forming a subject of merriment, suddenly a sound as of reiterating peals of the most tumultuous thunder, or the roar of the ocean, bursting its boundaries, and hurling in its progress vast fragments of rock, struck the guides mute with astonishment; and at the moment, a cloud was seen resting upon the summit. We afterwards learned, that an avalanche had fallen upon the Grand Plateau, burying beneath its ruins much of the path we had traversed. It was perceived through a telescope at the distance of ten miles by a party on the Col de Balme. The fall of the avalanche, and presence of the cloud, proved that my plan had been timed nearly to the hour; for after this period, we had a series of lowering weather, and the heights of the mountain continued to be obscured. The thermometer in the sun was here at 70°. We left the Grands Mûlets at three o'clock, and had still to encounter several dangers. In passing down its rocks, a guide dropt his baton into a crevasse, and my rope was attached to him, by which two of us held him during his descent. His passage was to be effected under a huge fragment of ice, which lay upon the mouth of the chasm, and was so slightly supported, that by the mere strength of the arm it might have been dis lodged. The present insecure state of the glaciers, produced by the heat of the day, required our most cautious advance; indeed, their general appearance was so changed, as to be scarcely recognized. Thousands of rivulets, intersecting each other, mingled around us their murmuring tumults; while, at intervals, heavy piles of loosened glaciers crumbled down the rocks. At half past five we quitted the ice, and all our dangers being over, the guides again regaled themselves; but, for myself, I had still no desire for solid food. At a short distance from this spot, we found a cloth, neatly spread upon the ground, and an earthen basin of milk for each, brought hither by an interesting peasant girl. I partook but slightly of this repast, being anxious to reach old Favret's cottage, where we soon arrived. The old man was quite astonished and overjoyed at our success, giving us the most hearty welcome; and feasting me on brown bread and delicious cream, while his son went forward to announce to the villagers our safe return. We soon after rapidly descended the rest of the mountain; the peasants anxiously waited our arrival; and hailed as we passed them, the happy fortune of their companions. We again pursued our route through the woods, in darkness, and completed the expedition by gaining the priory at half-past seven, after an absence of two nights and two days. The ascent occupied twenty-two hours; the descent, eleven; the latter only being more rapid than usual. Saussure's expedition employed him four days; he was, however, retarded by his baggage, his philosophical instruments, and experiments. Other travellers completed the undertaking in three days; but as, upon the first night of ascent, they all slept upon the mountain, our night-march gained over them the advantage in time. I rose at five the next morning in a state of general fever, and with a blistered face, occasioned by the little use I had made of my veil; and in a few days lost the skin of my fingers and toes. David Coutet'sright foot had been frozen; and one of the guides, who had naturally weak eyes, became blind for a few days, but, afterwards, perfectly recovered. NATURAL HISTORY. MARINE Animal. A ma rine animal was exhibited in Kendal, which had been found adhering to a vessel lately wrecked on Duddon sands. The whole consisted of an assemblage of flexible and tubular bodies, which seemed to have no mutual connexion, except that they all sprang from an extended surface of the substance already mentioned. When each body was separately examined, it appeared to be a tube, which was widest at the base and narrowed away at the opposite extremity, and had an aperture surrounded by serri or a tassel of loose threads. The bases of these tubes were smooth and elastic; they were also filled with a fluid, and were transparent, being of a light yellow colour. No signs of animation appeared in these parts, but each was wrinkled about twothirds of its length downward, and this part exhibited evident signs of animation, by voluntary contraction and various changes of position. The preceding remarks seem to connect the animal in question with the genus of worms which is denominated triton; but a difficulty occurs in this place; for a compressed shell of an ovate figure and a bluish white colour enclosed the lower extremity of each tube with its serri. The, narrower end of this shell was much more compressed than the rest of it, and the valves, which were apparently entire, each consisted of two valves cormected by their respective hinges, the lesser of which on both sides cut the whole diagonally about one-half of its length, when they were closed, in which state |