These Are Balls Of Snow Detached From The
Mountains Which Over-Top The Road, Either By The Heat Of The Sun,
Or The Humidity Of The Weather.
A piece of snow thus loosened
from the rock, though perhaps not above three or four feet in
diameter,
Increases sometimes in its descent to such a degree, as
to become two hundred paces in length, and rolls down with such
rapidity, that the traveller is crushed to death before he can
make three steps on the road. These dreadful heaps drag every
thing along with them in their descent. They tear up huge trees
by the roots, and if they chance to fall upon a house, demolish
it to the foundation. Accidents of this nature seldom happen in
the winter while the weather is dry; and yet scarce a year passes
in which some mules and their drivers do not perish by the
valanches. At Coni we found the countess C - from Nice, who had
made the same journey in a chair, carried by porters. This is no
other than a common elbow-chair of wood, with a straw bottom,
covered above with waxed cloth, to protect the traveller from the
rain or snow, and provided with a foot-board upon which the feet
rest.
It is carried like a sedan-chair; and for this purpose six or
eight porters are employed at the rate of three or four livres a
head per day, according to the season, allowing three days for
their return.
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