In Fact, I Should Have Been Glad To Sleep
One Night At The Grands Mulets:
However, that was impossible.
To look at the apparently smooth surface of the mountain side, one
would never think that the ascent could be a work of such difficulty
and danger. Yet, look at the picture of crossing a _crevasse_,
and compare the size of the figures with the dimensions of the blocks
of ice. Madame d'Angeville told me that she was drawn across a
_crevasse_ like this, by ropes tied under her arms, by the
guides. The depth of some of the _crevasses_ may be conjectured
from the fact stated by Agassiz, that the thickest parts of the
glaciers are over one thousand feet in depth.
JOURNAL - (CONTINUED.)
Friday, July 8. - Chamouni to Martigny, by Tete Noir. Mules _en
avant_. We set off in a _caleche_. After a two hours' ride we
came to "_those mules_." On, to the pass of Tete Noir, by paths
the most awful. As my mule trod within six inches of the verge, I
looked down into an abyss, so deep that tallest pines looked like
twigs; yet, on the opposite side of the pass, I looked up the steep
precipice to an equal height, where giant trees seemed white
fluttering fringe. A dizzy sight. We swept round an angle, entered a
dark tunnel blasted out through the solid rock, emerged, and saw
before us, on our right, the far-famed Tete Noir, a black ledge, on
whose face, so high is the opposite cliff, the sun never shines.
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