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786 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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THE STOHY OF MONT BLANC. The Story of Mo...
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^nrtfnlin.
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We should do our utmost, to encourage th...
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SITS ©F HY B@¥y©@©. " Well hunt thou don...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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786 The Leader. [Saturday,
786 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
The Stohy Of Mont Blanc. The Story Of Mo...
THE STOHY OF MONT BLANC . The Story of Mont Blanc . By Albert Smith , Boguc . When our friend Vivian , in one of his wicked moods , declared that Albert Smith was employed on a laborious work ,. /' . ' The Geology of tho Glaciers , " the statement was accepted without suspicion by many readers , and we heard of one exclaiming , " Ah , I always told you there was more in Albert Smith than you gave him credit for !" Without revealing a scientific geologist to the public , this volume will prove the truth of that exclamation , for it certainly presents a more serious aspect , and more solid qualities , than the reader who has followed Albert Smith ' s literary career would have been inclined to suspect . It has been the universal opinion , we believe , that the most successful portion of his exhibition is the secottd half , wherein he is serious ; and we have no hesitation in declaring our preference for this Story of Mont Blanc to all the works he has written . It is simply an admirable book . it j q II e & + , . e t . 1
The story of bis early and constant passion for Mont Blanc is narrated with pleasant detail . The history of Chamouni is then sketched , followed by an account of Pococke and Wyndham ' s first visit . Then we have a chapter on the First Adventurers on Mont Blanc ; next one on the first ascent , and one on De Saussure . Dr . Hemel ' s fatal attempt is described , and a brief record of all the subsequent ascents , including his own famous one , in which thousands have accompanied him , seated in Egyptian Hall , while he fights his battles o ' er again , " and which will , on Monday night , have reached its 500 th representation . It is thus a complete book , and one of very agreeable literature ; for besides personal details , it contains some free fresh landscapes , vividly presented to the mind without any affectation or fine writing ; and some details of very great interest to the philosopher . There are numerous illustrations , some of them reproductions of Beverley's beautiful scenes ; but the reader is carried so completely into Chamouni , that his imagination could dispense with illustrations . ; l i i .
An extract or two will indicate the style . Prom a " Day on the Glaciers" we borrow the following : — "We despatched our meal in high spirits , and having waited for the guides to store their knapsacks with cold meat , wine , and small loaves , for our dinner on the glacier , we left the chalet at a quarter to eight , Devouassoud leading the way , and the other guide following us . For two or three hundred yards the path skirted the glacier , and was tolerably pleasant walking , abounding in ' wild 'flowers , and covered by a delicate heath . It then ascended the side of the mountain , running about one hundred feet above the glacier , and presently appeared to stop short at an enormous rock of smooth granite , called lie-Font , and forming one of the most awkward passes in the excursion . I was contemplating the possibility of proceeding any further , when Devouassoud , coolly exclaiming , ' Suivez moi , messieurs ,
sil vous plait , laid hold of a projecting ledge , and springing like a chamois , set his foot in a small excavation barely three inches deep , from whence he crawled on to the face of the rock which overhung the glacier . It was a minute or two before I could collect sufficient nerve to follow him ; nor were my fellow-travellers less timid . We , however , contrived literally to tread in his footsteps ; and leaning towards the inclining face of the rock , with our iron-shod poles in our left hand , we crept cautiously onwards , never daring to look down upon the glacier , which was at an awful depth below us . I enn compare the passage to nothing better than clinging sideways along the tiles of a steeply-pitched house , with no other footing or hold than occasional inequalities or ridges , and the certain prospect of being instantaneously dashed to pieces should these fail you . There are two of these awkward
ridges to traverse—Le Grand and Le Petit Pont , both of which are equally hazardous , and I should think , in wet weather , almost impracticable . On quitting these rocks , which we did with no small gratification , we continued descending for some distance , and in about twenty minutes reached the edge of tho glacier , or moraine , as it is termed—a confused mass of blocks of granite , ice , and wet grit , which is extremely troublesome , and , indeed , painful to traverse , from tho insecure footing that it affords . There is no absolute danger ; but you stand a chance of dislocating your ankles at every step , mid the edg es of the grnnitc rocks are so sharp , as to wound your hands in the event of your slipping . Devouassoud , as usual , went first , and where he saw a treacherous block , kicked it out of the way , and it went thundering down tho edge of the moraine , generally trailing half a dozen others in its course . # * # # # * " After an hour ' s severe labour , in which wo several times left our shoes behind us in the clefts of the granite , we emerged from tho moraine upon the glacier . It is here that the sagacity and hardihood of the guides is displayed . They appear to have a miraculous instinct in choosing a practicable route amongst its clefts , and leap over tho chasms that yawn on every sido with a boldness and certainty that is really wonderful . " Wo passed several enormous rocks which had . been split from tho parent
mountains by the forco of storms or avalanches , and were now ridin g on tho surface of tho glacier . Devouassoud told us that , in time , from the constant advance of the glacier , the . se blocks would come down to Chamouni ; but thin , of course , would ho the journey of centuries . lie added , that in hia own recollection they had moved several yards . We were shown , near one of them , a fearful hole in the ice , which the guides termed Le Moulin . Its depth was unknown—it had been plumbed to three hundred feet ; and a torrent was roaring and chafing within it with u noino that was perfectly terrific . * # # * * * " Wo crossed tho moraines of these largo fields of ice , and immediately commenced ascending tho Couvorclo — a . steep and lofty rock tihooting up directl y from tho glacier . If tho pannage of tho Punts had been tho most hazurdoiiH part of our journey , probably thin wuh tho most fatiguing . Tho sun wiih whining with ' opprmsivo forco directly upon us , iind wo were obliged to rest every ten or twelve steps to draw our breath ; the altitude wo had attained tending , no doubt , although but in a alight degree , to add to our exhalation , for wo were now nioro than eight thouHHiid feet above tho level of tho son , and tho ascent ko precipitous , that in climbing up tho wtcep sides , our feet wero generally in clow approximation to the heads of those immediately behind n « . " Tho Glacier < ln Talefre , in all the beauty of its white pyriunidn , and sparkling , unsullied waves , now broke upon uh ; and quitting tho Hiiro ground of tho Couvorclo , we followed DevouaHKOiul an ho advanced upon its treacherous Hurfnco . Tho heat of tho day had thawed its upper ltiyor , and wo sank
kneedeep at every step , in a lodge of half-melted snow and ice . The guides were most urgent in begging us to tread as nearly as possible in their footmarks , as some of the tracks which appeared smooth and easy of passage , were merely bridges of snow thrown over chasms of immeasurable depth , which the sli ghtest weight would cause to fall . Wherever there existed a doubt as to the praoticabiliiy of crossing from one wave of the glacier , to another , Devouassoud sounded the snow carefully with his iccpole , nor " would he allow us to move until he had ascertained its firmness ; and yet I was informed by Mr . A uldjo , that this brave guide , who knows not what danger means amidst the peaks and crevices of his own glaciers , was so ^ frightened by a slight ruffle of the water on crossing the lake of Geneva > that he laid himself down at the bottom of the boat , and cried like a child . " This is a very curious illustration , proving with many others , that unless when nerved by some moral determination , courage is either familiarity with danger , or ignorance of it . We alluded to the details interesting in a philosophic point of view . Here is one excessively curious :- — .. "In fact , although physically the easiest , this was the most treacherous part of the entire ascent . A flake of snow or a chip of ice , whirled by the wind from the summit , and increasing a 3 it rolled down the top of the mountain , might at length thunder on to our path , and sweep everything before it into the crevice . Everybody was aware of this ; and for three-quarters of an hour we kept trudging hurriedly forward , scarcely daring to speak , and every now and then looking up with mistrust at the calotte ,, as the summit is termed , that rose above us in such cold and deceitful tranquillity . Once or twice in my life I have been placed in circumstances of the greatest peril , and I now experienced the same dead calm in which my feelings always were sunk on these occasions . I knew that every step we took was gained from the chance of a horrible death ; and yet the only thing that actually distressed me was , that the two front lanterns would not keep the same distance from one another—a matter of the utmost unimportance to everybody . " Here again : — "My eyelids had felt very heavy for the last honr ; and , but for the absolute mortal necessity of keeping them widely open , I believe would have closed before this ; but now such a strange and irrepressible desire to go to sleep seized hold of me , that I almost fell fast off as I sat down for a few minutes on . the snow to tie my shoes . But the foremost guides were on the march again , and I was compelled to go on with the caravan . From this point , on to the summit , for a space of two hours , I was in such a strange state of mingled unconsciousness and acute observation : —of combined sleeping and waiving— -that the old-fashioned word ' bewitched ' is the only one that I can apply to the complete Confusion and upsetting of sense in which I found myself plunged . With the perfect knowledge of where I was , and what I was about—even with such caution as was required to place my feet on particular places in the snow—I conjured up such a set of absurd and improbable phantoms about me , that the most spirit-ridden intruder upon a Mayday festival on the Hartz mountains was never more beleaguered . I am not sufficiently versed in the finer theories of the psychology of sleep to know if such a state might be ; but I believe for the greater part of this bewildering period I was fast asleep , with my eyes open , and through them the wandering brain received external impressions ; in the same manner as , upon awaking , the phantasms of our dreams are sometimes carried on , and connected with objects about the chamber . It is very difficult to explain the odd state in which I was , so to speak , entangled . A great many people I knew in London were accompanying me , and calling after me , as the stones did after Prince Pervis , in the Ardbian NigJits . Then there was some terribly elaborate affair that I could not settle , about two bedsteads , the whole blame of which transaction , whatever it was , lay on my shoulders ; and then a literary friend came up , and told me he was sorry we could not pass over his ground on our way to the summit , but that the King of Prussia had forbidden it . Everything was as foolish and unconnected as this , but it worried me painfully ; and my senses were under such little control , and I reeled and staggered about so , that when we had crossed tho snow prairie , and arrived at the foot of an almost perpendicular wall of ice , four or five hundred feet high—the terrible Mer de la Cote—up which we had to climb , I sat down again on the snow , and told Tairraz that I would not go any farther , but that thoy might leave me there if they pleased . " Tho Mont Blanc guides are used to these little varieties of temper , above the Grand Plateau . In spite of my mad determination to go to sleep , Bnlmat and another sot me up on my legs again , and told me that if I did not exercise every caution , we should all be lost together , for tho most really dangerous part of the whole ascent had arrived . I had tho greatest diiHculty in getting my wandering wiU into order ; but tho risk called for tho strongest mental effort ; and , with just sense enough to hco that our success in scaling thin awful precipice was entirely dependent upon ' pluck , ' I got ready for the climb . " There arc two nice nuts for tho psychologist to crack—two actual experiences which every philosopher will make note of .
^Nrtfnlin.
^ nrtfnlin .
We Should Do Our Utmost, To Encourage Th...
We should do our utmost , to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself ' . —Gouthb .
Sits ©F Hy B@¥Y©@©. " Well Hunt Thou Don...
SITS © F HY B @ ¥ y ©@© . " Well hunt thou done , great nrtifit Memory , Insetting round thy firnt experiment With royal lriuuo work of . wrought £ old : * ' * ,. # Ever , retiring , thou dost gasio On tho prime labour of tln ' no onrly days . " Tknnyhon , Ode to Memory . VTi DELIGHT in the delineation of character , and am never weary of M tracing its formation and watching its isaucN . Of all reading , I prefer M biography , uiul of this , autobiography is my favourite branch , as being wX able , to give us a glance into those deeper and more secret places of chnrnctcr and experience , else unrcvcnlcd . It is not , however , tho lives of tho busy and conspicuous actors in the world ' s drama , that I care most to rend ; for , in them , generally , the glare of publicity scema to have put out
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13081853/page/18/
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