ey present themselves to my imagination, I
involuntarily shrink with horror at the idea, and am astonished in
recollecting what little sensation I felt at the moment.

We threw down into some of the narrow cracks, pieces of ice and
fragments of rock, and heard for a considerable time, the more and
more distant sound, as they bounded from side to side. In no instance
could we perceive the stone strike the bottom; but the sound, instead
of ceasing suddenly, as would then have been the case, grew fainter
and fainter, until it was too feeble to be heard. What then must be
the immense depth of these openings, when in these silent regions, the
noise of a large stone striking the bottom is too distant to be heard
at the orifice!

The number of openings we met with, which were broader than the length
of our ladder, and which, of course, we had no means of crossing,
rendered our path extremely circuitous. We were often enabled, by the
ladder's assistance, to scale high and perpendicular banks of snow. It
sometimes proved too short to reach to the top; but where the steep
was not absolutely perpendicular, we contrived in several instances to
remedy this inconvenience. One of the guides, standing on the top of
the ladder, enabled the rest, who clambered up by his assistance, and
over his shoulders, to reach the summit; when there, we easily drew up
him and the ladder with cords.

We were occasionally compelled to retrace our steps, and we were
frequently so involved in the intricacies of the glacier, that we had
to remain without proceeding, a considerable time, until the guides,
who were dispersed in every direction on the discovery, could find a
practical path to extricate us.

In addition to these difficulties, I had not been long on the glacier,
before I perceived that my faithless boot had given way; which, as
every thing depended upon the state of our feet, was a serious
misfortune. Necessity, however, is the mother of invention, and I
contrived to bind it with cords in such a manner, that it served me
tolerably well the rest of the journey.

In consequence of all these obstacles, we only arrived at 5 o'clock at
the "Grand Mulet," not more than four or five miles distant, in a
straight line from the point where we entered on the glacier; but,
from the circuitous route we had taken, we could not have walked less,
in this distance, than 14 or 15 miles. We were now 11,000 feet above
the level of the sea, and 8,000 feet ab