ross it it was, we were told, necessary
to set out early in the morning, if we wished to arrive before night. We
consulted the Itinerary, and we found there the following agreeable
account of the place: "A little further on you pass a lofty mountain, the
summits of which rise in peaks. The ice and snow never melt here
throughout the year. Its chasms resemble the declivitous shores of the
sea; the wind often fills them with snow; the paths are almost
impracticable, the descent is so rapid and slippery." It is obvious that
this brief but emphatic sketch did not hold out to us any very agreeable
pleasure trip for the morrow. Oh, how readily we would have given up our
places to some of those intrepid tourists, whom the love of ice and snow,
of rocks and precipices, leads every year amidst the Alps, those
mountains of Thibet in miniature.

Another thing, very little calculated to encourage us, was, that the
people of the caravan, the villagers, everybody seemed anxious and
uneasy. They asked one another whether the snow, which had fallen in
abundance for five days, and had not had time to settle, would not render
the mountains impassable; whether there was not a danger of being buried
in the chasms, or of being overwhelmed by the avalanches; whether, in a
word, it would not be prudent to wait a few days, in the hope that the
snow would be dispersed by the wind, or partly melted by the sun, or
consolidated by the cold. To all these questions, the answers were
anything but encouraging. In order to guard against the effects of mere
pusillanimity of presumption, we held, before going to bed, a council, to
which we summoned the old mountaineers of the country. After long
deliberation, it was decided first, that if, on the morrow, the weather
was calm and serene, we might set out without temerity; secondly, that in
the supposition of departure, the long-haired oxen laden with the
baggage, and conducted by some people of the district, should precede the
horsemen, in order to trace out for them, in the snow, a more easy path.
The matter being thus determined, we tried to take a little rest, relying
little on the advantages of this plan, and much on the Divine protection.

When we rose, a few stars were still shining in the heaven, contending
with the first rays of light; the weather was wonderfully beautiful. We
quickly made our preparations for departure, and as soon as the last
shades of night were dissipated, we began t