al
cascades, the noise of which had well-nigh deprived us of the sense of
hearing; after a winding course among these mountains, it discharges
itself into the Mediterranean at Vintimiglia, in the territory of
Genoa. As the snow did not lie on these mountains, when we cracked our
whips, there was such a repercussion of the sound as is altogether
inconceivable. We passed by the village of Saorgio, situated on an
eminence, where there is a small fortress which commands the whole
pass, and in five hours arrived at our inn, on this side the Col de
Tende, where we took up our quarters, but had very little reason to
boast of our entertainment. Our greatest difficulty, however, consisted
in pulling off the marquis's boots, which were of the kind called
Seafarot, by this time so loaded with dirt on the outside, and so
swelled with the rain within, that he could neither drag them after him
as he walked, nor disencumber his legs of them, without such violence
as seemed almost sufficient to tear him limb from limb. In a word, we
were obliged to tie a rope about his heel, and all the people in the
house assisting to pull, the poor marquis was drawn from one end of the
apartment to the other before the boot would give way: at last his legs
were happily disengaged, and the machines carefully dried and stuffed
for next day's journey.

We took our departure from hence at three in the morning, and at four,
began to mount the Col de Tende, which is by far the highest mountain
in the whole journey: it was now quite covered with snow, which at the
top of it was near twenty feet thick. Half way up, there are quarters
for a detachment of soldiers, posted here to prevent smuggling, and an
inn called La Ca, which in the language of the country signifies the
house. At this place, we hired six men to assist us in ascending the
mountain, each of them provided with a kind of hough to break the ice,
and make a sort of steps for the mules. When we were near the top,
however, we were obliged to alight, and climb the mountain supported
each by two of those men, called Coulants who walk upon the snow with
great firmness and security. We were followed by the mules, and though
they are very sure-footed animals, and were frost-shod for the
occasion, they stumbled and fell very often; the ice being so hard that
the sharp-headed nails in their shoes could not penetrate. Having
reached the top of this mountain, from whence there is no prospect but
of other r