so going to Chamouny. They had preferred travelling in
little carriages drawn by mules, which they were obliged to quit
continually, by the uneven nature of the road; and they did not arrive
till some time after us. We here found that one of our party was mounted
on the mule which had lately had the honor of carrying the Ex-Empress
Maria Louisa, who passed this way on her tour to Chamouny. She is said
to have appeared very thoughtful; but the guides praised both her
courage and her beauty.

We breakfasted with the other travellers, under the shade of an orchard,
near the inn; and the repast was much more luxurious than we could have
supposed from the rustic appearance of the place. As soon as the guides
informed us that they were ready to attend us, we continued our journey
to Chamouny, making another little detour to visit the _glacier des
Bossons_. Here we were astonished at the singular appearance which was
exhibited by a vast number of _pyramids and towers of ice_, many of them
upwards of 100 feet in height, and which remained at this season almost
in the centre of a valley richly cultivated and well inhabited.

The definition of the word _glacier_ has given rise to several
arguments. I shall therefore insert that given by the celebrated M. de
Saussure, in his Tour amongst the Alps, of which he was one of the first
and most able explorers. He says, "The word _glacier_ designates any one
of those cavities, natural or artificial, which preserve the ice, or
guard it from the rays of the sun." This glacier is only three quarters
of a league from Chamouny, or the priory, where we soon arrived. The
valley of Chamouny is about eighteen English miles long, and hardly one
in breadth. It is as varied a scene as can possibly be imagined; and no
where can the contrast between nature in its wild and in its cultivated
state, make a more forcible impression on the mind.

Many of the farms here are very neat. They sow the grain in May, and
reap in August.

We remarked several small chapels and crosses where promises of
_indulgence for thirty days_ are held out to those persons who shall
repeat there a certain number of prayers. One of these chapels, more
spacious than the rest, was constructed by a bishop of Sion. The village
of Chamouny is not large, but contains several extremely good inns,
which, since the opening of the Continent, have had their full share of
English travellers, whose names, in the books of the hotel where w