7777 STORY O J/ONT DLINC, 73

Little Plateau, and mounted over the oédry of 1ce avalanches without accident, and found themsclves on the Grand Plateau by about mid-day. Thence they scaled the ice slope known as the Mur de la Cote, and after two hours of tremendously hard work

arrived at the Rochiers Rouge. Up to this point they had not suffered much & fatigue, nor had the rarity of the E air caused them any inconveni- ' ence. But at this clevated spot : they found that a terribly bitter wind was blowing with great violence from the north-cast. To remamm motionless was to be frozen to death on the spot, and so the two mtrepid men determined to go on. But as they advanced their breathing be- came laborious, and this; added to fatigue and the deathly cold, rendered their posi- tion extremcly pertlous. But it was triwmph or death, for having come so far they would not return without accomplishing their object. IFew men would have persevered in the tace of such difficultics, but Paccard and Balmat knew no such word as fail. "The summit, on which human foot had ncver vet trod, was above them, and they would stand on its virgin snows or dic. So up- ward and onward they went, the crucl, icy wind freezing their very marrow ; but such courage, such perseverance, such devotion, were bound to mecet with their reward, and at six o'clock on the evening of Aucust S, 1780, the Colossus of the Alps was beneath the feet of the intrepid travellers, and for the first time in the history of the worid the highest snows of the White Mountain

LN

were pressed by the foot of man. When we remcember how little was known in thosc days of the physical laws that govern high Alpme altitudes, and how i1l provided the travellers were for such a perilous expedi- tion, Paccard’s and Balmat's feat is the

THHE GRANDS AMULLICTS AND PETTE PLATEAU. MONT BLANG

more remarkable s and the imyperishable fame 1t carned for them was well deserved.,

Although they were entranced with the marvellous panorama that was unrolled be- fore their eyes, and elated to an extraor- dinary degree by their triumph, the two brave men were compelled to beat a hasty retreat; owing to the imtensity of the cold, which was rendered unbearable by the hioh wind. And so they retraced their steps, and bemng overtaken with darkness, they were forced 1o pass another night on the mountain. The next morning Paccard’s cyves were so inflamed with the reflection of the snow that e was blind, and had to be led by his faithful companion, but they suc- ceeded 1noreaching the village 1 safetyv,and had the satisfaction of being informed by their friends, who had undertaken to keep a look-out, that, by the aid of a powerful telescope, they had been observed standing on the suminnit. |