njoy the coolness of the air, and to view its
stupendous glaciers, several of which are formed by the snow and ice
gliding down from Mont Blanc itself. On the south-east side is the
valley of Entreves, which separates Mont Blanc both from the great and
the little St. Bernard, and through which runs a small river, whose
waters join the Po, below Turin, while the Arva, which flows through
Chamouny, joins the Rhone, near Geneva. These rivers finally discharge
themselves into the sea, at the distance of several hundred miles from
each other; the one into the Mediterranean, near Marseilles, and the
other into the Adriatic, near Venice. The chain of Alps, of which Mont
Blanc forms a part, runs from N. E. to S. W. and is partly surmounted
in its neighbourhood, by sharp pointed rocks, whose sides are too
steep for the snow to rest upon, and of which seven, rising abruptly
to a great height, have the appropriate name of the "Needles of
Chamouny."

The height of Mont Blanc, according to the observations of Saussure,
is 14,790 French feet above the level of the sea,[A] which is only
5800 less than that of Chimborazo, the summit of which has been never
reached: on the other hand, its relative height above the surrounding
country is greater; for Mont Blanc is 11,500 above the valley of
Chamouny, while Chimborazo, according to Humboldt, is only 11,200
above the plain of Tapia, at its foot. It is calculated that, from
this height, the eye could reach sixty-eight leagues, or about 170 of
our miles, without being intercepted by the convexity of the earth.
Mont Blanc is seen from Lyons in all its magnificence; from the
mountains of Burgundy, from Dijon, and even from Langres, sixty-five
leagues distant in a straight line: M. Saussure thought he recognised
the mountain of Cavme, near Toulon.

[A] About 15,500 English feet, or something less than three
miles.

In 1760 and 61, Saussure, the celebrated philosopher of Geneva, then
engaged in examining the natural history of the Alps, promised a
considerable reward to any person who should succeed in finding a
practicable path to the summit, offering even to pay for the lost
time of those who made ineffectual efforts. The first who undertook
this, was Pierre Simon, a hunter of Chamouny, in 1762: but he was
unsuccessful. In 1775, four men of the same village endeavoured for
the same object, and with as ill success, to follow the ridge of the
Montagne de la Cote, which runs parallel