now all that intervened
betwixt us and terra firma, we quietly resolved to remain where we
were, and made the same arrangements for passing the night, as we had
done the evening before. We were, however, at present better off: I
mentioned that we had been so fortunate as to find a sufficient supply
of water in the neighbourhood of our rock, in consequence of which
most of the charcoal, we had brought to melt the snow, remained. With
this we made a small fire at our feet, and by blowing almost
constantly, kept it up during the night. It has been often observed,
that as we ascend in the atmosphere, the difficulty of maintaining
combustion, is proportionably increased. The cold was notwithstanding
our fire, so great, that whenever I fell asleep, I was awakened in a
few minutes to shiver and chatter my teeth. Our guides slept in the
open air, huddled as close together as possible.

July 13th.--The dawning of the day was truly welcome, as it promised a
near termination to our toils and suffering, while the gratification
of having accomplished a difficult and interesting object remained as
a recompense. We left our hard bed without reluctance, and were
impatient at the slowness with which the guides made their
preparations in packing up their numerous articles. We began to
descend as the sun illumined the white top of Mont Blanc, but long
before his beams penetrated below. Above our heads the sky was
perfectly clear, while the vallies beneath, and all except a few of
the highest surrounding mountains, were concealed by a sea of clouds.
The appearance of the clouds when seen from above is singular; they
resemble immense floating masses of light carded cotton. We retraced
our path of the first day, and took the same precaution as then of
tying ourselves together. When the sun's rays began to shine on the
snow around us, I found that my eyes were so much inflamed, I could
scarcely bear them sufficiently open to see the path; notwithstanding
the gauze veil I had constantly used, my face was in a terrible
condition: the outer skin had fallen, rendering my chin and lips one
continued sore. Doctor Van Rensselaer's eyes were in a worse condition
than mine, and his face nearly as bad.

At one part of the glacier where the snow had been so hard at our
passing, that our feet left no impression, we lost our path, which was
a misfortune, as we had chosen a much better path in ascending, than
we could have done in descending. We however