. The only current of air
we could detect was exceedingly slight, and came from the deeper of the
two pits in the ice. It was so slight, that the flame of the candle
burned apparently quite steadily when we were engaged in determining the
depth and shape of the pit.

The sun had by this time produced such an effect upon the slope of snow
outside the glaciere, that we found the ascent sufficiently difficult,
especially as our hands were full of various instruments. The
schoolmaster was not content to choose the straight line up, and in
attempting to perform a zigzag, he came to a part of the slope where the
snow lay about 2 inches thick on solid ice, and the result was an
unscholastic descent in inverted order of precedence. He got on better
over the rolling stones after the snow was accomplished, but the clumsy
style of his climbing dislodged an unpleasant amount and weight of
missiles; and though he was amiable enough to cry '_Garde_!' with every
step he took, it will be found by experiment that it is not much use to
the lower man to have '_Garde_!' shouted in his ears, when his footing
is insecure to begin with, and a large stone comes full at his head, at
the precise moment when two others are taking him in the pit of the
stomach.

We found the maire, as was said, asleep under a bush near the mouth of
the pit; and he pronounced himself completely recovered from the effects
of the cold, and ready to guide us to a second glaciere. He told us that
the amount of ice he sold averaged 4,000 _quintaux metriques_ a week,
for the three months of July, August, and September; but the last winter
had been so severe, that the lake had provided ice for the artificial
glacieres of Annecy, and no one had as yet applied to him this year. As
only a fortnight of his usual season had passed, he may have since had
plenty of applications, later in the year. The railways have opened up
more convenient sources of ice for Lyons, and for some time he has sent
none to that town.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 66: A Yorkshire farmer unconsciously adapts the German
_Wolkenbruch_, declaring on occasion that the rain is so heavy, it is
'ommust as if a clood had brussen someweers.']

[Footnote 67: I tried the hay in this chalet one night, with such
results that the next time I slept there, two years after, I preferred a
combination of planks.]

[Footnote 68: _i.e._ New milk, warm.]

[Footnote 69: Otherwise graphically called _battu_.]

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