d up a long flight of
stairs. And this was not to be wondered at, considering that the density
of the air at this elevation is as nearly as possible half that at the
level of the sea. Going up the Arete the pause between each step,
whilst the alpenstock was being driven in, was sufficiently long to
afford a rest. Then again, the mind was so occupied that fatigue, though
doubtless present, passed unnoticed. But neither at this nor at any
other time did I experience any difficulty of breathing or feelings of
suffocation.

At last the goal was reached!--we stood on the summit of Mont Blanc!

The customary salute of three guns was fired from Chamonix; the bottle
of champagne was drunk with the usual toasts; and, having shaken hands
all round, we turned our attention to the world below--on which we did
not seem to stand, but rather on some huge white cloud. Above the sky
was a clear, unbroken atmosphere of blue; far beneath the spot on which
we stood detached fields of clouds covered the landscape, and, uniting
with the horizon, had the appearance of a vast sea; some of them, rising
above the rest, resembled island rocks, while others towered up like
gigantic cliffs.

Monte Rosa, the rival of Mont Blanc, though rearing its proud head far
above the ocean of clouds, seemed but a mere rock. The Jura was scarcely
visible; the Brevent was indistinct; the Mont Maudit, Tacul, and the
other peaks of the Mont Blanc range, though near and unclouded, were
dwarfed into insignificance as we looked down upon them. There was no
inclination to identify mountain, lake, or city, but rather to gaze in
silence on that vast and weird-like scene.

[Illustration: MONT BLANC FROM THE COL DE BALME.]

"There is a calm upon me--
Inexplicable stillness! which till now
Did not belong to what I knew of life.
... It will not last,
But it is as well to have known it, though but once;
It hath enlarged my thoughts with a new sense,
And I within my tablets would note down
... That there is such a feeling."

_CHAPTER V._

"The mists boil up around the glaciers; clouds
Rise curling fast beneath me, white and sulphury."

Would that our stay could have been prolonged! but frail human nature
cannot perform impossibilities. We had been on foot nine hours, and had
a long day's work before us; furthermore we were thinly clad, and were
exposed to a chilly breeze, from which no shelter could be found;