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THE ASCENT OF TIIE MATTEIillOJiN.

CHAP. X.

in length)—viz. from the summit of Mont Blanc to the Dome duGouter, and in the neighbourhood of the Col de Balme. All therest is concealed by outlying ridges and by mountains of secondaryimportance.

Mont Blanc itself is hounded hy the two glaciers of Miage, theglaciers de la Brenva and du Geant, the Yal Veni and the Valleyof Chamounix. A long ridge runs out towards the N.N.E. fromthe summit, through Mont Maudit, to the Aiguille du Midi.Another ridge proceeds towards the N.W., through the Bosse duDromadaire to the Dome du Gouter ; this then divides into two,of which one continues N.W. to the Aiguille du Gouter, and theother (which is a part of the main ridge of the chain) towardsthe W. to the Aiguille de Bionnassay. The two routes -which arccommonly followed for the ascent of Mont Blanc lie betweenthese two principal ridges—one leading from Chamounix, via theGrands Mulets, the other from the village of Bionnassay, via theAiguille and Dome du Gouter.

The ascent of Mont Blanc has been made from several direc-tions besides these, and perhaps there is no single point of thecompass from which the mountain cannot be ascended. But thereis not the least probability that any one will discover easier waysto the summit than those already known.

I believe it is correct to say that the Aiguille du Midi and theAiguille de Miage were the only two summits in the chain ofMont Blanc which had been ascended at the beginning of 1804.*The latter of these two is a perfectly insignificant point; and theformer is only a portion of one of the ridges just now mentioned,and can hardly he regarded as a mountain separate and distinctfrom Mont Blanc. The really great peaks of the chain wereconsidered inaccessible, and, I think, with the exception of theAiguillo Verte, had never been assailed.

The finest, as well as the highest peak in the chain (afterMont Blanc itself), is the Grandes Jorasses. The next, without a

* lksides Mont Blnne itself.