was the farthest limit of his travels on this occasion. The party
returned by way of Geneva; and Coley, alone with four guides,
attempted the Col du Geant. Then following is his account of the
danger in which he found himself:--

'On Monday at 4.15 A.M. we started from the Montanvert, with our
alpenstocks, plenty of ropes, and a hatchet to cut steps in the ice.
We walked quickly over the Mer de Glace, and in about three hours
came to the difficult part. I had no conception of what it would be.
We had to ascend perpendicular walls of ice, 30, 40, 50 feet high, by
little holes which we cut with the hatchet, and to climb over places
not a foot broad, with enormous crevasses on each side. I was
determined not to give in, and said not a word, but I thought that no
one had a right to expose himself to such danger if known beforehand.
After about three hours spent in this way, (during which I made but
one slip, when I slid about twelve feet down a crevasse, but
providentially did not lose my head, and saved myself by catching at
a broken ridge of ice, rising up in the crevasse, round which I threw
my leg and worked my way up it astride), got to the region of snow,
and here the danger was of falling into hidden crevasses. We all
five fastened ourselves to one another with ropes. I went in the
middle, Couttet in front, then Payot. Most unluckily the weather
began to cloud over, and soon a sharp hailstorm began, with every
indication of a fog. We went very cautiously over the snow for about
three hours, sinking every now and then up to our middles, but only
once in a crevasse, when Couttet suddenly fell, singing out "Tirez!
tirez!" but he was pulled out instantly. We had now reached the top,
but the fog was so dense that I could scarcely see 30 feet before me,
and the crevasses and mountains of snow looming close round us looked
awful. At this moment the guides asked me if I must make the