was shipping gallons on gallons of water at every dash.

"At this time it was absolutely necessary that every man on board should exert himself to the utmost to head up the canoe and make the shore as soon as possible. Our Indian, however, still sat with his eyes covered, the most abject and contemptible-looking thing I ever saw. We took him by the shoulders, and threatened to throw him overboard if he did not immediately lend his assistance; we might as well have spoken to a stone. He was finally aroused, however, by our presenting a loaded gun at his breast. He dashed the muzzle away, seized his paddle again, and worked with a kind of desperate and wild energy till he sank back in the canoe completely exhausted. In the mean time the boat had become half-full of water, shipping a part of every surf that struck her; and as we gained the shallows, every man sprang overboard, breast deep, and began hauling the canoe to shore. This was even a more difficult task than that of propelling her with oars; the water still broke over her, and the bottom was a deep kind of quicksand, in which we sank almost to the knees at every step, the surf at the same time dashing against us so violently as to throw us repeatedly on our faces. We at length reached the shore, and hauled the canoe up out

of reach of the breakers. She was then unloaded as soon as possible, and turned bottom upward. The goods had suffered considerably by the wetting; they were all unbaled, and dried by a large fire which we built on the shore."

For two or three days they were tossed about on the river, now attempting to make way, now forced to land again, and always drenched to the skin. The missionaries and their party, too, who had set out in the barge from Walla Walla, were in no better plight. On the 14th the three canoes were again loaded, and again made the attempt to proceed; but in a short while one of them was stove, and another greatly damaged, so that they had to be unloaded and drawn out of the water. An effort was now made to procure one or two canoes with a pilot from an Indian village five miles below. This proved a hazardous and fatiguing journey; but was rewarded by getting one canoe and several Indians to assist in the navigation. With this

reinforcement, and with the boats mended, the party again attempted the descent of the river. The voyage this time was more fortunate, and next day they all arrived at the fort, which was the end of their journey across the wilderness. The time occupied in this dangerous expedition had been six months and three days. Un

harmed by fatigue or accident, with a constitution strengthened by healthful exercise, and a mind buoyant with the novelty of the scenes they had passed through, the travelers felt sincerely thankful to that kind and overruling Providence which had watched over and protected them.

II.

Ascent of Mont Blanc.

MONT

NT BLANC, as is generally known, is the highest peak of the Alps, and the loftiest ground in Europe, being fifteen thousand, six hundred and sixty-six feet above the level of the sea. It is situated in the duchy of Savoy, now a part of the kingdom of Sardinia, in a range of mountains between Sardinia and Turin, and rises immediately above the narrow valley of Chamounix, from which place alone is the ascent to the summit ever made. Though Chimborazo is between six and seven thousand feet higher than Mont Blanc, it only rises eleven thousand, six hundred feet above the neighboring valley of Quito; in this respect Mont Blanc may be considered as a more remarkable mountain, as it rises twelve thousand, three hundred feet above the valley of Chamounix, the whole of which vast hight can be scanned at once from the opposite eminences. For seven thousand feet below the top Mont Blanc is perpetually covered with ice and snow. The distance from

the bottom to the top, by the shortest route which can be pursued, is considered by the guides as eighteen leagues, or fifty-four miles.

Speaking with precision, Mont Blanc is only the most eminent of a range of peaks springing from a vast extent of eminent ground on the south side of the valley of Chamounix. When the traveler enters the valley on the opposite side at an eminence called the Col de Balme, this range, coming at once into view, oppresses his imagination with a vastness unexpected even in that land of Alpine grandeur. While the vale below smiles with the most luxuriant vegetation, the sides of the hills are clothed, for a considerable way up, with dark and dense forests, and higher still, with the accumulated hoariness of centuries.

To attain the summit of a mountain so lofty as Mont Blanc, was long an object of ambition, both to the native peasantry and to men of science, before any one was so fortunate as to effect it. It was first tried in 1762, again in 1775, and on four occasions down to 1786, without success. At length, in the year last mentioned-8th August-this difficult enterprise was accomplished by Dr. Paccard, a native of Chamounix, in company with a guide named Balma. The mountain was ascended in the succeeding year by M. de Saussure, who gave to the learned