of making the first ascent,—fate has decided against me,—I am beaten. Patience! Now, if I make further sacrifices it will be on your account, for your honour, and for your interests. Will you start again to settle the question, or, at least, to let there be no more uncertainty?" The majority of the men (in fact the whole of them with the exception of Jean-Antoine) refused point-blank to have anything more to do with the mountain. Carrel, however, stepped forward, saying, "As for me, I have not given it up; if you (turning to the Abbé Gorret) or the others will come, I will start again immediately." "Not I!" said one. "No more for me," cried a second. "If you would give me a thousand francs I would not go back," said a third. The Abbé Gorret alone volunteered. This plucky priest was concerned in the very first attempts upon the mountain,[1] and is an enthusiastic mountaineer. Carrel and the Abbe would have set out by themselves had not J. B. Bich and J.-A. Meynet (two men in the employ of Favre the innkeeper) come forward at the last moment. M. Giordano also wished to accompany them, but the men knew the nature of the work they had to undertake, and positively declined to be accompanied by an amateur.
These four men left Breil at 6.30 a.m. on July 16, at 1 p.m. arrived at the third tent-platform, and there passed the night. At daybreak on the 17th they continued the ascent by the route which had been taken before; passed successively the Great Tower, the 'crête du coq,' the 'cravate,' and the 'shoulder,'[2] and at 10 a.m. gained the point at the foot of the final peak from which the explorers had turned back on the 14th.[3] They had then about 800 feet to accomplish, and, says the Abbe, "nous allions entrer en pays inconnu, aucun n'étant jamais allé aussi loin."
The passage of the cleft which stopped Bennen was accomplished, and then the party proceeded directly towards the summit, over rocks which for some distance were not particularly difficult. The steep cliffs down which we had hurled stones (on the 14th) then stopped their way, and Carrel led round to the left or Z'Mutt side. The work at this part was of the very greatest difficulty, and stones and icicles which fell rendered the position of the party very precarious;[4] so much so that they preferred to turn up directly towards the summit, and climb by rocks that the Abbe termed "almost perpendicular." He added, "This part occupied the most time, and gave us the greatest trouble." At length they arrived at a fault in the rocks which formed a roughly horizontal gallery. They crept along this in the direction of a ridge that descended towards the north-west, or thereabouts,
- ↑ See Appendix F, attempt No. 1.
- ↑ These terms, as well as the others, Great Staircase, Col du Lion, Tête du Lion, Chimney, and so forth, were applied by Carrel and myself to the various points in consequence of real or supposed resemblances in the rocks to other things. A few of the terms originated with the author, but they are chiefly due to the inventive genius of J.-A. Carrel.
- ↑ This point is marked by the red letter e upon the lower of the two outlines facing p. 83.
- ↑ I have seen icicles more than a hundred feet long hanging from the rocks near the summit of the Matterhom.
