so named, from the striking resemblance which its broken masses of ice bear to the waves of the ocean, and the resemblance is still further heightened by the blue appearance which the numerous cavities present to the eye.—­We walked a little way on this frozen ocean, the better to contemplate its vast extent, as well as to have it in our power to boast of having walked on a mass of ice in the month of August.  The depth of the ice is calculated to be from three to four hundred feet, and the solemnity of this scene of desolation is increased by the sound of several torrents tumbling from the surrounding rocks.  We again returned to the summit of Montanvert, and were again lost in astonishment at the scene; which did not fail to recall to my recollection the beautiful lines of Pope, in his Essay on Criticism: 

    So pleas’d at first the tow’ring Alps we try,
    Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,
    Th’ eternal snows appear already past,
    And the first clouds and mountains seem the last. 
    But, those attain’d, we tremble to survey
    The growing labours of the lengthen’d way,
    Th’ increasing prospect tires our wand’ring eyes,
    Hills peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise.

Having sufficiently contemplated the view, we began to think of returning to the valley, which presented a most enlivening appearance after the chaos we had left.  The descent was much easier than the ascent, and we were not long before we met our mules, and returned to our inn in great prosperity, although we had, most of us, occasional falls during so difficult a progress.

We had great reason to be pleased with our expedition, and were most fortunate in the clearness of the day, without which our labour would have been lost.  The valley is, of course, much more mild in its atmosphere than the mountain, but the weather was autumnal, and a fire was quite indispensable to our comfort.  There are no less than five glaciers in this valley, they are separated from each other by forests and by cultivated lands, and this intermixture presents an appearance which, from its singularity, cannot fail to astonish the beholder.  These glaciers all lie at the foot of that vast chain of mountains, which supply the sources of many of the greatest rivers in Europe.  I observed that the mountains in this vicinity were the first I had seen enlivened by the mixture of the larch with the fir, which produces a very pleasing effect, and continues afterwards to be often seen.  The vast quantities of Alpine strawberries that every-where abound on these mountains, have a most excellent flavor, and numbers of children employed in gathering them find ready sale among the numerous strangers, attracted by the wonders of the neighbourhood.  These Alps possess great attractions for the botanist, who is surrounded by saxifrage, rhododendrons, and a variety of other plants, which he must highly value, but which