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snow, it drips from these stalactites, and, falling to the foot of the entrance, again freezes, and forms itself into reversed icicles, with their points upwards; and thus they are placed like a double row of spikes, to prevent the traveller from entering into these abodes of death. I was very anxious to penetrate one of these wonderful caverns; but, as such an undertaking would have cost us more time than we could give without the risk of being too late in the evening among the dangers and difficulties we had yet before us, the guides dissuaded me, saying that they had never explored them. Danger there can be none, for the solidity of the arches would probably be sufficient for any weight over them; and there can be no chance of their falling but by an imperceptible movement of the glacier. How brilliant would these diamond caves be by torch-light! how magnificently has Nature dressed these her secret closets! In some cases the ice assumes the form of the most elegant drapery, and hangs over the arch in festoons of a transparent beauty not to be imagined; in others it is fringed, and resembles the light and airy form of feathers, without being attached apparently to the solid ice: but alas! these all change in a few hours, for if the sun has much power, so fragile and tender is their fabric, that they disappear and perish, soon to re-assume a figure perhaps still more elegant. We were obliged to pass through one of these arches, as it formed a bridge, and was perforated, so that, instead of crossing it by the top, we crept through it; but its appearance was less elegant than the larger ones. This arch was not more than four feet high, but turned with great truth :-the largest we saw was not less at its opening than twenty feet high; as to the depth, or extent, we knew nothing, not being able to examine it; but we could not see the end of the cavern,-it was dark beyond, and glittering at the entrance. The constant murmuring of water in the interior of these glaciers has a singular sound. While we were standing on a plane surface of ice and snow, we listened for a considerable time with great attention the noise appeared to proceed from a very great depth, and the waters seemed escaping or forcing their way through the hidden channels with great difficulty, something like the boiling of water in a large vessel, having its lid very closely shut down. In places these rivulets were visible. The water was always as pure as the crystal channels through which it hurried on, and we seldom failed to partake of it, mixing either wine or vinegar in our glasses,-as you may suppose it was always ice-cold. It is generally at the bottom of a crevice, or in a valley of ice, that these streams or small pools are to be met with; but the heat we found to be most oppressive in such confined places, for there is no free circulation of air, but a reverberation of the rays of the sun from the snow, which materially injures the eyes, and blisters the skin of the face; for although we wore green spectacles, and thick veils, our faces were sufficiently disfigured for some time after our descent.

We continued to ascend mountains of ice, and descend into crevices, occasionally traversing the fragile bridges of snow already described, when, about four o'clock, we found ourselves at the foot of an almost perpendicular line of rocks, which rose abruptly out of the Glacier des Bossons, or rather between that and the Glacier de Tacconai. These rocks are known by the name of "Les Grands Mulets," to distinguish them from some other granite projections called "Les Petits Mulets," of which you will hear more by and by.

The Grand Mulets are very easily to be seen from Chamouni, and were pointed out to me by Coutet on quitting the Union Inn in the morning, as the hotel where we should sleep the first night. At the base of this our intended dormitory, the guides were not quite agreed as to the best means of storming it. Coutet would not at first consent to our ascending by the almost perpendicular side near which we stood, which was perhaps three hundred feet high. He urged our making a circuit of about one hour's march, and by these means overcoming part of the ascent by a gradual inclination. Coutet said, that we should find, in ascending "Les Grands Mulets," a great

quantity of loose or detached stones, of which many were in a decomposed state, and that our footing would be very unsafe. He preferred the circuitous route, unless he should find the fresh-fallen snow too deep, in which case he would ascend by the side where we then stood. The other guides, however, overruled his objections, and our operations began by one of our hardy guides advancing about thirty paces up the rock, clearing away, as he went, such stones as might prove treacherous to our footing. Dr. Clark followed his guide at a distance of six or eight steps, the guide holding securely in his hands a rope to which my friend was now and then attached. I followed, attached with a rope to my guide; and so we all advanced to the small landing-place where the foremost man stood. The leading guide then recommenced his ascent, not daring to move while we were exposed to the falling stones, some of which were sufficiently large to have carried us off with them. You will be able to judge a little of the difficulty of climbing this rock, when I tell you, that we were more than an hour in reaching the summit, occasionally swinging in the air suspended by ropes, where there was scarcely footing for a chamois. It was beginning to be extremely cold, and we felt the evening wind severely, after having been in exercise all day, so that these operations were not very amusing.

I can assure you, my dear friend, that we were not a little rejoiced to find ourselves on something like level ground; for within about ten feet of the top of "Les Grands Mulets" there is a projection, where we were to halt for the night. We began to clear away the snow, and level the loose stones, so as to make our bed as comfortable as the space would admit, which was twenty feet long and five broad. On three sides we could look over the precipices we had climbed, and the fourth side was still a higher part of the rock, of about ten feet. We hung up the barometer, the mercury of which had already sunk to nineteen inches three-tenths. The thermometer marked eight degrees, of Reaumur, above zero. These observations were made at six o'clock in the evening. We had been from Chamoun nearly ten hours, and the guides consider this spot about half-way. They were now occupied in lighting a fire with some dry wood, which they had collected before they gained the glacier; and soon we saw the saucepan, filled with snow, placed over it to melt, for water was not to be had on this elevated spot. You will remember that this excursion was undertaken in the month of August, consequently the days were still long and the weather remarkably fine. We saw close to us our guides seated round a fire, with a cheerful smile on their countenances, mixing their wine and snow-water, and beginning to eat their supper, of which we partook, and indeed enjoyed it very much. The sun was still shining bright, and I walked to the end of our little platform to take a general view of the country. I could distinctly see the track we had left in many places over the snow; and though nine persons had traversed the dreary plain, the mark of our footsteps appeared as if some one solitary traveller had been wandering "in endless mazes lost," so zigzag was the direction. The Lake of Geneva was very distinctly seen by the naked eye; and as the day closed, and that part of the country lay in shade, its long line grew still bright, and looked like a sheet of silver,-a very curious and pleasing effect. The town of Geneva was not visible, owing to the chain of mountains that runs in a north-east direction from L'Aiguille de Varens, which reared its bleak summit between us and the setting sun. More in a north-easterly direction we perceived the Ghemmi, as well as the Mont Buet, covered with snow, like the former; and still more on our right, behind our rock, the mitre-shaped Aiguille du Midi upheaved its lofty head. Opposite to us was the Dôme de Goulé, one of the shoulders of Mont Blanc; and owing to its proximity to our place of rest, it appeared more majestic than the summit itself. With Coutet's glass, my own not being of sufficient power, we could distinguish persons walking on the bridge of Chamouni. The houses appeared mere specks in the valley; and the Arve, like a white thread on a green carpet.

The whole scene inspired a very peculiar feeling. The profound silence which reigns in these regions of solitude is perhaps the most impressive_circumstance. It is a silence which is never disturbed but by the falling of the mighty avalanches as they roll from some neighbouring mountain or precipice, or when the storms and winds, clothed in fury, sweep over these uninhabited worlds. But the beauty of the setting sun, and the solemnity of the still evening, I could almost say created in me a sensation of terror. The vapour, or light clouds, which were in some places between us and the valley, partook of the glowing colour of the last rays of the sun, while on the snows above us there was still a deeper tint of crimson. I reflected on the peaceful and smiling valley we had so lately quitted, its flowers and cultivation, its happy and tranquil peasantry; and was almost inclined for a moment to think we were transported to some uninhabited world which had been forgotten by Nature.

As soon as our guides had finished their evening repast, they began to arrange our tent, if so I may call it. We placed two or three poles in a slanting direction, leaning against the rock which projected above our heads; over these poles was spread a sheet to keep off the dew and extreme cold. Under this covering we lay down on a blanket, and had one other blanket to

cover us.

Before retiring to rest I looked at the thermometer, and found at eight o'clock it had fallen to zero, but we had fortunately no wind to encrease the cold had it blown with any degree of violence, our ill-secured tent would have been unable to withstand its force, and we should have been wholly exposed to the severity of the night. Thus arranged, we lay down, and, though somewhat fatigued, I felt a reluctance to sleep. I could see from beneath the sheet, which but ill-fitted its present destination, the moon rising in all its beauty, the wide-extended plains of snow, the glittering Glacier de Tacconai, and some distant mountain-peaks. One or two of our guides had crept into our tent, and lay across our feet; others were lying around the dying embers of the fire, or had found a hole of shelter beneath. They were asleep, and seemed unconscious of the lonely and silent regions on which they were intruders like ourselves: all was still. Nature, like them, seemed wrapped in one eternal sleep. This was a moment when the mind could not avoid reflecting on its insignificancy when compared with the wonders surrounding it on every side. In such a situation who could help pondering a little, with a confused imagination, but still with cheering hope, on his origin, his destination, and his God? I was impressed with something like awe, and felt alone, as it were, in the midst of darkness, perhaps of death!

At length I fell asleep, more from fatigue than a desire to close my train of thought. Soon after ten o'clock I awoke with considerable nausea at the stomach, which continued unabated during the night. I called to Coutet, who gave me a glass of wine. He advised me to get up, but I felt too unwell. The continued thunder of the avalanches which fell from the sides of the Aiguille du Midi, assisted to disturb the silence of the night; and the echo playing from rock to rock, had scarcely ceased its sound, before a second would add its tumultuous noise, and left a degree of terror which deprived me of all desire to sleep. The spot we had fixed on for our night's rest was free from all danger, but, unaccustomed to such scenes, the mind cannot easily tranquillize itself, and I slept no more during the night.

Les Grands Mulets are composed principally of granite, but I found also some asbestos, pyrites, gneiss, and amphibole intermixed with quartz. Most of this range of mountains immediately connected with Mont Blanc, have for their base and principal structure, a very fine granite; but the ravines, which descend from the summit to the base, and which serve as reservoirs or moulds wherein the lesser glaciers form, and descend to the greater, are loaded with decomposed slaty matter. There are also, at the foot of the Aiguille du Midi, copper and lead mines, but they are not wrought.

Having thus far given you a hasty and imperfect sketch of the most remarkable objects which presented themselves to us during the first day, and endeavoured to impress on your mind the awful and sublime scenery which we witnessed, I shall in my next give you an account of our future progress, and ultimate arrival on the summit of Mont Blanc. I am, dear friend,

Yours affectionately,

M. S.

A CANADIAN CAMPAIGN, BY A BRITISH OFFICER.

NO. I.

THIS narrative is intended rather as a private memoir than a relation of the incidents of the war, and professes simply to detail the operations of the right division of the British army in Upper Canada, to which I was myself attached, together with its capture and imprisonment, (in October 1813,) without following in progression the movements of the various other corps. I have not gone, therefore, into a diffuse statement of every date and circumstance, which would necessarily encroach too much on the plan I have laid down, as calculated to afford a source of interest to the general reader, rather than a fund from whence minute information for a diffusive work may be obtained.

Much has been said and written in respect to the American Indians; but I do not recollect having ever met with a detail sufficiently accurate to convey a just idea of the character of these people. As they will occupy a tolerable portion of my attention, and frequently appear under circumstances which might incline the reader to incredulity, I will merely observe, that no one incident will be found committed to these pages, which may not be attested by every officer who served with the right division of the Canadian army. In fact, to that division alone were the more savage of the Indian race attached; and when it is considered, that among the warriors of at least twenty different tribes, there were those who had scarcely ever any previous intercourse with whites, and had seldom approached a fortified place but in open hostility, the savageness of their natures will cease to excite surprise. As it is my intention to give a faithful account of the various cruelties committed during our struggle in Canada-cruelties we had not power to prevent, since perpetrated by an ally over whom we had no control-it may not be improper to advert to the motives for their employment. The Americans have invariably been loud in their condemnation of a measure which alone secured to us the possession of Upper Canada: with how little reason, however, will appear from the well-known fact, that every possible exertion was used, by the agents of their Government, to detach the Indians from our cause. Embracing the system adopted and followed by England for years, presents of all descriptions were issued to the warriors; while, in the council, the most flattering promises were made, the most seducing offers held forth, to induce them to make common cause with the invader. The wary chieftains, however, were not to be tempted by professions of friendship from those whose perfidy had long been proverbial with the Indian race. The bounties of England had been heaped on them with no sparing hand-the faith of the Government had never been violated-no spirit of interest or dominion had chased them from the homes of their forefathers-the calumet of peace had never once been dashed from the lips of those they were called on to abandon; and they remained true to the faith they had pledged, staunch to the cause in which they had embarked. The natives must have been our friends or our foes: had we not employed them the Americans would; and although humanity may deplore the necessity imposed by the very invader himself, of counting them among our allies, and combating at their side, the law of self-preservation was our guide, and scrupulous indeed must be the power that would have hesitated at such a moment in its

choice. The act of aggression was not ours-we declared no war against America-we levied no armies to invade her soil, and carry desolation wherever they came-but we availed ourselves of that right, common to every weak power-the right of repelling acts of aggression by every means within our reach. Yet though it is admitted that the Indians, while our allies, were in some instances guilty of those atrocities peculiar to every savage people; let it not be supposed, as has been falsely and maliciously stated in a work from the pen of an "Englishwoman," that these atrocities were sanctioned either by the Government or by individuals. On the contrary, every possible mean was tried by the officer commanding at Amherstburg, and Colonel Elliott, superintendent of Indian affairs for that post, to soften down the warlike habits of the natives. The most likely method of preventing the unnecessary effusion of blood was that of offering rewards for prisoners. This, however, except in a very few instances, was found to be ineffectual; for the character and disposition of the savage were not to be tamed by rewards, nor the impression of ages to be removed by such temptations. To have employed force, would have been to have turned their weapons against ourselves; and a body of eight hundred troops, composing the utmost strength of the garrison, could have effected little against three thousand fiery warriors, unused to restraint, and acknowledging no power but their own lawless and unbridled will. The Americans themselves had Indians employed in their service-a few only it is true-but if they had not more, it was not owing to any want of exertion on their parts; and if it is admitted on one hand, that they conducted themselves with more humanity, it cannot at the same time be denied on the other, that the feebleness of their numbers rendered them more immediately subject to the authority of the American commanders, neither can it be disputed, that compulsion alone bound them to the adverse cause, their families having been often detained as hostages to answer for their fidelity.

The garrison of Amherstburg, at the commencement of the war, consisted merely of a part of the first battalion of the 41st regiment, and a single company of artillery. Situated at the head of Lake Erie, and forming the key to our relations with the Western Indians, with whom an extensive and luerative trade in furs had long been established by the North-West Company, this post became an object of additional interest to the enemy. With every opportunity of ascertaining the weakness of its defences, and the almost utter impossibility of its obtaining supplies, the fall of Amherstburg was looked forward to by the Americans, as an event which admitted not of doubt. With this view, the division under General Hull, consisting of three thousand men, had been urged forward with all possible despatch to Detroit, a fort established on the river of the same name, and at a distance of eighteen miles beyond Amherstburg, an attack on which latter place was immediately contemplated. Having collected his boats, and made every other necessary preparation, the American general effected his landing three miles above Sandwich, a small town nearly opposite to Detroit, and within view of a corps of observation, which, in conformity with its instructions, retired on his approach. Colonel (now Major-General) St. George, Inspecting Fieldofficer, and then commanding at Amherstburg, with that spirit and activity by which he was distinguished throughout the war, made every judicious disposition for his reception. The militia were called out, and, through the exertions of the various agents of their department, a body of one thousand Indians was soon collected. At a distance of eight miles from Amherstburg, and traversing the high road, is the Duck River, which empties itself into that of the Detroit, and is impassable even by cavalry. Over this, and near its mouth, a bridge composed entirely of timber, had been constructed. Seizing at once the advantage of this position, and determining to profit by the delay the enemy must consequently experience, Colonel St. George instantly caused the bridge to be destroyed, and a body of marksmen to be posted among the long grass and weeds with which the banks of the river are covered, for the purpose of annoying such of the enemy as appeared for its reconstruction. The Queen Charlotte, a vessel of twenty guns, was at

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