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[ 38 ] fall, and in fact we found it lower at every place in out way, where we had before observed it in fine weather. The sky, notwithstanding, wu still clear, and continued to the next day, when we began to ascend the mountain, about two o'clock in the after- noon, in order to pass the night in the highest cot- tages, that we might have more time to gain the sum- mit the next day.

79. Before we left Sixt (an abbey at the foot of the mountain), I exposed the hygrometer in open air, and in the shade it stood at 94. The thermo- meter at the same time was at 19 in the shade, and at 24 in the fun. At five o'clock we reached a place above 300 toises above the abbey; commanded on all sides by mountains, and on that account called Les Fonds (or The Bottoms). Here we observed the thermometer and hygrometer. The former, when exposed to the fun, stood at 15 1/4, and the latter rose to 96 in the shade We observed them again in the same manner about half an hour after six, in a place that was pretty open, and higher by 160 toises than the former The thermometer stood at 15, and the hygrometer at to6. lt wanted but a quarter of nine:, when we came to the cottages where we were to pass the night; though they were not above 30 toises higher than the place we stopped at last. The higher we went, the clearer the sky appeared; in so much that, notwithstanding the usual augmentation of humor in the air after sun- set, when the sky is not clouded, upon exposing the instrument to the air, about 1/4 after ten at night, we found the hygrometer at 123, and the thermometer at 13 1/4 They both fell in the night, and on our setting