Frankenstein

displayed in their most terrific guise. Still, as I ascended higher, the
valley assumed a more magnificent and astonishing character. Ruined
castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains; the impetuous
Arve, and cottages every here and there peeping forth from among the
trees, formed a scene of singular beauty. But it was augmented and
rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and shining pyramids
and domes towered above all, as belonging to another earth, the
habitations of another race of beings.

I passed the bridge of Pélissier, where the ravine, which the river
forms, opened before me, and I began to ascend the mountain that
overhangs it. Soon after I entered the valley of Chamounix. This valley
is more wonderful and sublime, but not so beautiful and picturesque, as
that of Servox, through which I had just passed. The high and snowy
mountains were its immediate boundaries; but I saw no more ruined
castles and fertile fields. Immense glaciers approached the road; I
heard the rumbling thunder of the falling avalanche, and marked the
smoke of its passage. Mont Blanc, the supreme and magnificent Mont
Blanc, raised itself from the surrounding aiguilles, and its