Opening the door of the carriage I beheld a frightful precipice, over which we were literally hanging; while, turning round in order to step out with greater caution, I found that the weight of my body perforated the lightly-packed snow, and that I could not feel the ground beneath it. Had it not been for the firm grip I had of the wing of the carriage, I must inevitably have been precipitated into the abyss of snow-covered boulders many hundred feet deep below. When I had recovered my footing by clinging to the wheels of the carriage, I found that there was not more than an inch of ground between us and eternity. Thus, but for the admirable patience and obedience of the mules, we must in another instant have been launched bodily down the precipice. We looked round in vain for the driver, and it was not till I had succeeded in pulling out my lame companion, and seating him in the snow, that I saw the fellow come strolling up the hill in a cloud of tobacco smoke, singing at the top of his voice one of the patois refrains. To punch his head was my first impulse; but this was soon dispelled by the duties imposed on me at this moment of peril. [Illustration: OVER MOUNT CENIS IN A MULE CARRIAGE.] First, if the mules moved an inch the carriage, with baggage, etc., must have lost its balance and gone down. Second, the attention required by my poor friend, who, unable to stand in consequence of his accident, sat by the roadside in the snow, praying me to seek for his crutches. Third, the doubt if it would be wise to unhitch the mules from the carriage, a dangerous experiment, as I verily believe the weight of the carriage was sustained in a great measure by the traces of the wheelers. There are upon Mont Cenis houses of Refuge, at intervals of about an English mile, occupied by people employed by the Government, to render assistance and shelter to travellers who may be overtaken by snowstorms. Countless lives have been rescued by means of the appliances which these afford. They are conducted upon something the same principle as our Humane Society. During the winter season when the snow drifts, it is no uncommon thing for travellers to be snow-staid in these Refuges for eight or ten days. On the occasion of which I write the snow continued to fall thickly, and, there being wind enough to cause a drift, I was anxious to get my sick friend into one of these houses with as little delay as possible. Now came the difficulty. To get the carriage back on to the road without letting it slip over the ridge required skilful engineering. The mules at the wheels hung on with exemplary perseverance. Had they relaxed in the slightest degree the carriage must have taken them, and probably some more of the string, down the frightful precipice. The intelligent animals appeared to understand the situation as well as we, and scarcely needed the driver's ceaseless cautious "W-o-a-a-h! w-o-a-a-h!"