The lowest depression on the main ridge to the south of the Aléfroide is the Col du Selé, and this, according to Mr. Tuckett, is 10,834 feet. The ridge soon rises again, and, a little farther to the south, joins another ridge running nearly east and west. To a mountain at the junction of these two ridges the Frenchmen have given the singular name Crête des Bœufs Rouges! The highest point hereabouts is 11,332 feet; and a little to the west there is another peak (Mont Bans) of 11,979 feet. The main ridge runs from this last-named point, in a north-westerly direction, to the Cols de Says, both of which exceed 10,000 feet. It will thus be seen that the general elevation of this main ridge is almost equal to that of the range of Mont Blanc, or of the central Pennine Alps; and if we were to follow it out more completely, or to follow the other ridges surrounding or radiating from it, we should find that there is a remarkable absence, throughout the entire district, of low gaps and depressions, and that there are an extraordinary number of peaks of medium elevation.(107) The difficulty which explorers have experienced in Dauphiné in identifying peaks, has very much arisen from the elevation of the ridges generally being more uniform than is commonly found in the Alps, and the consequent facile concealment of one point by another. The difficulty has been enhanced by the narrowness and erratic courses of the valleys. The possession of the “advanced copy” of sheet 189 of the French map, enabled Mr. Tuckett to grasp most of what I have just said, and much more; and he added, in 1862, three interesting passes across this part of the chain to those already known. The first, from Ville Vallouise to La Bérarde, _viâ_ the village of Claux, and the glaciers du Selé and de la Pilatte,—this he called the Col du Selé; the second, between Ville Vallouise and Villar d’Arène (on the Lautaret road) _viâ_ Claux and the glaciers Blanc and d’Arsine,—the Col du Glacier Blanc; and the third, from Vallouise to La Bérarde, _viâ_ the Glacier Blanc, the Glacier de l’Encula, and the Glacier de la Bonne Pierre, the Col des Ecrins. This last pass was discovered accidentally. Mr. Tuckett set out intending to endeavour to ascend the Pointe des Ecrins, but circumstances were against him, as he relates in the following words:—“Arrived on the plateau” (of the Glacier de l’Encula), “a most striking view of the Ecrins burst upon us, and a hasty inspection encouraged us to hope that its ascent would be practicable. On the sides of La Bérarde and the Glacier Noir it presents, as has been already stated, the most precipitous and inaccessible faces that can well be conceived; but in the direction of the Glacier de l’Encula, as the upper plateau of the Glacier Blanc is named on the French map, the slopes are less rapid, and immense masses of _névé_ and _séracs_ cover it nearly to the summit.”