io LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. i. 



former, which he spoke like a native. Geography was 

 another favourite study. 



His brother Auguste, younger by two years, joined 

 him, a year later, at the College of Bienne, and the 

 two brothers kept together during all their classical 

 studies. The distance between Motier and Bienne - 

 about seven leagues was always made on foot ; and, 

 considering their extreme youth, it was quite a journey 

 for such little fellows. But they were excellent walkers; 

 and though at first the route was difficult, further on they 

 crossed over the " Seeland," or marshy country, and the 

 western shore of the Lake of Bienne, and reached their 

 destination in eight hours, not over-fatigued. I heard 

 both say, many years after, that it was shorter and 

 easier to go home from Bienne than it was to go to the 

 college at Bienne from home. Going home to pass 

 the vacations was, of course, such an attraction that the 

 roads seemed neither so long nor so dirty; besides, these 

 journeys always happened at a fine time of the year; 

 for college vacations then in all the Jura region were 

 during the fall, from the first of September to the first 

 of November. Louis's great strength and already 

 vigorous vitality are finely illustrated by two anec- 

 dotes : Arriving quite unexpected from Bienne with 

 his brother, he learned at Motier that his sisters with 

 their cousins Mayor were at their grandfather's house 

 at Cudrefin. At once he started again ; but on his 

 arrival at Cudrefin, he found all the young ladies 

 enjoying a bath in the lake, at some distance from 

 the shore. In order not to lose a moment, he jumped 

 into the water with his clothes on, that he might the 



