55S Retrospective Criticism. 



which I directed my steps with no ordinary energy : it was, 

 however, to no purpose ; the red snow was upon a slope too 

 steep to be ascended without cutting steps, an every-day oc- 

 currence in these situations ; but, upon trying the experiment, 

 it was found that, although the level snow was perfectly firm, 

 the slope had become so much softened, by catching more 

 directly the rays of the sun, as to be wholly unable to bear: I 

 persevered until nearly up to the hips ; but, finding that I should 

 very soon be up to the shoulders, the attack was* most reluct- 

 antly relinquished. I was, however, near enough to be able, 

 by means of a small but powerful telescope, to obtain a good 

 view of its general features, which were precisely similar to 

 those of what I subsequently met with. After a lapse of two 

 or three years (in the first week in August, 1829), when cross- 

 ing the Col de la Seigne, which separates the Allee Blanche 

 from the Tarentaise, about ten minutes after reaching the 

 summit of the pass, I saw another rosy patch, on an elevated 

 slope far away to the left; and which would have remained 

 unnoticed had not the sun shone brightly on the spot. Here 

 my humanity was put to the test. I was accompanied by two 

 gentlemen, whom I had met with in Piedmont, and who, for 

 the first time in their lives, had quitted the interminable plains 

 and countless apple trees of " la belle France," as they call it. 

 Relying on my experience among the mountains, they had 

 agreed to accompany me without a guide; and it went against 

 my conscience to impose upon their already wearied limbs a 

 fagging though not a very long detour. The odds, however, 

 were fearfully against them. Protococcos nivalis to French- 

 men's legs was Lombard Street to nine-pence ; so off I bolted, 

 and they were too much out of their element to relish the idea 

 of being left alone. When we reached the spot, which was not 

 attained without severe exertion, our poles were placed upon 

 the snow, upon them our knapsacks ; and, while my companions 

 were expatiating on the luxury of a delightful rest, I em- 

 ployed myself busily in examining, with a powerful portable 

 microscope, various samples of the red substance. In the 

 hopes of meeting with it, I had, previously to leaving home, 

 read with much attention the full and interesting account 

 given by Dr. Greville, in his Scottish Cryptogamic Flora, and 

 examined the figures copied from Bauer and Wrangel by 

 Nees von Esenbeck. Every thing I observed was confirmatory 

 of what I read. I could trace no appearance of a pedicel, or of 

 any granulous interior, although the microscope I used was 

 sufficiently powerful for the examination of the sporidia of the 

 smaller fungi. After waiting as long as was consistent with 

 prudence, considering the long and wearisome descent of the 



