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a plant of the class Gynandria, a Lobelia? for I 
have no botanical guide as heretofore ; and the 
(O my treacherous memory!) Ros solis, heretofore 
called, growing in a micaceous soil; not that this 
last plant is rare at all, but I was very glad to find 
it in a particular state, which secures to it a rank 
among the irritable, if not the sensible plants. I 
have got three specimens, all of which have small 
flies inclosed within the leaf as it were, and hurt. 
We slept at the inn on the banks of the lake; 
and the next day, being informed that there was a 
pass that way, by which the post always went, by 
Milan to Geneva, we set out on horseback to en- 
counter all the difficulties which might present 
themselves. Our journey during the first day lay 
along the plain betwixt the mountains, under trel- 
lises covered with vines, whose flowers had strongly 
the smell of mignonette: slept at Domo D’ossola 
in the Sardinian dominions. Leaving this early on 
the second day, we soon began to ascend the hills, 
rising on each side to a very considerable height 
above us, and a rapid stream roaring among the 
fragments of rocks in the valley beneath. The 
common accidents in mountainous countries was 
our lot; for a heavy shower coming on about noon 
almost wetted us through. It cleared up soon, and 
as we proceeded we found the road almost dry. 
We entered into the country of the Valais, where 
we heard no language but a sort of German, to me 
utterly unintelligible. The higher we ascended, 
the more difficult we found the passage, which I 
compared to the passage along the rocks from Nice 
