268 FOREIGN TRA VEL CHAP, vm 



proved nearly as difficult as the ascent, but we all got 

 back to the Riffelberg by 7 P.M., and down to Zermatt 

 by a little after nine, having been nearly twenty hours 

 on foot. Several previous attempts had been made 

 to scale this mountain, but all had failed. 



' From Zermatt we all crossed the Theodul Pass 

 (about 11,000 feet) into Italy. The ladies rode up to 

 the ice of the glacier, which they reached at seven in the 

 morning. They had then three hours walking on the 

 ice and snow, and by twelve o'clock we were at Breuil, 

 where we rested and slept. Next day they rode on 

 asses to Chatillon, a beautiful old Roman and Italian 

 town. Next day with Dr. Sibson we drove to Ivrea, 

 where we stayed a day, and then on by Chiavasso, 

 Milan, and the Lake of Como to Lugano, where we 

 stayed two days, and left the Johnes. Sibson, Louisa, 

 and I came across the St. Bernhardino Pass in a 

 diligence to H inter Rhein, near the sources of the 

 Rhine. There we halted three days, and Sibson and 

 I scaled two mountains among the glaciers, one of 

 which took fourteen hours. Thence we came by the 

 Via Mala to Glarus and Elms, " did " another splendid 

 pass, and came on here. To-morrow is our last day 

 on the ice ; on Friday we shall be in Zurich, and on 

 Monday evening at our own house in Kensington.' 



So far as his physical powers were concerned, 

 Ramsay seems to have returned to England invi- 

 gorated by his Alpine exercise. But he had not re- 

 gained his old elasticity of mind, and soon began again 

 to complain of the weariness of work. Nevertheless, 

 he braced himself for the duties of the winter, and 

 succeeded in getting through his lectures to the 

 students at the School of Mines without help. He 

 likewise found himself able at last to sit down to a 



