476 OLD ALPINE JOTTINGS, 



up the Simmenthal to Lenk. Over a sulphur spring 

 a large hotel has been recently erected, and here we 

 found a number of Swiss and Germans, who thought 

 the waters did them good. In one large room the 

 liquid gushes from a tap into a basin, diffusing through 

 the place the odour of rotten eggs. The patients like 

 this smell ; indeed, they regard its foulness as a measure 

 of their benefit. The director of the establishment was 

 intelligent and obliging, sparing no pains to meet the 

 wishes and promote the comfort of his guests. We 

 wandered, while at Lenk, to the summit of the Rawyl 

 pass, visited the Siebenbriinnen, where the river Sim- 

 men bursts full-grown from the rocks, and we should 

 have clambered up the Wildstrubel had the weather 

 been tolerable. From Lenk we went to Gsteig, a 

 finely-situated hamlet, but not celebrated for the peace 

 and comfort of its inn ; and from Gsteig to the Dia- 

 blerets hotel. While there I clambered up the Dia- 

 blerets mountain, and was amazed at the extent of the 

 snow-field upon its tabular top. The peaks, if they 

 ever existed, have been shorn away, and miles of flat 

 neve, unseen from below, overspread their section. 



From the Diablerets we drove down to Aigle. The 

 Traubenkur had not commenced, and there was there- 

 fore ample space for us at the excellent hotel. We 

 were compelled to spend a night at Martigny. I heard 

 the trumpet of its famous musquito, but did not feel 

 its attacks ; still, the itchy hillocks on my hands for 

 some days afterwards reported the venom of the insect. 

 The following night was more pleasantly spent on the 

 cool col of the Great St. Bernard. On Tuesday, July 21, 

 we reached Aosta, and, in accordance with previous 

 telegraphic arrangement, met there the Chanoine 

 Carrel. Jean Jaques Carrel, the old companion of Mr. 

 Hawkins and myself, and others at Breuil, had been 



