JET. 70.] TO A. DE CANDOLLE. 717 



TO A. DE CANDOLLE. 



VENICE, May 1, 1881, Sunday. 



As we propose to leave Venice to-morrow, I think I 

 may say that within ten days you may look to see us 

 in Geneva. The Hookers, with whom we have jour- 

 neyed thus far, will proceed more directly home, after 

 a day or two at the Italian lakes. We propose to fol- 

 low more leisurely, and, if the road is fairly practica- 

 ble, to cross the Simplon, and so to Geneva, where, 

 according to your suggestion, we will go to the Hotel 

 des Bergues. . . . 



We have now been two months in travel, without 

 respite, and for my part I am fairly sated. I need 

 the change and rest which a week of botanical re- 

 search in your herbarium, and of intercourse with its 

 owner, will afford me. 



We have been as far south as Amalfi and Psestum. 

 We have attended to the proper sight-seeing of Naples, 

 Rome, Florence, and Venice, and have gained novelty 

 by seeing also Orvieto, Cortona, and Siena, likewise 

 Ravenna. We have escaped a disagreeable spring in 

 England, but at the expense of being everywhere at 

 least a fortnight too early for the various parts of 

 Italy ; and I suppose we shall be all the more sensible 

 of this at the lakes and in crossing the Alps. But the 

 weather has never been unfavorable, and we have en- 

 joyed much and worked hard. A week near you in 

 comparative rest will make an agreeable finale. Our 

 companions have added much to the enjoyment, and 

 we are sorry to part with them. They would, I know, 

 send their best regards and remembrances, but at this 

 moment they are both out ; but Mrs. Gray, who is 

 writing by my side, desires me to add her own to 



