^T. 70.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 721 



decidedly American river look ; that is, it constantly 

 reminded one of the Mohawk or the Unadilla, small 

 rivers of my native State and district, and with just 

 such rounded wooded hills and smooth, well cultivated 

 slopes, and wide stretches of meadow and grain fields. 

 Then came the picturesque portion with precipitous 

 hillsides and crags covered with vines wherever a bit 

 of soil could be found to hold them, extending down 

 to Coblentz. We went on by the railroad down the 

 left bank of the Rhine to Cologne, which we reached 

 late in the afternoon and left at three this P. M. ; 

 reached this place at half past four ; and while Mrs. 

 Gray rested, I have explored till our half past six dinner 

 hour. Treves was an interesting place, though it need 

 not detain one long. Cologne we were glad to see 

 again, and were as much interested in its old Roman- 

 esque churches as in its cathedral, 1 which certainly is 

 much bettered by the completion of the nave and the 

 west front and towers, I may say towers and spires, 

 for they make nearly all the west front. It does 

 not compare with Reims, so far as faade goes. . . . 



On reaching Paris in June Dr. Gray met again his 

 old friend Decaisne and many others, and there was 

 much pleasant hospitality at the hands of friends new 

 and old. He especially enjoyed a day at Verrieres, 

 seeing, in the old home of M. and Mme. de Vilmorin, 

 the dear friends of thirty years before, the oldest son 

 Henri with his wife and children, the grandchildren 

 of M. and Mine. V. of the corresponding ages and 

 number as the family of young people whom he met 

 in the first visit in 1851. 



1 Seen first in 1850, with its temporary roof and bases of towers. 



