252 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CIJAP. 



. . . During our descent into the valley of Ponte I had 

 wrenched off the heel of one of my sKoes, a small matter 

 elsewhere, but serious here ; and although greatly fatigued 

 and annoyed by this, I judged it better not to stop at the 

 chalets of La Tronchet, but to go on to La Monta, where 

 there was, so to speak, an inn. We had been out alto- 

 gether sixteen hours, with short halts, so in spite of the 

 accommodation I managed to sleep well/ 



Next day, notwithstanding his injured shoe, he crossed 

 into Piedmont, by the Col de la Croix, to Bobbio and La 

 Tour, where he made the acquaintance of M. Revel, the 

 Principal of the Protestant College, who subsequently 

 accompanied him to the defile of Pra del Tor, famous in 

 Vaudois history. 



After an interval of bad weather, which exercises, as a 

 rule, a disturbing influence on the temper, and may pos- 

 sibly be accountable for the fact that Forbes alludes to 

 the inhabitants of Pignerol as ' odious/ he quitted this 

 flourishing town ' de bon coeur/ and proceeded in the 

 direction of the Pelvoux group, by way of La Perouse 

 and Cesanne. At Monestier, however, * the most primi- 

 tively nasty place ' he ever saw, he met with unexpected 

 difficulties. 



* After visiting the springs of Monestier/ he writes, 

 'and getting tea with great difficulty amidst an uproarious 



froup of Sunday revellers, a gendarme, who had asked 

 )r my passport, very coolly and distinctly informed me, 

 with evident marks of satisfaction, though civilly enough, 

 that I could proceed no further, but must remain at 

 Monestier for at least several days. On my remon- 

 strating, he pointed out that the signalement was 

 wholly wanting in my passport. It was one of Lord 

 Granville's, and I am afraid rather a slovenly document. 

 However, after a very short discussion as to the non- 

 importance of this part of the solemn farce, I walked 

 upstairs, and produced a letter from the Directeur des 

 Douanes at Paris, requiring all his agents on the frontier 

 to assist and aid me to the utmost of their power. 



