ix.] ALPINE TRAVELS, 1842. 289 



Continuation of previous letter. 



' AI. Studer, whose philosophy was not proof against 

 the discomforts of Evolena, went round by the Val 

 d'Anniviers and the valley of St. Nicholas in order to 

 join me here, while I, accompanied by Victor Tairraz my 

 ( 'hamounix guide, and two men named Biona and Pra- 

 long, natives of these valleys, crossed the mountains from 

 Evolena to Zermatt by a pass which has a great character 

 in this country for its height and length, in both of which 

 n exereds the celebrated Col du Gdant by no means 

 falling short of it in difficulty. There were only three 

 mo n, I believe, in the valley of Erin who knew of the 

 e of the pass, and but one who had crossed it ; 

 one of the former Pralong I had been fortunate enough 

 t> procure. 



* \\ e crossed most successfully, and I was rewarded by 



uips the grandest view which I have ever met with 

 in the Alps. ... So you will see from the map that we 



6 pretty well zig-zagged through this perhaps the 

 known part of the Alpine chain, but undoubtedly 

 <nc of the grandest. During all this time I have been 

 walking with a sore foot, which was hurt at Chamounix, 

 and which has now, during the time I spent here await- 

 ing M. Studer's arrival by the valley, begun to take its 

 revenge. There is nothing for it but to lay up ; but after 



rfi weather the rain has at last come to assuage my 

 affliction. . . . How the summer flies ! It certainly will 

 not have been for me either unprofitable or uu interesting. 



10 my experiments and conclusions, I am tolerably 

 well satisfied with them, so far as they go ; as to scenery 

 and adventure, 1 have been more than satisfied/ 



On the 26th, Forbes at last succeeded in passing the 



Theodule. and crossed the southern spurs of Monte 



Rosa from valley to valley, exploring their glaciers as he 



The weather was broken : and when they had got 



T as the v.-dl'-y of Gressoney, it proved too iniu-h for 



the i M. Studer. who jli-d away by the Col de 



Valdobbia. Forbes, howe\ r, lingered a i< 



