290 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [(-HAP. 



and was rewarded by better weather, so that he was able 

 to make an excursion on the Lys GJetscher in company 

 with M. Zumstein whose name is borne by one of the 

 peaks of Monte Rosa, which he was the first to ascend - 

 and whose intimate knowledge of these valleys made his 

 companionship most valuable. He then crossed the Col 

 Turlo to Macugnaga. 



To E. C. BATTEN, ESQ. 



' CHAMOUNIX, September \th. 



' . . . After my last letter the weather soon mended, 

 and became very fine indeed, so I had a delightful day 

 on the glacier of Macugnaga, and a splendid passage of 

 the Monte Moro. I then descended quietly to Martigny, 

 and from that spent two days on the way here, visiting 

 the glaciers of Trient and Argentiere. ... I have been 

 detained here by a sore hand and arm, but my imprison- 

 ment has been rendered agreeable by the society of three 

 Cambridge men, one of whom, Lord F , a most en- 

 gaging young man, I knew slightly before. We mana<* 1 

 to pass two rainy days drawing and talking very agree- 

 ably. It was two months since I had had anything like 

 a chat with an Englishman. . . . 



* I am still shut up by weather and my sore hand ; 

 my Cambridge friends have left me, so I have time 

 enough for musing ; but I expect to-morrow to shoulder 

 my pole, barometer, telescope, and sketch-book, and to 

 be myself again ! ' 



It was indeed time that he resumed his work, for the 

 winter had already set in, and so much remained still to 

 be done, that not an hour of fine weather could be spared. 

 Having measured a base line for his survey of nearly 1,000 

 yards in length, he proceeded to examine the effects of 

 the first cold of winter on the motion and condition of 

 the glacier, which he had found on his return enormously 

 collapsed and wasted by the autumn sun. Its motion, he 

 found contrary to the usual belief sensibly diminished 

 during the cold, while on the return of milder weather. 

 which cleared the glacier of snow, and left it soakingly 



