294 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



vert for the last time. ' It was % beautiful evening/ 

 he writes, 'the Dru and the Verte were magnificently 

 coloured by the setting sun, and I rejoiced at leaving 

 Chamounix with a favourable impression, after the long 

 bad weather we have had. Next day I quitted with 

 great regret that charming spot where I have spent so 

 many weeks, and which I have now seen in every phase 

 of summer and winter. Undoubtedly it deserves its 

 reputation, and I have every reason to congratulate 

 myself on having made it my head-quarters/ 



After spending a week at Geneva, he returned to 

 England by the same route he had followed the previous 

 year, and while visiting M. Studer at Berne, en route, he 

 addressed the following letter to his sister : 



To Miss FORBES. 



'BERNE, October 9th, 1842. 



' . . . I spent the month of September, which was 

 variable, chiefly at Chamounix, having a determinate 

 task to perform, which I had very considerable anxiety 

 about accomplishing within the time to which I was 

 limited ; and, in doing so, had to submit to considerable 

 inconveniences. The snow lay to some depth below the 

 Montanvert, the thermometer fell to 20 in my bed- 

 room to 39 and I made an excursion over the Mer de 

 Glace in the midst of a snow-storm, which gave me a 

 good idea of an Alpine winter ; but these difficulties 

 added something to the value of the results, and, on the 

 whole, T have reason to be satisfied with what I have 

 done. 



' I have determined the velocity of twelve points on 

 the glacier, during an interval of more than three months 

 in fact almost all the accessible part of the season. 

 These include more than sixty measurements, and besides 

 all other things, I have a complete survey of the glacier 

 and its tributaries, for constructing a map. I am not 

 sorry that the world should have an opportunity of com- 

 paring the results of Agassiz' mode of working with those 

 of mine. His force consisted of a paid surveyor, a paid 



