CHAPTER X. 



ALPINE ^RAt'ELS, 1843 ls:,i. 



DURING the winter months of 1842, Forbes was busily 

 employed in the reduction of his observations, and in 

 putting his notes into form for publication. The result 

 was his * Travels through the Alps of Savoy/ one of the 

 most charming books ever written on Alpine travel, and 

 not unworthy of its confessed prototype, the travels of 

 De Saussure. It was published in the summer of 1843 ; 

 and almost at the same time another important event in 

 his life, his marriage, took place. Early in July he 

 started with his young bride to spend his honeymoon 

 among the Alps. 



It had been Forbes's intention to revisit his many 

 friends at Bonn, and then to travel by the Rhine t> 

 Switzerland. But this was not to be. The hard work 

 of the previous session told upon him now, and for the 

 first time in his life he broke down. One Monday after- 

 noon they travelled fiom Antwerp to Liege in weather 

 so sultry and hot, that Forbes could not bear the close 

 railway carriage, and at the first stoppage they took their 

 places in an open one. It was then near sunset, and the 

 sudden and dangerous change from afternoon heat to 

 evening chill soon came. Next day, when they arrived 

 at Bonn, he was seriously ill at intervals scarcely con- 

 scious ; but he w r ould not allow that he was so, and when 



