376 THE LIFE OF JAMES 2). FORBES. [CHAP. 



Four letters bearing on Alpine matters may here be 

 inserted, although their dates belong to a somewhat later 

 time. 



To F. F. TUCKETT, ESQ. 



' . . . I thank you much for your sketch map of the 

 western part of the chain of Mont Blanc, which very 

 much exceeded my expectations in point of complete- 

 ness and interest. I have spent some pleasant hours in 

 mastering the features of the country, and comparing 

 your map with my own notes and those of others. In- 

 deed, now that I cannot myself explore such scenes, it is 

 one of my greatest enjoyments to survey them in imagi- 

 nation ; and had I strength, it would not be long, believe 

 me, before I was on the ground. ... I was not before 

 aware that you had succeeded in reaching Mont Blanc 

 by the " Bosse du Dromadaire." The interest of the feat 

 as a tour deforce is far exceeded by the important light 

 which it throws upon the topography of the western 

 declivities of Mont Blanc. I cannot tell you the pleasure 

 with which I saw that glorious glacier valley of the 

 Miage, shown, for the first time, in its true importance. 

 ... I am impatient to read the details which are to 

 accompany your map, and I hope you will not spare topo- 

 graphical minutiae while your memory of the localities 

 is fresh. The accounts of expeditions which I have seen 

 are sometimes very deficient in that precision of which 

 De Saussure so well estimated the value/ 



To the Same. 



' . . . Thanks to you, the mystery of the Pelroux group 

 seems now thoroughly solved. It was most agreeable to 

 me to find that my old friend the " Montagne d'Oursine," 

 which filled me with so much admiration when I sketched 

 it from Les Etiaches, proves to be the veritable culmi- 

 nating point, the Pic des Arcines. ... I allowed for 

 the fact of coming upon such scenery unprepared, and 

 with almost the zest of a first discovery ; but your testi- 

 mony seems to show that I had not overrated the 

 sublimity of these Alps. 



