PREFACE vii 



best established as a geologist and Alpine explorer, but also as a 

 member of society, a citizen and a philosopher in the wider 

 eighteenth -century acceptation of that word. It has been no 

 slight task to examine, set in order, and select from the mass of 

 manuscript material generously placed at my disposal. But it has 

 been lightened to me by the pleasure I have had in following de 

 Saussure as a traveller over ground every step of which has been 

 familiar to me for more than half a century, and through valleys and 

 villages, many of which, when I first knew them some sixty years 

 ago, had lost comparatively little of the primitive character and 

 charm vividly portrayed in the Voyages. It is a satisfaction to me 

 to have been able in this volume to pay in part, and to the best 

 of my ability, a debt which has been long owing to the memory 

 of de Saussure, not only from the mountaineers who, having con- 

 quered the Alps and the ' inhospitable Caucasus,' are now wrestling 

 with the Andes and the Himalaya, but from the great company 

 of men and women who annually find rest and refreshment of body 

 and soul in the mountains. I cannot hope to have surmounted 

 all the difficulties that have faced me. But in so far as I may 

 have succeeded in carrying out my intention, the credit will be 

 largely due to the indefatigable aid I have received from Mr. 

 Montagnier. 



I have to thank several of my friends, and in particular 

 Professor Bonney, Professor Garwood, and Dr. Mill, for their help 

 with respect to the chapters devoted to de Saussure's scientific 

 work and achievements. To the published works of the Rev. 

 W. A. B. Coolidge and Dr. Diibi I have made frequent reference, 

 and the latter has further aided me with his friendly advice. Mrs. 

 Rathbone has kindly allowed me to reproduce the drawing of 

 Mont Blanc made by Mr. E. T. Compton for her father, my old 

 friend, the late C. E. Mathews. 



Among the descendants of H. B. de Saussure and the members 

 of old Genevese families who have been good enough to place at 

 the disposal of my collaborator papers from their family archives, 

 or otherwise to assist in the preparation of this volume, I desire 

 specially to mention and thank : 



M. Horace de Saussure (a great-grandson), and other members of 

 the de Saussure family in Geneva for allowing me to use the 

 journals and papers of H. B. de Saussure in their possession. 



