62 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



The buildings stand round three sides of a courtyard shaded 

 by aged lime-trees ; a homely dwelling, similar in character to an 

 English manor-house, occupies two sides, and the old barns and 

 outbuildings , still primitive in character, the third . The approach 

 is under a walnut avenue, and some specimen conifers, probably 

 planted by de Saussure or his father, are scattered about the 

 meadows. Conches and Frontenex were examples of the old- 

 fashioned Genevese pleasure farms. 



Genthod, the mansion belonging to the Boissier sisters, where 

 de Saussure, as he tells us, during many summers spent the 

 happiest days of his life, was of a different type. It was the 

 summer resort of a wealthy citizen. Situated four miles outside 

 the town, on the north bank of the lake, and close to its shore, 

 it stood at the spot whence the snows are seen to the greatest 

 advantage. To the right of the Mole towers Mont Blanc, 

 supported by the Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc de Tacul ' the 

 staircase of Mont Blanc,' de Saussure tells us they were called 

 at Geneva ; more to the left the Aiguille du Geant and Grandes 

 Jorasses are seen dwarfed by the noble pyramid of the Aiguille 

 Verte. This was the view that for twenty years at once delighted 

 and distracted de Saussure until he at last succeeded in setting 

 foot on the great mountain. The snows are seen through green 

 vistas that may remind the visitor of an English park. There 

 can be little doubt that de Saussure and his wife on their return 

 from their visit to our country did their best to imitate on a small 

 scale the surroundings of the great Yorkshire houses they had so 

 much admired. The chief features of the Genthod grounds are 

 still a long horseshoe avenue and a picturesque private port a 

 hundred yards from the house. 



The Lullin villa both inside and out is a good specimen of 

 a moderate -sized country-house in the formal French style. It 

 shows a handsome fa9ade decorated with family arms, and 

 some of the sitting-rooms retain their original panelling. Near 

 at hand, but detached, is a long, low out-building which 

 contains sitting-rooms that served de Saussure for his scientific 

 studies. 



On the slope above, at a distance of a few hundred yards, 

 stands a larger house of the same epoch and style which through 

 his marriage with Mile, de la Rive became Charles Bonnet's 



