YOUTH AND EARLY TRAVELS 55 



Of a visit to the Dole, one of the highest ridges of the Jura 

 near Geneva, de Saussure gives a pleasant account : 



' To enjoy this view in all its brilliancy it ought to be seen as I 

 once had the fortune to see it. A dense mist covered the lake, the 

 hills which enclose it, and even the lower mountains. The top of the 

 Dole and the High Alps were the only summits which raised their 

 heads above this vast cloud-carpet, the upper surface of which was 

 illumined by a brilliant sun. The snowy Alps, lit both by its direct 

 rays and by the light which the clouds threw back on them, showed 

 themselves in all their splendour and were visible at prodigious dis- 

 tances. But my situation had something strange and terrible. I 

 fancied myself alone on a rock in the middle of a stormy sea at a great 

 distance from a continent fringed by a long reef of unapproachable 

 rocks. Little by little the mists lifted, for a time enveloped me in 

 their gloom, then, rising overhead, suddenly revealed the superb view 

 of the lake and its shores, smiling, cultivated, and dotted with little 

 towns and picturesque villages. 



' On the top of the Dole there is a considerable plain which forms 

 a beautiful terrace covered with a carpet of grass. From time imme- 

 morial this terrace is on the two first Sundays in August the rendez-vous 

 of all the youth of both sexes from the villages in the Pays de Vaud 

 situated near the foot of the mountain. The shepherds of the neigh- 

 bouring chalets set aside for these two days milk and cream, and 

 prepare all the varieties of delicacies that they can compose out of 

 their dairy produce. 



' Here the holiday-makers enjoy the most varied pleasures ; some 

 engage in athletic games, others dance on the crisp and elastic turf, 

 which bounds beneath the robust and heavy tread of these worthy 

 Helvetians. Others, again, seek rest and variety on the brink of the 

 precipice and enjoy the fine view before their eyes. One peasant 

 points out the tower of his village, recognises the fields and orchards 

 that surround it, and recalls to memory the chief events of his life. 

 Another, who has travelled, names all the towns of the district, and 

 indicates the direction of the Mont Cenis, the road to Rome, that city 

 celebrated even for those who do not look to it for pardons and dis- 

 pensations. The bolder prove their courage by walking on the edge 

 of the cliffs on the Genevese side of the mountain. Others, less boastful 

 and more gallant, display their skill in collecting the flowers which grow 

 on the steep crags. They pluck the Leontopodium, remarkable for its 

 cotton-like sheath, the Senecio alpinus with its circle of golden rays, 

 the pansy of the Alps which has the scent of lilies, the Satyrium nigrum 

 with the perfume of vanilla, while the echoes of the neighbouring hills 



