66 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



a mild and harmless revenge by making fun out of any eccentricities 

 in the Englishmen they could lay hold of. It gave them some- 

 thing to laugh over at the afternoon tea-parties in the pleasant 

 gardens on the shores of Lake Leman, while they glanced at the 

 sunset on the snows they preferred to view from a discreet 

 distance. 1 



Another glimpse of the supposed perils of a visit to the glaciers 

 about this date is afforded by the high -spirited account of his 

 own experiences given by de Saussure's friend, the young Due de 

 la Rochefoucauld d'Enville, afterwards a victim of the Revolu- 

 tion, who went to Chamonix in 1762. He does full justice to 

 our countrymen, whom he imitated in taking arms. I quote a 

 few lines : 



' Mr. Windham, a young Englishman of about twenty, carried out 

 successfully this arduous journey ; it wanted an Englishman, or a 

 knight-errant ; he was an Englishman ! It was worse than fighting 

 with giants or winged dragons, sheep or windmills. It was a case of 

 tramping through frightful regions by paths full of rocks fallen from 

 the mountains, crossing streams, affronting the voracious insects with 

 which the pothouses of Savoy are full ; his courage carried him over 

 all these obstacles. Since his time all the English who come to Geneva 

 make this journey, and some Genevese, but no Frenchmen had yet 

 attempted it.' 2 



The immediate motive of de Saussure's first visit to 

 Chamonix in 1760 had been the desire to collect plants for 

 Haller. In that year Haller mentions him along with the 

 collectors from whom he hopes for great results, while 

 Bonnet writes, 'My nephew glories in contributing to your 

 botanical studies.' A few weeks later we hear that the pupil 

 has * created some new plants,' but later on he was appar- 

 ently less successful, for Haller admonishes him gently as to his 

 way of going to work. ' I fear, eager as you are, that on your 

 excursions you walk a little too quickly ; one ought to go as slowly 



1 In the year following Windham's visit (1742) Pierre Mattel, an engineer living 

 at Geneva, organised a party to repeat the trip of the Englishmen. He was better 

 provided with instruments, and brought back some measurements and an attempt 

 at a map. These he embodied in a narrative addressed to Windham, which is 

 stated on the title-page to have been ' laid before the Royal Society.' It is not, 

 however, included in any of its Transactions. 



1 See Annuaire du Club Alpin Fran$ais, 1893. 



