TEN YEARS' ALPINE TRAVEL (1774-84) 155 



De Saussure, who, in order to verify and complete his observa- 

 tions, was very apt to return to sites already visited in place of 

 breaking new ground, paid repeated visits to the Gries, Grimsel, 

 and St. Gotthard. The fame of this portion of the Alpine range 

 as the source of the great rivers of Central Europe would seem 

 to have drawn him to it and prevented him from turning his steps 

 to other regions, such as the Grisons or the South-western Alps. 1 



There was up to this time a lingering belief derived from 

 Roman times that the Summae Alpes of the old writers must 

 deserve their name. As to the relative height of the individual 

 Alpine summits, there was also very considerable doubt. The 

 height of Mont Blanc, it is true, had been ascertained with approxi- 

 mate accuracy, but its supremacy was still vigorously contested. 

 The rivals put forward by Swiss observers were the Schreckhorn 

 (until the superior height of the Finsteraarhorn had been recog- 

 nised) and certain vaguely indicated summits in the St. Gotthard 

 group. 2 



The claim thus set up gave de Saussure an active interest 

 in investigating this portion of the chain. 



In 1775 he wrote to Haller for an itinerary of a tour east of the 

 St. Gotthard among the sources of the Rhine. Haller discouraged 

 any attempt to reach the Hinter Rhein Thai by a more direct 

 route than the San Bernardino. The passage of the ' Monte 

 Avicula,' the Rheinwald group, he wrote, was impracticable ; 

 such a short cut would be full of interest, no doubt, but ' you 

 are a citizen and a married man, and mere curiosity ought not 

 to lead you to expose yourself in order to see snow and ice.' 



De Saussure acted on this prudent advice, and, in fact, no 

 direct pass from Val Blenio to the Hinter Rhein was made until 

 late in the nineteenth century. De Saussure did not even follow 

 Haller 's recommendation to cross the San Bernardino, but in 



1 The Rhone, the Rhine, and the Inn (representing the Danube). By count- 

 ing the Ticino as a source of the Po, a fourth was added. Orographers were not 

 very particular in early times. See also p. 7. 



2 The observer mainly responsible for this confusion was a Genevese who had 

 a singularly chequered and unfortunate career, by name Micheli du Crest. After 

 serving in his youth in one of the Swiss regiments in France, he was employed on 

 the Committee entrusted with the new fortifications of Geneva. He rashly took 

 the occasion not only to differ from, but to criticise his colleagues, and to accuse 

 them of laying a needless burden of taxation on their fellow-citizens. Despite 

 sundry condemnations, he persisted in his criticisms with so much acerbity 

 that the Senate not only banished him, but condemned him to death in his 



