224 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



laden guides started. No pains had been spared as to equipment, 

 practical as well as scientific ; it included what nineteenth-century 

 mountaineers would have considered luxuries : a bed was pro- 

 vided, with ' mattresses, sheets, coverlet, and a green curtain,' 

 amongst the clothes were two green great-coats, two night-shirts, 

 and three pairs of shoes. Between a tent and a ladder in 

 the list of ' requisites ' appears a parasol and its case. De 

 Saussure and the faithful Tetu both rode on mule -back for the 

 first two hours. All Chamonix was there to see the party off 

 with one exception. Who that was we learn from the happy 

 survival of a billet doux written by his wife on a thin sheet of 

 rose-coloured paper addressed to ' M. de Saussure at his first 

 bivouac,' and sent after him by a guide who had waited behind 

 to take up a forgotten parcel : 



' A Monsieur de Saussure a son premier gite en me levant a onze 

 heures du matin : 



' I, too, man cher ami, am very glad that Balmat stopped behind, 

 not so much for the sake of the pistol as that he may take you this 

 fresh mince-meat. I was really vexed about that you have, which has 

 been made for two days, though Babet assures me it is excellent. 

 But I shall be better satisfied that you have this as a supplement. I 

 thought much about it last night. I did not sleep much ; my poor 

 knees feel as if they had climbed the Montenvers from having so often 

 been up and down from my bed. Ah ! what a beautiful night it was, 

 what vows I made for this weather to last, you will believe ! I assure 

 you I am very well, very reasonable as well as it is possible to be 

 when all one's happiness is on Mont Blanc. Ask my sisters if they are 

 not pleased with me. I assure you I should have been very sorry had 

 you not profited by this weather, since your heart is set on this expe- 

 dition. Anyhow, you are off, and in four days we shall all be happy, 

 if you take care of yourself. I count on your promises. I should 

 have liked this morning to have watched you start at the head of 

 your troop. I wanted to throw you kisses, but it seemed to me useless 

 to speak to you of it. I was often behind the green curtain, and yet 

 I managed to miss the moment to see you go off. 



' The poor Englishman has a sharp attack of fever. His friend 

 came to consult me. I behaved like the doctor's wife ; I told Marian 

 to recommend them to make him drink a great deal, and not to take 

 James's Powders so often. 1 



1 Dr. Odier was eventually summoned from Geneva to attend to the patient, 

 whoso name is not recorded. 



