270 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



Before leaving Macugnaga, de Saussure took compass bearings 

 to the Monte Moro and the Weissthor, the positions of which were 

 pointed out to him. These show that the pass correctly indicated 

 to him as the Weissthor was the Schwarzberg Weissthor. 1 On 

 the other hand, the position assigned to the Monte Moro Pass 

 (that of a variation of the Old Weissthor, the gap between 

 Monte Rosa, and the Cima di Jazzi) on Theodore de Saussure 's 

 very inaccurate drawing of the view from Macugnaga can only be 

 a blunder. There are not a few in the last volumes of the Voyages, 

 which were brought out during de Saussure 's illness and carelessly 

 seen through the press by his son, whose sufficient excuse may be 

 found in the disorders and anxieties of the times. 



After a stay of eleven days at Macugnaga, the de Saussures 

 pursued their tour of Monte Rosa. They had been able to get 

 information as to the complicated network of passes over the 

 southern spurs of the mountain from two of the travelled in- 

 habitants of Val Anzasca. They did not attempt the Turlo, which 

 was probably thought too difficult for mules. Their first step 

 was to return to Ponte Grande. On a high brow above the bridge 

 south of the Anza, the large village of Banio hides among the 

 chestnut groves. The party arrived on the eve of the annual 

 local festa, that of Notre Dame de la Neige, held on 5th August. 

 It is worth noting that a sketch of Leonardo da Vinci's exists 

 bearing the legend ' Madonna della Neve 5 Agosto.' It may well 

 be of some other spot : for ' Our Lady of the Snows ' is a frequent 

 dedication in North Italy. But at any rate the great Milanese 

 painter is more likely to have been in Val Anzasca than, as an 

 eminent French critic has suggested, at the Maria zum Schnee of 

 the Rigi ! 2 



The village was so crowded with visitors that the de Saussures 

 were forced to sleep in their tent. Next day they crossed the 

 steep, grassy Col d'Egua (7336 feet), where the baggage mules were 

 in difficulties, and descended Val Sermenza, one of the most 

 romantic of the tributary glens of Val Sesia, to its junction with 

 the main valley. At the village of Buccioletto the Cur6 was so 



1 It should bo noted that the word ' Macugnaga ' is printed on the ' Siegfried 

 Karte ' far below the village of Staffa, where travellers halt. This, of course, 

 must be borne in mind in all dealings with compass bearings. 



1 M. Ravaison. See Alpine Journal, vol. x. p. 280. 



