MONTE ROSA 273 



' is a magnificent chain of high peaks of mingled snow and rock.' 1 

 In his diary (but not in the Voyages) de Saussure mentions, for the 

 only time, the Graian Alps as ' some fine snow-peaks he is told 

 are near Cogne.' It is remarkable that though so often in Val 

 d'Aosta he never noticed the beautiful pyramid of the Grivola, nor, 

 on the descent to Zermatt, the great crests of the Dent Blanche 

 and the Weisshorn. To the early travellers snow-peaks would 

 seem to have been as much alike and indistinguishable as sheep 

 are to everyone but their shepherd. 



The descent to Zermatt was without incident. There the Cur6, 

 who, as a rule, entertained travellers, refused to receive or to 

 have any dealings with them, ' il disait, qu'il ne voulait rien nous 

 vendre.' This very unusual incident would seem to have been a 

 case of bigotry towards Protestants. The party had to have 

 recourse to the good offices of their Breuil guide to find them 

 lodging at a blacksmith's. No wonder that de Saussure did not 

 linger in the future centre of mountaineering, but rode straight off 

 next morning to St. Niklaus and the Rhone valley. He must 

 have been in a great hurry to get home, for he finds nothing to 

 mention in the remarkable scenery or the geology of the Visp- 

 thal. At Loeche, in the Valais, his guides met with another 

 example of churlishness. They were stopped and fined six francs 

 for travelling with mules on Sunday ! De Saussure lost little 

 time on the road, but after lodging his complaint at Sion against 

 the local authorities, and calling on Gibbon as he passed through 

 Lausanne, returned to Genthod on 20th August, after a five weeks' 

 absence . 



The years following that of his tour of Monte Rosa were for 

 de Saussure a period of much public and private anxiety, and it 

 was not until 1792 that he could find an opportunity to carry out 

 his intention of revisiting the St. Theodule and measuring the 

 Matterhorn. 



In August of that year he started with his son Theodore. His 

 experience of Zermatt seems to have discouraged him from taking 



1 It is obvious that by the transposition of a short sentence the following 

 words, ' This chain joins Monte Rosa near the Weissgrat, which leads from Zermatt 

 to Macugnaga,' which should refer to the Saasgrat, have become attached to the 

 chain south of the St. Theodule that is, the Breithorn and Lyskamm. As I havo 

 already had occasion to note, the last two volumes of the Voyages show traces 

 of the circumstances under which they were put together and sent to the press. 



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