tT. 70.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 721 
decidedly American river look; that is, it constantly 
reminded one of the Mohawk or the Unadilla, — small 
rivers of my native State and district, and with just 
such rounded wooded hills and smooth, well cultivated 
slopes, and wide stretches of meadow and grain fields. 
Then came the picturesque portion with precipitous 
hillsides and crags covered with vines wherever a bit 
of soil could be found to hold them, extending down 
to Coblentz. We went on by the railroad down the 
left fork of the Rhine to Cologne, which we reached 
late in the afternoon and left at three this P. M. ; 
reached this place at half past four; and while Mrs. 
Gray rested, I have explored till our half past six dinner 
hour. ‘Tréves was an interesting place, though it need 
not detain one long. Cologne we were glad to see 
again, and were as much interested in its old Roman- 
esque churches as in its cathedral,! which certainly is 
much bettered by the completion of the nave and the 
west front and towers, — I may say towers and spires, 
— for they make nearly all the west front. It does 
not compare with Reims, so far as facade goes. . . . 
On reaching Paris in June Dr. Gray met again his 
old friend Decaisne and many others, and there was 
much pleasant hospitality at the hands of friends new 
and old. He especially enjoyed a day at Verriéres, 
seeing, in the old home of M. and Mme. de Vilmorin, 
the dear friends of thirty years before, the oldest son 
Henri with his wife and children, the grandchildren 
of M. and Mme. V. of the corresponding ages and 
number as the family of young people whom he met 
in the first visit in 1851. 
1 Seen first in 1850, with its temporary roof and bases of towers. 
