CHAPTER IX 



1886 



The earlier start was decided upon for the sake of one 

 of his daughters, who had been ill. He went first to Evo- 

 lena, but the place did not suit him, and four days after 

 his arrival went on to Arolla, whence he writes on Au- 

 gust 3 :— 



We reached Evolena on Thursday last. . . . We had 

 glorious weather Thursday and Friday, and the latter day (hav- 

 ing both been told carefully to avoid over-exertion), the wife 

 and I strolled, quite unintentionally, as far as the Glacier de 

 Ferpecle and back again. Luckily the wife is none the worse, 

 and indeed, I think I was the more tired of the two. But we 

 saw at once that Evolena was a mistake for our purpose, and 

 were confirmed in that opinion by a deluge of rain on Saturday. 

 The hotel is down in a hole at the tail of a dirty Swiss village, 

 and only redeemed by very good cooking. So, Sunday being 

 fine, I, E. and H. started up here to prospect, 18 miles up and 

 down, and 2000 feet to climb, and did it beautifully. It is just 

 the place for us, at the tail of a glacier in the midst of a splendid 

 amphitheatre of 11-12000 feet snow heights, and yet not bare 

 and waste, any quantity of stone-pines growing about. ... I 

 rather long for the flesh-pots of Evolena — cooking here being 

 decidedly rudimentary — otherwise we are very well off. 



The keen air of six thousand feet above sea level worked 

 wonders with the invalids. The lassitude of the last two 

 years was swept away, and Huxley came home eager for 

 active life. Here too it was that, for occupation, he took up 

 the study of gentians; the beginning of that love of his 

 garden which was so great a delight to him in his last years. 

 On his return home he writes : — 

 146 



