CHAPTER II 

 SWITZERLAND IN EARLY SUMMER 



IT is the early summer of 1910 and I have but just 

 returned from a visit to Switzerland. The latter 

 part of June and the beginning of July is the best for a 

 stay in that splendid and happy land if one is a natura- 

 list, and cares for the beauty of Alpine meadows, and 

 of the flowers which grow among and upon the rocks 

 near the great glaciers. This year the weather has, no 

 doubt, been exceptionally cold and wet, and at no great 

 height (5000 ft.) we have had snow-storms, even in July. 

 But as compared with that of Paris and London the 

 weather has been delightful. There has been an 

 abundance of magnificent sunshine, and many days of 

 full summer heat and cloudless sky. A fortnight ago 

 (July 1 6th), and on the day before, it was as hot and 

 brilliant in the valley of Chamonix as it can be. Mont 

 Blanc and the Dome de Goutet stood out clear and 

 immaculate against a purple-blue sky, and, as of old, we 

 watched through the hotel telescope a party struggling 

 over the snow to the highest peak. 



At Chillon the lake of Geneva, day after day, spread 

 out to us its limitless surface of changing colour, now 

 blending in one pearly expanse with the sky — so that the 

 distant felucca boats seemed to float between heaven and 

 earth — now streaked with emerald and amethystine bands 

 The huge mountain masses rising with a vast sweep trom 



