18 



PROF. E. HULL^ ON GENEVA AND CHAMOUNIX 



Britain, and having scraped together sufficient funds, which 

 with great self-denial were sufficient to carry me through my 

 journey — that I left England for Switzerland. I crossed over 

 to Paris, where I stayed only one night, and next day took the 

 train for Dole, beyond which the railway did not then extend. 

 Arriving at Dole by midnight, I left the train and presented 

 myself at the office of the diligence demanding a seat for 

 Geneva. What was my consternation when I was informed 

 that the coach was "full up," as all the seats had been booked 

 beforehand in Paris ! I was told that I must wait for the 

 coach next day ; but might not that coach be just as full as the 

 one about to start ? In this dilemma I appealed to tlie con- 

 ductor to get me through somehow, and he agreed for the sum 

 of 20 francs, and at the risk of dismissal if discovered, to make 

 me a den on the coach top amidst the luggage, where I could 

 lie covered over by the tarpaulin, but open in front. 



First view of the Alps. — To this proposal I had to assent, and 

 in this position I made the journey to Geneva, of about nine or 

 ten hours, as part of the baggage. I need hardly say the 

 position was not quite as comfortable as that of a first-class 

 compartment of a railway train at the present day ! 



But I was not without a reward which is denied to persons 

 so travelling to-day. After crossing several beautiful hills and 

 valleys of the Jura range, we at length came to a point in the 

 road where all the passengers were allowed to descend and 

 remain for some minutes. It was the summit of a ridge from 

 which the road commenced to descend into the great Valley of 

 Geneva. From this point the view commanded the valley and 

 the Lake of Geneva stretching from end to end ; beyond which 

 was seen the range of the Alps rising in three successive tiers. 

 First, that of the forests, green with verdure. Above this 

 extended the dark band consisting of naked rock, contrasting 

 with that of the forest below and with that of the snows above ; 

 and surmounting this region was that of tlie snowy Alps, its 

 lower limit clearly marked off as seen from my point of vantage, 

 and rising high into the pure vault of heaven ; so pure and 

 ethereal as to give the idea that it was a celestial vision rather 

 than as part of the terrestrial world ; and finally, rising from tlie 

 centre was the white dome of Mont Blanc, the highest })oiut of 

 Europe. This magnificent range of mountain scenery stretched 

 from end to end a distance of over fifty miles. 



This first view of the High Alps has remained impressed on 

 my memory ever since, and for the time the discomforts of my 

 journey were forgotten. Needless to say, the view is now 



