XX] LONDON : VOYAGE TO SINGAPORE 325 



form the dividing line between distinct but closely allied 

 species. 



It was in the autumn of 1853 that I made my first visit 

 to Switzerland with my friend Mr. George Silk. On our way 

 from London to Dover we had for companion in our com- 

 partment a stout, good-humoured American, a New-England 

 manufacturer, going to Paris on business for the first time. 

 He asked us if we could recommend him a good kafe. On 

 telling him we didn't know what a kafe was, he said, Why, a 

 hotel or eating-house, to be sure ; the French call it ' kafe.' " 

 So we told him where we were going for the night, and he 

 went with us. The next day we went on by diligence to 

 Geneva, where we stayed a day, and then walked with our 

 knapsacks to Chamouni ; but the heat was so intense that we 

 stayed at a small inn on the way for the night. We walked 

 up to the Flegere to see the grand view of the Aiguilles and 

 Mont Blanc, and the next day joined a party to Montanvert, 

 the Mer de Glace, and the Jardin, having a guide to take 

 care of us. The day was magnificent ; we saw the sights of 

 the glacier, its crevasses and ice-tables, and when passing 

 round the precipice of the Couvercle above the ice-fall of the 

 Talefre glacier, there were masses of cloud below us which 

 partially rolled away, revealing the wonderful ice-pinnacles 

 brilliantly illuminated by the afternoon sun, and affording a 

 spectacle the grandeur and sublimity of which I have never 

 since seen equalled. Only a portion of our party reached 

 the Jardin, where I made a hasty collection of the flowers, 

 and by the time we got back to the hotel, having made the 

 steep descent from Montanvert in the dark, we were all pretty 

 well exhausted. 



The next day I and my friend walked over the Tete Noir 

 to Martigny. From here we took a chaise to Leuk, and 

 then walked up to Leukerbad and hired a porter to carry 

 our knapsacks up the Gemmi Pass, in order that we might 

 enjoy the ascent of that wonderful mountain road. Before 

 reaching the top snow began to fall, and we reached the 

 little inn on the summit in a snow-storm. It was crowded. 



