comforts and cleanliness of modern civilisation, but had been visited with the misfortune of having one child a decided crétin, though none of the others showed any trace of the disease. Another circumstance which is frequently spoken of as the cause of crétinism is the stagnation of the air; but I was assured by several persons who reside in the Val d'Aosta, and my own experience confirms it, that there is a perpetual breeze blowing through the valley. The Abbé informed us that Dr. Argentier, who is the medical officer at Cogne appointed by the Government, was a friend of his, and he promised us a letter of introduction to him. The Abbé had not long left us before a carriage drove up to the hotel with a party of English ladies and gentlemen; we found that some of them were old friends of ours, who were going to cross the Great St. Bernard on the next morning. They had been following our track along the valley of Aosta, and it was a subject of mutual congratulation that we were able to meet, though only for one evening, to exchange warm greetings and words of kindness, and to listen to each other's adventures. We also met at Aosta two English ladies, already past the noon of life, who were travelling alone, and had made the circuit of Mont Blanc from Chamounix to Courmayeur, accompanied only by an excellent Oberland guide, who had taken the greatest care of them in their adventurous expedition. They were not persons whom one would have supposed to have possessed the courage

necessary for the risks and hardships of an Alpine tour, but the love of beautiful scenery had impelled them to undertake it, and their enthusiasm seemed only heightened by the difficulties they had encountered.

CHAPTER XVI.

FROM AOSTA TO COGNE.

Departure from Aosta - A dusty road - Remains of ancient glacial action The Château of Aimaville - Iron-mines of Cogne Almond-trees - The Valley of Cogne Roman aqueduct - Scanty

de Grivola - The Bouquetin

Improvident

miners - An inscribed rock - Dr. Grappin - View of the Pic A royal hunting-ground - The village of Cogne and its dirty inn - De la Pierre's greatness under difficulties Fumigation Weather-omens.

Sept. 16.-This was a beautiful day, but one in which the sun again made his power felt. We had scarcely finished breakfast before the Abbé Cavagnet called, bringing with him the promised letter of introduction to Dr. Auguste Argentier, of Cogne. We found on the table of the salle-à-manger, among other books, a little brochure written by the Doctor, called 'Guide Pratique aux Bains de Pré St. Didier en Val d'Aoste;' and certainly if anything were wanting, in addition to the exceeding beauty of St. Didier, to induce invalids to pay a visit there, it would be amply supplied by this nicely-written pamphlet.

Upon the scientific and medicinal portions of the work I am unable to give any opinion; but from the wellknown talent of the writer I cannot doubt the correct

ness of his conclusions. His description of the broad rich valley of Aosta is so beautiful and true that it deserves quotation :

"La nature est belle, le ciel pur, le soleil chaud, l'air doux et tempéré; de toute part la végétation montre sa force. On est frappé du haut degré de culture auquel on est arrivé. Ce sont des champs où le maïs croît et prospère à faire envie aux plus grasses campagnes du Piémont, des arbres fruitiers de toutes sortes, des prés émaillés de fleurs où l'on récolte à plaine faux de gras pâturages. A droite, une colline où les vignes s'étendent, admirablement cultivées, à perte de vue, et du milieu de ces vignes aux longs murs, aux nombreux piliers blancs alignés, des maisons de campagne ressortant proprettes et élégantes. A gauche, des prés, des champs, des forêts, des châlets, puis le front blanc et austère du Nomenon ;* puis la Côte de Gargantua, aride, s'avançant comme un rideau, au milieu de la campagne, pour dérober une partie de l'horizon aux habitans de Gressan. Gressan vit naître S. Anselme (1033), qui mourut archevêque de Cantorbéry en 1109.”

De la Pierre occupied a long time in packing his purchases on the mule, and it was not until 10 A.M. that we started. As I mounted little "Nina" in the court-yard, our friends who had arrived last night gathered in a group in the gallery, to wish us a pleasant and successful expedition. The almost unexplored country we were about to visit had excited their enthusiasm, and they seemed half disposed to join our party, and perhaps might have done so, had not another engagement prevented them; but they were little aware of the discomforts, and something worse, to which they

*In the commune of Vieges are the châlets of Nomenon, which have sometimes given the name of Pic de Nomenon to the Grivola.

would have been exposed. In consequence of our starting at so late an hour, we found the dusty high road intolerably hot, and the sun positively scorched us. We trudged along the left bank of the Doire in a determined spirit of endurance for an hour and a half, until we came opposite the Château of Aimaville, placed upon a picturesque knoll on the other side of the river. We were heartily glad when De la Pierre told us that we were here to leave the high road and cross the Doire to the valley opposite, which was that of Cogne. The path from the high road to the bridge proceeds immediately under an immense mound of stones and earth, as precipitous as a wall, which goes on increasing in height until it reaches the river, where it forms a lofty cliff, several hundred feet high. It had evidently once stretched across the valley, but the Doire has cut through it and swept away all except the cliff, which now towers above its left bank. My companions indulged in an animated discussion as to its origin, and came to the conclusion that it was not an alluvial deposit, but the remnant of an ancient moraine; and this conclusion appears confirmed by the opinion of M. Carrel, who states that the Valley of Aosta was at a remote epoch filled by a glacier of the height of about 2430 feet (750 mètres) above the level of the Doire.*

Little "Nina" and the mule seemed equally glad with ourselves to leave the dusty road, and when we crossed

*Les Alpes Pennines,' &c., par C. Carrel, Aoste, 1835.