direction parallel to that of the great mountain-chains. Thus, even in the height of summer, the least wind from the north always brings with it a degree of cold that is extremely disagreeable.

Two monks, young and gentlemanly men, came out immediately on our arrival, received us with the greatest kindness, led us to our rooms, and gave us the welcome intelligence that supper was ready! We at once felt ourselves at home. When our muleteer shortly afterwards arrived with the mules, he was severely reproached by some Oberland guides who had observed his proceedings, and he slunk away into some secluded corner, where we heard no more of him till the next morning. There was a large party at supper at the Hospice, including several ladies. Almost all the visitors were either English or American. There were only two monks at supper, and one sat at each end of the long table. The monk who presided at our end spoke English fluently, and we had a great deal of interesting and instructive conversation with him. He told us that during the late troubles in Switzerland, the revolutionary party took possession of the Hospice, and thirty "patriots" resided there for three months, drank all the wine, devoured large quantities of provisions, and plundered all the valuables, except the plate and the collection of ancient coins, which the monks had been discreet enough to send away and conceal. It was to a great extent owing to the exertions and interference of the

English foreign minister (Lord Palmerston) that the monks were restored to their Hospice and estates; but they were impoverished by the revolution, and talked of sending some of their fraternity on a visit to England to collect contributions.

Aug. 30.-Our muleteer, who had not had courage to show himself last night, knocked at our door, shortly after five this morning, and asked to be paid, as he was about to return to Martigny. He was then told that Mr. Montgomery and his friend were not going with us to Aosta, but intended to return with the mules to Martigny, where they might probably bring him to account before the proper authorities. He was greatly disturbed at this unwelcome intelligence, and shortly afterwards went to Mr. Montgomery's room to ascertain whether what had been told him was really true; but he pretended that his object was merely to ask at what hour the gentlemen would start. He intruded without permission into Mr. Montgomery's bedroom, the door being unlocked; but we very soon afterwards heard a tremendous scuffle occasioned by his being unceremoniously ejected by the excitable poet.

We engaged at the Hospice a very honest muleteer to convey our baggage on one of his return mules to St. Remy for three francs, and we walked down there. We saw the monks assembled this morning at their devotions in the chapel. All their establishment were now at the Hospice to celebrate the festival of St.

E

on the west, and the Mischabel-hörner on the east, not one of them did we see from any point of the road, owing to the extreme depth and narrowness of the valley itself. This renders the journey up and down between Visp and Zermatt very tedious. We arrived at Visp at 7 P.M., and I was much fatigued, having preferred to walk the greater part of the way. Instead of proceeding on to Tourtemagne for the night, as prudence would have dictated, we again slept at this disagreeable, swampy village, in the midst of unwholesome, fever-giving marshes.

Aug. 28.-We left Visp at 1 P.M. by the diligence for Martigny, and had the intérieur entirely to ourselves until we reached Tourtemagne, where two Englishmen got in. One of them we afterwards discovered to be the Rev. Robert Montgomery, the poet; the other was a physician. In their agreeable society we beguiled the long journey with amusing conversation and anecdotes. We dined at Sion, which is a fine looking town, so far as the High Street is concerned, and well placed on a lofty eminence in the middle of the valley. Here two Frenchmen got into the diligence; one of them was a very fat fellow, and his appearance was so remarkable that we recognised him immediately as a person whom we had seen in one of the large public baths at Leukerbad. He seated himself between our two fellowtravellers, taking up plenty of room and affording many a joke, which he enjoyed as merrily as ourselves. At a stage beyond Sion we had a very long delay, and were

and

kept waiting for the arrival of the other diligence from Martigny, with which we were to make an exchange of horses and postilions. This delay was very irksome, and the comfort of the passengers was completely sacrificed. It now became dark; but at last, after much grumbling, we obtained our horses and proceeded on our journey. We reached Martigny at 10.10 P.M., went to the Hôtel de la Poste. Our fellow-traveller, the Poet, appeared remarkably fond of a little controversy of any kind, and he had, in making the arrangements at the inn, plenty of opportunities afforded him for gratifying his taste, for we had a very bad set to deal with, and they required to be well scolded. Before engaging mules for the Great St. Bernard, he asked to see the tariff. The answer was that all the arrangements were under the management of a "Commissionnaire," who provided the mules, and that he was gone to bed. With this answer we were obliged to be satisfied till the morning.

Aug. 29.-Mr. Montgomery again made urgent inquiries this morning for the "Commissionnaire," but this functionary did not make his appearance, nor was it intended that he should. Presently a carriage with two mules was brought to the door to take us on our journey, but the carriage proved to be such a small and wretched vehicle, that four persons could not possibly ride in it. We remonstrated on being thus treated, and were told that three could ride inside and one

Augustine, to whose order they belong, and to settle and audit their annual accounts. There were very few other persons present in the chapel. We breakfasted, played with the dogs before the Hospice, chatted with the two monks who had received us on the previous evening, and then, after depositing our contribution in

the box at the chapel, took our departure. We did not visit the Morgue, having no taste for the horrible. There was no snow on the pass itself. Adjoining the Hospice, on the Italian side, is a small lake, and immediately above this rises the plain of Jupiter, where a Roman