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36 CHAMOUNIARDS.
sants in other parts of Savoy. We asked
our guide whether they did not amuse
themselves with dismal stories of ghosts in
the winter evenings, to which he replied,
as if a little piqued, “ Nous ne croyons pas
aux revenans iciT — We don’t believe in
ghosts here.
The weather, which had been fine all the
time we were in Chamouny, became cloudy
and rainy the day of our departure. I
should have wished to prolong my stay
there, but the summer was far advanced,
and we had already passed nearly four
months in Savoy, and were anxious to return
to Geneva to meet our letters. The
rain fell in torrents all the following day,
which prevented me from making any observations
on the strata of Maghlans, as I
had intended. We arrived at Geneva on
the 30th of August.
M. Peschier of Geneva has published an account of
some experiments on the red snow of the Alps, which
I had not seen until the preceding sheet of this chapter
was printed. According to his analyses, the quantity
of earthy matter, peroxid of iron, and organic matter,
found in it is variable ; this may arise, I conceive, from
the red snow having been exposed for a longer or shorter
time to the action of the atmosphere. The formation
of this substance still remains unexplained.
CHAP. II.
G E N E V A . *
ARRIVAL AT GENEVA, ITS EXTENT AND POPULATION.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE INDEPENDENCE OF
THE REPUBLIC. ADULATORY SPEECH OF ONE
OF THE SYNDICS. GENERAL APPEARANCE OF
THE CITY AND INHABITANTS. PRACTICAL INFLUENCE
OF THE WRITINGS OF ROUSSEAU ON
THE GENEVESE. COUNTRY ROUND GENEVA.
THE CLIMATE. SEVERE SHOCK OF AN EARTHQUAKE.
CONFLAGRATION OF THE VILLAGE OF
MONETI. JUDICIOUS CHARITY OF THE GENEVESE.
VILLAGE OF THE LITTLE SACONNEX. ----
FINE VIEW OF THE ALPS FROM THENCE. ----
MADAME NECKAR.
W e arrived at Geneva near the end of
October, 1820, on our return from Pied-
* The observations on Geneva, contained in this and
the two following chapters, were made during a residence
there in the winters of 1820, 1821, and 1822;
and as they could not be arranged in chronological order
with the travels, I have therefore placed them after the
tour in Savoy, and before the travels through part of
Switzerland and in Auvergne.
D 3