ri =1^
m
66 LITTI-E SACONNEX.
Genevese to examine their premises, to
see whether they had any articles of lumber
which might be useful, and send them
to the depot, enumerating old doors, hooks,
nails, &c. &c. Respectable persons undertook
the distribution of the charity. There
was so much humanity and practical good
sense in this unostentatious, but prompt
and effective mode of relievinOs the subjects
of another government, that I felt my
favourable opinion of the citizens of Geneva
greatly heightened.
The Sardinian government was applied
to for some aid to its own subjects, but
with what success I did not learn, as I left
Geneva soon afterwards.
The country on the northern side of
Geneva is more beautiful than that on the
southern side, as it commands a more extended
view of the Alps. A few days
after our arrival, we went to the villaoe
called the Little Saconnex, by a circuitous
route, and there, for the first time, the glory
of the country opened on our view in all
its magnificence, for the preceding days
had been cloudy. It was the end of October,
but the atmosphere had all the warmth
and brilliancy of the finest mornings of an
ALPINE VIEW. 67
English September, with a clear intensity of
blue, never seen in our humid climate.
The foliage had acquired the varied tints of
the season, and a stillness and serenity, peculiar
to the mild days of autumn, seemed
spread over all nature. The mountains of
the nearer and lower range of the Alps
were all uncovered, but the snowy summits
of the highest Alps were entirely concealed
by a screen of clouds, which soon gradually
rose, and, opening in various parts, discovered
one or more of their gigantic peaks;
then closing and opening elsewhere, displayed
the deep indentations and precipices
on their sides, under such varied
forms, that we became impatient to see
the whole at once uncovered. About noon
the clouds were entirely dissipated, and
Mont Blanc and the aiguilles of Chamouny
stood before us in their snowy vesture,
splendidly illumined by the midday sun.
I had caught a transient view of Mont
Blanc from Coligny, on our approach to
Geneva ; but, though I was six miles farther
from it at present, it appeared from
this station far more sublime and imposing.
The nearer ranges of mountains sunk down
into their just proportions, their summits
F 2
km.- MMM