guide beyond the recollection of the previous visits two and three years
before, and a sort of idea that we must go north-west. As it was not yet
July, the cows had not made their summer move to the higher châlets, and
we found the mountains uninhabited and still.

The point to be made for is the upper Châlet of La Genollière, called by
some of the people _La Baronne_, [2] though the district map puts La
Baronne at some distance from the site of the glacière. We had some
difficulty in finding the châlet, and were obliged to spread out now and
then, that each might hunt a specified portion of the wood or glade for
signs to guide our further advance, enjoying meanwhile the lilies of the
mountain and lilies of the valley, and fixing upon curious trees and
plants as landmarks for our return. In crossing the last grass, we found
the earliest vanilla orchis (_Orchis nigra_) of the year, and came upon
beds of moonwort (_Botrychium Lunaria_) of so unusual a size that our
progress ceased till such time as the finest specimens were secured.

Some time before reaching this point, we caught a glimpse of a dark
speck on the highest summit in sight, which recalled pleasantly a night
we had spent there three years before for the purpose of seeing the sun
rise.[3] My sisters had revisited the Châlet des Chèvres, which this
dark speck represented, in 1862, and found that the small chamber in
which we had slept on planks and logs had become a more total ruin than
before, in the course of the winter, so that it is now utterly
untenable.

From Arzier to the Châlet of La Genollière, would be about two hours,
for a man walking and mounting quickly, and never losing the way; and
the glacière lies a few minutes farther to the north-west, at an
elevation of about 2,800 feet above the lake, or 4,000 feet above the