cave itself lies at no great distance from Arzier--a
village which may be seen in profile from the Grand Quai of Geneva,
ambitiously climbing towards the summit of the last slope of the Jura.
To reach the cave from Geneva, it would be necessary to take train or
steamer to Nyon, whence an early omnibus runs to S. Cergues, if crawling
up the serpentine road can be called running; and from S. Cergues a
guide must be taken across the Fruitiere de Nyon, if anyone can be found
who knows the way. From Arzier, however, which is nine miles up from
Nyon, it was not necessary to take the S. Cergues route; and we went
straight through the woods, past the site of an old convent and its
drained fish-pond, and up the various rocky ridges of hill, with no
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 chalets, and
we found the mountains uninhabited and still.

The point to be made for is the upper Chalet of La Genolliere, called by
some of the people _La Baronne_, [2] though the district map puts La
Baronne at some distance from the site of the glaciere. We had some
difficulty in finding the chalet, 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 Chalet des Chevres, 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 Chalet of La Genolliere, would be about two hours,
for a man walking and mounting quickly, and never losing the way; and
the glaciere lies a few m