st of their register--if,
indeed, we ever made one, for we were more concerned with the beauties
than the temperature was surprisingly high in the line of current, as
compared with the ordinary temperature of ice-caves.

When we came to compare backs, after leaving the cave, we mutually found
that they were in a very disreputable condition. The damp and ragged
roof with which they had been so frequently in contact had produced a
marked effect upon them, and I eventually paid a tailor in Geneva three
francs for restoring my coat to decency. M. took great credit to herself
for having been more careful of her back than the others, and declined
to be laughed at for forgetting that she was only about half as high as
they, to begin with. A. still remembers the green-grey stains, as the
most obstinate she ever had to deal with, especially as her three-days'
knapsack contained no change for that outer part of her dress.

The 'Ecu' gave us a charming dinner on our return; then a moderate bill,
and an affectionate farewell; and we succeeded in catching the early
evening train for Pontarlier.[53]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 48: _Aigue_, or _egue_, in the patois of this district, is
equivalent to _eau_, the Latin _aqua_.]

[Footnote 49: Ebel, in his _Swiss Manual_ (French translation of 1818,
t. iii.), mentions this glaciere under the head _Motiers_, and observes
that it and the grotto of S. Georges are the only places in the Jura
where ice remains through the summer. This statement, in common with a
great part of Ebel, has been transferred to the letterpress of
_Switzerland Illustrated_.]

[Footnote 50: Switzerland sent 7,500,000 gallons of absinthe to France
in 1864.]

[Footnote 51: _Point d'argent, point de Suisse_, is a proverbial
expression which the Swiss twist into a historical compliment, asserting
that it arose in early mercenary times, from the fact that they were too
virtuous to accept the suggestion of the general who hired them, and
wished them to take their pay in kind from the defenceless people of the
country they had served.]

[Footnote 52: It is probable that the ice is on the increase in this
glaciere, and that an archway, now filled up by the growing ice, has at
one time existed in the wall on this side of the care, through which the
ice and water used to pour into the subterranean depths of which the old
woman had told us. At the time of our visit, we could find no outlet.]

[Footnote 53: The following