t that morning
made him ill for a week. Then his mounting up the Pas de l'Echelle,
which he did not climb "without profound emotion," was a great trouble
to him. Of all this we find not a word in the journals or letters of
Neff, whose early life as a soldier had perhaps better inured him to
"roughing it" than the more tender bringing-up of Pastor Bost.

As we rounded the shoulder of the hill, almost directly overlooking
the ancient Roman town of Rama in the valley of the Durance
underneath, we shortly came in sight of the little hamlet of Palons, a
group of "peasants' nests," overhung by rocks, with the one good house
in it, the comfortable parsonage of the Protestant pastor, situated at
the very entrance to the valley. Although the peasants' houses which
constitute the hamlet of Palons are still very poor and miserable, the
place has been greatly improved since Neff's time, by the erection of
the parsonage. It was found that the pastors who were successively
appointed to minister to the poor congregations in the valley very
soon became unfitted for their work by the hardships to which they
were exposed; and being without any suitable domestic accommodation,
one after another of them resigned their charge.

To remedy this defect, a movement was begun in 1852 by the Rev. Mr.
Freemantle, rector of Claydon, Bucks, assisted by the Foreign Aid
Society and a few private friends, with the object of providing
pastors' dwellings, as well as chapels when required, in the more
destitute places. The movement has already been attended with
considerable success; and among its first results was the erection in
1857 of the comfortable parsonage of Palons, the large lower room of
which also serves the purpose of a chapel. The present incumbent is M.
Charpiot, of venerable and patriarchal aspect, whose white hairs are a
crown of glory--a man beloved by his extensive flock, for his parish
embraces the whole valley, about twelve miles in extent, including the
four villages of Ribes, Violens, Minsals, and Dormilhouse; other
pastors having been appointed of late years to the more distant
stations included in the original widely-scattered charge of Felix
Neff.

The situation of the parsonage and adjoining grounds at Palons is
charmingly picturesque. It stands at the entrance to the defile which
leads into Val Fressinieres, having a background of bold rocks
enclosing a mountain plateau known as the "Camp of Catinat," a
notorious persecutor