rossed here from La Tour with Mrs. Gilly in 1829, when about to visit
the French valleys; but he found the path so difficult and dangerous,
that the lady had to walk nearly the whole way.

As we descended the mountain almost by a succession of leaps, we
overtook M. Gariod, deputy judge of Gap, engaged in botanizing among
the rocks; and he informed us that among the rarer specimens he had
collected in the course of his journey on the summit were the
_Polygonum alpinum_ and _Silene vallesia_, above Monta; the
_Leucanthemum alpinum_, near the Hospice; the _Linaria alpina_ and
_Cirsium spinosissimus_ on the Col; while the _Lloydia serotina_,
_Arabis alpina_, _Phyteuma hemisphericum_, and _Rhododendrum
ferrugineum_, were found all over the face of the rocky descent to the
Pra.

At the foot of the _Coche_ we arrived at the first house in Italy, the
little auberge of the Pra, a great resort of sportsmen, who come to
hunt the chamois in the adjoining mountains during the season. Here is
also the usual customs station, with a few officers of the Italian
douane, to watch the passage of merchandise across the frontier.

The road from hence to la Tour is along the river Pelice, which is
kept in sight nearly the whole way. A little below the Pra, where it
enters the defile of Mirabouc, the path merely follows what is the
bed of the torrent in winter. The descent is down ledges and notches,
from rock to rock, with rugged precipices overhanging the ravine for
nearly a mile. At its narrowest part stand the ruins of the ancient
fort of Mirabouc, built against the steep escarpments of the mountain,
which, in ancient times, completely commanded and closed the defile
against the passage of an enemy from that quarter. And difficult
though the Col de la Croix is for the passage of an army, it has on
more than one occasion been passed by French detachments in their
invasion of Italy.

It is not until we reach Bobi, or Bobbio, several miles lower down the
Pelice, that we at last feel we are in Italy. Here the valley opens
out, the scenery is soft and inviting, the fields are well tilled, the
vegetation is rich, and the clusters of chestnut-trees in magnificent
foliage. We now begin to see the striking difference between the
French and the Italian valleys. The former are precipitous and
sterile, constant falls of slaty rock blocking up the defiles; while
here the mountains lay aside their savage aspects, and are softened
down into pictures