CHAPTER IT.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHAMOUNI.

Up to the year a.d. 1711 very little was generallyknown about Chamouni. The sober and steady-goingcitizens of Geneva had long imagined that the dirtyriver which pollutes the bright blue of their arrowyRhone arose from amidst some snow-covered moun-tains, whose tops they could see from their lakes; andthey imagined that one of these mountains must bevery high indeed, because the sun's rays rested on itlong after they had disappeared from the other peaks.But beyond this, they troubled their heads no furtherin the matter. The country people about Geneva had given the name of Les Montagues Maudites tothe entire chain; and a superstition was currentamongst them that the curse of living amongst eternalsnows was inflicted on the inhabitants of the regionfor their crimes. Yet the locality was a recognised