their death in pursuit of the chamois; one of
poor Jacques Balmat himself, who at seventy
years of age, in 1835, met his death as a gold-finder.
He had perished in his infatuated
pursuit, by falling from a precipice into a ravine,
which became his grave; for his body could
not be recovered.

At each visit I found changes in the valley
and its inhabitants. New inns were established
as travellers increased; some, by
persons who were envious of the success of mine
excellent host of the "Londres," and touting
became a system; but amidst all the changes,
Victor Tairraz sustained his reputation for his
superior tact and knowledge in accommodating
the English so as to make them feel
themselves at home in this the grandest resting-place
in Europe. At length, he too was
gathered to his fathers, and his excellent
wife retired to the little town of Sallenches,
down the valley of the Arve. Their sons
succeeded to the management of the Hôtel
de Londres. Jealousies, however, had sprung
up even in the time of old Victor. The
Curé was enraged that he permitted his
English visitors to have the service of their
Church read on the appointed day in the
hotel, and forbade it; but all who were in
the house at the time went out to worship
in the open air. What a temple! Chairs and
a table, supplied by Victor, were placed in
the meadow on the bank of the Arve; and
after the service, all the English then present
signed and sent a memorial to the
Government at Turin. This was liberally
answered by authorising, from that time, the
service of the English Church within the
hotels.

The number of visitors to Chamouny
annually increase, and among them a large
proportion are young men; who, in the
height of health and vigour, ramble in the
autumn into Switzerland, and visit those
glorious scenes in Savoy. Sometimes unfavourable
weather may detain the pedestrians
for some days. These are weary days
to them; and suggested to a hoary gamester
the plan of building a large hotel on
the left bank of the Arve, and of establishing
a gambling table to occupy the time
of travellers when it hung heavily upon
their hands. A gambling house at Chamouny
is a manifest desecration. He did
not, however, at first get a grant from
the Government, as he expected, for his
establishment, though he has indirectly obtained
his object (for, we hope, only a brief
time) by uniting his gaming-house with an
hotel already established, which he has fitted
up as its "Salle de Lecture." Here the
journals may be read, and here Rouge et Noir
is provided for the wicked and the weak.
Some sad scenes have already been the
consequence of this demoralising combination.
The visitor to the Hotel who inquires for
Galignani is directed to the "Casino," which
is always open to him. Scouts are placed at
all the points of interest around Chamouny;
such as the Montanvert, the Flegère, the
source of the Arveron, the Cascade des
Pélerins, and other points, to place cards in
the hands of visitors, of which the following
is a literal translation:—

"CASINO, CHAMOUNY.
"1. Travellers are admitted without charge.
"2. The news-room is open all day.
"3. The hazard-tables are open from three till
eight every evening."

Children in the villages between Geneva and
Chamouny throw these advertisements into
the windows of the carriages; and most of
the inns on the road are placarded with this
iniquitous information. The visitors' books
strongly express the feelings of indignant
travellers of respectability at this dishonour to
the Vale of Chamouny. The following is one
of many such notices:—

"The Earth is the Lord's." The mountain and vale,
The glacier and torrent, proclaim
Of His might and His power the marvellous tale,
Of His wisdom and goodness the fame.

But the devil was vexed, that to heart and to head
These wonders their lessons should tell;
So he, stealthily leaving his brimstone bed,
E'en in Chamouny set up a hell.

In striking contrast to this temple of unhallowed
excitement, a chapel, the first ever
permitted in the valley for Protestant worship,
has been built, which will, I hope, become
an important antidote to the abominable
Casino.

The gamester, with his Casino, will not be
driven out until the guides purge the valley
of him. It is difficult to conceive a more
complete scheme than his, to convert the most
rational of pursuits among young men into a
means of their ruin. They leave home in the
full confidence of their parents and friends for
a tour in the Alps, little suspecting that,
amidst scenes so glorious in nature, an inn-keeper
can be found so wicked and impolitic
as to attach a gaming-house to his establishment;
and to make the reading-room, in
which their young visitors seek information of
their homes, a decoy to their destruction;
where, at a table d'hôte, the head of a
conspiracy against the morals of unsuspecting
travellers is seen in contact with persons of
rank and character who would elsewhere
shrink from such contamination.

THE JEWS IN CHINA.

THERE is a quaintness in the notion of a
Jewish colony surrounded by Chinese; the
fixed among the fixed. The fact that such a
colony exists, or has existed when found, ought
to be especially remarked, for to ethnologists
and others it may prove a valuable opportunity
for speculation. Jews in China, what will they
be like? will the Jew stand out from the