21st August 1861 | Zermatt
My dear Tom
I forward you the only letter found at the Poste Restante. Yours pleased me extremely.1 I was pleased to find you so well lodged, and so high up above the air of these confounded valleys; and also much pleased with the vivid and vigorous description of the thunderstorm. No doubt the desire of the physician is to hold you, but a cure, if you could be sure of it would be cheaply purchased at 20 days imprisonment. I should say that an Englishman would be a Godsend there, for I do not imagine the Bad is in the least possessed by the children of Albion.2
It is near the dinner hour & I have not time to say much; tomorrow morning I cross the Theodule3 with Ramsay4 & his family. My thoughts as you know were at the Weisshorn; knowing I should pass near it on my way to Zermatt: it was the second great mountain in Switzerland—next to the Matterhorn in prestige. Well on Monday last—at about 2 P.M. your friend John led by the brave Bennen after a day of tremendous toil reached the top, and the trodden crown of the mountain now bears the handle of Bennen’s axe; with a red pocket hand kerchief flailing from it like the Union Jack of England.5
I shall be at Breul6 for some days & know not where afterward.
Yours affectionately | John
RI MS JT/1/T/654
Yours pleased me extremely: letter missing.
the children of Albion: Albion is an ancient name for Great Britain.
Theodule: The Théodule Pass connecting Zermatt (Switzerland) and Breuil-Cervinia (in Italy).
Ramsay: Andrew Crombie Ramsay (1814–91), Professor of Geology, Royal School of Mines and local Director, Geological Survey.
after a day of tremendous toil reached the top: See letter 1804 for a fuller account of this climb.
Breul: Breuil.
Please cite as “Tyndall1805,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on