We lighted up the cave with candles, and sat crouched on the ice drinking our wine, finding water, which served the double purpose of icing and diluting the wine, in small basins in the floor of ice, formed apparently by drops falling from the roof of the cave.
A few days after, our guide and companion took us to an ice-cavern on a larger scale, which, we were told, supplies Geneva with ice when the ordinary stores of that town fail; and the next year my sisters went to yet another, where, however, they did not reach the ice, as the ladder necessary for the final drop was not forthcoming.
In the course of the last year or two, I have mentioned these glacieres now and then in England, and no one has seemed to know anything about them; so I determined, in the spring of 1864, to spend a part of the summer in examining the three we had already seen or heard of, and discovering, if possible, the existence of similar caves.
The first that came under my notice was the Glaciere of La Genolliere; and, though it is smaller and less interesting than most of those which I afterwards visited, many of its general features are merely reproduced on a larger scale in them.

I shall therefore commence with this cave, and proceed with the account of my explorations in their natural order.
It is probable that some of the earlier details may seem to be somewhat tedious, but they are necessary for a proper understanding of the subject.
La Genolliere is the _montagne_, or mountain pasturage and wood, belonging to the village of Genollier, an ancient priory of the monks of S.Claude.[1] The cave itself lies at no great distance from Arzier--a village which may be seen in profile from the Grand Quai of Geneva, ambitiously climbing towards the summit of the last slope of the Jura.
To reach the cave from Geneva, it would be necessary to take train or steamer to Nyon, whence an early omnibus runs to S.Cergues, if crawling up the serpentine road can be called running; and from S.Cergues a guide must be taken across the Fruitiere de Nyon, if anyone can be found who knows the way.

From Arzier, however, which is nine miles up from Nyon, it was not necessary to take the S.Cergues route; and we went straight through the woods, past the site of an old convent and its drained fish-pond, and up the various rocky ridges of hill, with no guide beyond the recollection of the previous visits two and three years before, and a sort of idea that we must go north-west.

As it was not yet July, the cows had not made their summer move to the higher chalets, and we found the mountains uninhabited and still.
The point to be made for is the upper Chalet of La Genolliere, called by some of the people _La Baronne_, [2] though the district map puts La Baronne at some distance from the site of the glaciere.

We had some difficulty in finding the chalet, and were obliged to spread out now and then, that each might hunt a specified portion of the wood or glade for signs to guide our further advance, enjoying meanwhile the lilies of the mountain and lilies of the valley, and fixing upon curious trees and plants as landmarks for our return.