Our Tedesco Colonel really got my passport through the office. I left my "calèche" and my baggage at Milan, and the next day I started in a "seggiola," a kind of a little cabriolet, in which you drive along at an infernal rate. I travelled through cross roads till I came to the foot of the mountains. As it was impossible to ascend them in a wheeled carriage, I was compelled, though reluctantly, to separate myself from my "conducteur." I bought two horses, one for myself, and the other for my new guide; this new guide could not speak a word of French. I had taken care to provide myself with a pocket dictionary, French and Italian; but I was completely ignorant, or at least very nearly so, of the way either of pronouncing Italian words, or of arranging them; and thus our conversation was reduced on both sides to a few detached phrases, which were often mutually unintelligible.
We set out at break of day. About noon the snow began to fall, and we had the greatest difficulty imaginable in reaching a hamlet, the name whereof I have forgotten. The next day the weather became still more wretched; my guide's horse foundered in the snow, and we lost two hours in hauling him out again. My guide was an Italian, and, like all Italians, he was full of superstition, and easily discouraged. He considered this accident as a bad omen, and he wanted to turn back; I could only conquer his repugnance by means of a double Napoleon d'or. Scarcely had I given it to him when I felt the extent of my imprudence; I was exciting his avarice, and perhaps exposing myself to become his victim. As we advanced, the road became worse and worse; at every step we encountered pits and holes, or the road was stopped by rocks which had fallen in, and which forced us to scramble through new paths. So much snow had fallen in the north of Italy, and particularly in the district which we were then crossing, that even the muleteers had deserted the mountains: and my guide, unable to discern the beaten road, was compelled to make a survey at every step, lest we should either lose ourselves, or else tumble down the precipices which bordered our road of danger. The next day we arrived at Borcetto; the perils which I had escaped taught me caution: I hired two more horses, and another guide; and for this addition to my train, I paid out of all reason. I then met with a custom-house officer, who either out of kindness, or for the purpose of alarming me, I know not which, warned me to be particularly on my guard in crossing "la Size," a very lofty and dangerous mountain, for he told me that it swarmed with robbers. I put fresh priming in my pistols; I turned up my eyes toward Heaven to implore its protection, and I set out. When we had proceeded half way up the mountain, I was accosted by a soldier, who compelled me to enter the guard-house, and to produce my passport. This post, which had been lately established for the security of travellers, was occupied by a subaltern and by six soldiers, who had all served in the imperial army. They guessed by my looks that I had seen some service, and, after a short conversation, they asked me to come in and warm myself by drinking the health of the Emperor Napoleon. I refused at first, lest I should be entrapped, but they insisted so frankly that I was compelled to yield. On taking leave I gave them a twenty-franc piece, in order to drink the health of Napoleon, and mine too; and I begged them to recommend my guides to take care of me. The commandant called the guides, and at the same time that he fired a volley of oaths and curses, he declared that if any accident happened to me, he would shoot them both on their return. My worthy military friends also escorted me during a considerable distance, and we separated with feelings which no one but a soldier can appreciate or understand.