Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

soil, and scarcely vegetation enough to supply the food of sheep, goats, and chamois. Three of the latter animals were seen at a distance, hanging upon the cliffs at a giddy height; and in a small green pasture, upon the bank of a tor rent, a shepherd was seen stripping the fleeces from his flock, at this bleak season. A little girl reposing at his side, and his dog sleeping in the sun, made a pretty picture.

In several places we passed the remains of avalanches, which had shot from aerial heights, with the most appalling ravages, sweeping before them rocks and forests, and leaving behind long tracks of ruin and desolation. One of these so effectually blocked up the road, that it was necessary to pierce it with an arch, many rods in extent.

We passed three or four galleries, where the road pierces projections of the rocks, on the Italian side of the Simplon. The longest is perhaps six hundred feet, with two lateral windows looking down into a terrific abyss, and upon a tor rent, which actually startles the imagination, and causes the spectator to recoil. Upon the outer face of the precipice, Napoleon directed his name to be inscribed, with the date of the completion of the terrace. It is indeed a grand work, which in a different location would be deemed colossal; but all these modifications by the little arts of man appear small. in comparison with the majesty of nature, and the measure less scale of the Supreme Architect.

At 11 o'clock we reached the village of Simplon, which is by far the most considerable on the whole route, between Domo d'Ossola and the vale of the Rhone. It has perhaps forty or fifty rude buildings, with a population of two or three hundred. Its site is said to be 4580 feet above the level of the sea the most elevated in Europe. The peaks around are buried in perpetual glaciers; and the inhabitants glean a scanty subsistence from their flocks and pastures. We found a small, but comfortable hotel, which exhibited all the fire apparatus of mid-winter-a stove heated almost to redness, and the windows and doors guarded against the icy winds. What a transition was here from the green and sunny plains of Lombardy! The Swiss hostess gave us an excellent dish of coffee, and a dejeune served up with perfect neatness. The milk and butter were of the best qualities. Not a speck of dirt was to be seen in any part of the house, and the pannel floor of the parlour looked as if it had been scoured that very morning.

While the horses were resting, we amused ourselves with oking at two chamois, a male and a female, encaged in a nall apartment. The former retains all his wildness, and nnot be domesticated; while the latter is mild and tractae, licking the hand of its keeper. It is a beautiful animal, ght in its form, and made for fleetness and activity. Its ead is perk, and its eye possesses great animation. The llage has a little church, which we visited. It is a humble othic building, round which the alpine winds were whistling. he walls exhibit one painting of some merit, and many ages of the Virgin, together with numerous votive tablets, ating as far back as 1732. All the houses bear the marks 'great age, and of having been severely lashed by the

ements.

Another tedious ride of three hours, through a desolate ›gion, exhibiting here and there a solitary hut, brought us > the very top of the Simplon, where we found ourselves in le midst of all the horrors of winter. For several miles le path was buried in snow, and large icicles were pendent om the rocks, without dripping at mid-day. The highest eaks were cloud-capt; and all our coats and cloaks were ot proof against the searching air. Two English ladies ttended only by a servant, were met upon the bleakest sumit. Napoleon directed a large Hospice to be commenced pon the heights; but it has not yet been finished. It is uilt of stone, two stories high, with fourteen windows in The benevolent and indefatigable monks of St. Berard are now engaged in completing it.

ront.

Our journey thus far from Domo d'Ossola had occupied en hours; and as the summit was not reached till 3 o'clock P. M., we began to think it would be necessary to provide refuge for the night, especially as the skies looked cheeress and stormy. But a brighter prospect soon opened beore us, and the clouds were all left behind, in the rapidity of our descent. The sun emerged from the mists, which wreathed the gloomy peaks of the Simplon; and the glaciers of Switzerland beyond the Rhone, a region of eternal frost, burst upon our view with indescribable splendour. Nesthorn is the loftiest of this bleak range, extending in either direction, as far as the eye can reach, and lifting to heaven a load of snows, which were never printed by human footsteps. The solitary grandeur of the scene wholly surpasses the reach of imagination.

From the top of the Simplon, an abyss of immeasurable

depth, visible in its whole extent, opens into the vale of the Rhone. Its sides are precipitous, slightly clothed with fir and torn into deep chasms by torrents, descending from the heights above, and forming the waters of the Ganter. At the outlet of the gorge, the large villages of Brigue and Naters, with their glittering spires and rural environs, relieve the eye, presenting a beautiful picture. Seen from such an elevation, and through a pure atmosphere, they appear within a few miles of the spectator, though the descent to the vale occupies three or four hours. The road winds round the head of the tremendous gulf of the Ganter, penetrating a long gallery of rocks, and pursuing the very brink of the frightful cliffs. It is guarded by a high wall, which renders it secure, except in winter, when accumulated masses of ice) and snow rise to a level with the parapet.

The scenery upon the northern declivities of the moun-1 tain is less lonely, gloomy, and savage than that of the Italian side. A different geological formation gives it fewer asperities and less rudeness. The traveller does not feel himself so completely buried in alpine solitudes, His eye looks abroad upon a more varied prospect, and at intervals catches glimpses of the cultivated vale below. Forests of fir skirt the path, and the caverns of the Swiss peasantry are! often seen cradled, like the nest of the eagle, among rocks and upon steeps, which appear wholly inaccessible. Indeed, the approach is often so precipitous and rugged, that it is necessary to use ladders in the ascent from cliff to cliff. On the right are seen the peaks of several glaciers, and the desolate tracks of avalanches, sterile and dreary as beds of lava.

The gorge of the Saltine opens from the east, at nearly right ' angles with the Ganter, and the chasm is scarcely less profound. though not so wild and terrific in its aspect. A large torrent is seen foaming and fretting among the rocks; but it is actually so far beneath the feet of the spectator, that its roar does not reach his ear. The road runs along the southern margin of this gulf, to a point near its head, crosses it on a noble bridge, and thence traverses the northern side to the vale of the Rhone. We did not reach Brigue till dark; and a ride through its narrow, ill-paved, gloomy streets was the roughest part of the passage. The Hotel was full to everflowing with English travellers, and much difficulty was experienced in finding lodgings for the night. After the fatigues of the day, mental as well as corporeal, almost any accommodaions were acceptable,

LETTER XCIV.

DEPARTURE FROM BRIGUE-VALE OF THE RHONE-SKETCH OF ITS SCENERY-ALPS AND GLACIERS-FERTILITY-POPULATION-BUILDINGS--VILLAGES AND HAMLETS--VIEGE-TOUR

TEMAGNE-CASCADE-SION-MARTIGNY-ST.

MAURICE-

FIRST VIEW OF THE LAKE OF GENEVA-ST. GINGOUX-ROCKS OF MEILLERIE-SOUTHERN SHORE OF THE LAKE-EVIAN-~ THONON--DISTANT VIEW OF MONT BLANC--ARRIVAL AT GE

NEVA.

October, 1826.—At sunrise on the morning of the 12th, we resumed our journey, through the Haut-Valais. Brigue is about forty miles from the source of the Rhone, which rises among the glaciers, to the north of St. Gothard. The river is here comparatively small, bearing the character of a mountain torrent. Its water is very nearly of the same complexion as at Lyons. The vale through which it flows, even before reaching the Lake of Geneva, is one of the most extensive, as well as the deepest, in Europe. Its length, running in nearly a direct line from east to west, is something more than a hundred miles, and its breadth from four to six or seven. There is little variety in the great outlines of its formation and scenery. The Alps on the southern side, and the Helvetian mountains to the north, rise in continuous chains, to the height of seven, eight, and sometimes even ten thousand feet. They present bold, precipitous, and impassable barriers to the vale, except where torrents have burst through the ramparts, and swept the ruins into the Rhone. The river has been buffeted from side to side by the debris, brought down by these deluges from the mountains, the beds of which are often many rods in width, strewed with sand, rocks, and uprooted forests. One of the most hideous is denominated "the Devil's Garden;" but it looks more like the ruined fortresses of Milton's archangels, subverted and demolished by the arm of the Almighty. The Alps are less savage in aspect, than the glaciers upon the opposite bank of the Rhone. While the sides of the former are often clothed half way to their summits with

[blocks in formation]

dwarfish fir, the latter exhibit only sterile masses of rock and snow, without a trace of vegetation. Enormous crags and needles, in the shape of pyramids, too pointed to afford lodgment to accumulated ice, pierce the crust and rise like grey battlements along the eternal ramparts. It is impossible to conceive an image of more desolate and gloomy grandeur, than this castellated region, this throne of perpetual winter, presents to the eye. The verdure of the Alps is the more remarkable, since their giant peaks throw their sides and bases, which here have a northern exposure, into the shade for a considerable part of the day. We rode in their deep and chill shadows, for the first three hours this morning, without seeing the sun, except as it shot a beam through the serrated summits; while the opposite glaciers were glittering with the most dazzling brightness. It is indeed a glorious prospect, to look back on St. Gothard, towering at the source of the Rhone, and forward, through the long vista of mountains, to the utmost limits of vision.

The fertility of the Valais furnishes an astonishing contrast to the desolate barriers of rock and ice, by which it is enclosed. Rich alluvial plains, shaded with trees of a large growth; fields neatly cultivated, teeming with corn, vineyards, fruits, and flowers; green pastures, filled with flocks and herds, frequently meet the eye of the traveller, where he would look only for frost and sterility. We saw the peasantry engaged in mowing a second crop of grass, gathering yellow tresses of maize, or busy with the vintage, while the labours of the harvest were liable to be interrupted by the descent of avalanches.

The population of the Vale appears to be sparse; and most of the agricultural labour is performed by females, whose husbands, fathers, and brothers perhaps are filling the Austrian or French regiments, or crowding to the shores of other countries as emigrants. Those who are left behind seem to be industrious, frugal, and temperate in their habits; simple and courteous in their manners. Every person who met us on the road, old and young, male and female, offered some kind of a salutation, by lifting the hat, bowing, or bidding a kind good-morrow. In features, the peasantry bear marks of severe toil and a rigorous climate. Their costumes are peculiarly fantastic. The women wear, in the house as well as abroad, a small straw hat, with a silk band, cut in scallops. The number of beggars indicates more po

« AnteriorContinuar »