of the way. We were on foot, and the mules walked before, with the heavy carriage and the ladies. So excellent and easy is the road, that we could only walk fast enough to keep up with the carriage. As we continued to asrend, the cold rapidly increased, and before 12 o'clock the path was filled with snow and ice, and the summits of the mountains around us, presented a cheerless and dreary prospects of winter scenery. Near the top of the mountain we crossed a plain two miles in extent, and a little lake; now frozen, and heaped with such immense -drifts of snow, that unless it had been pointed out to us, dwe should have passed it unnoticed. Upon this plain we passed fifty or sixty laborers, whose duty it is to keep the road clear at all seasons. This plain is at present covered with snow and ice, but we understand -in the summer, is bare between three and four months, The hills around it, which are from one thousand to sixteen hundred feet more elevated, are covered with everdasting frost. Upon the plain near the lake, Bonaparte erected a substantial building, Hotel Royèle, for the accommodation of travellers. We found here a good fire, ? which we much needed. In consequence of the long ex-ercise in ascending the mountains, or perhaps from the tenuity of the air at such an immense altitude, we felt extraordinary appetite, and took a breakfast of boiled eggs and coffee, with many hearty encomiums upon the hospiictable landlady; who also produced for our particular >gratification, some of the cheese, made from the milk of cows fed upon the pastures of the high Alps. It is peculiar in its flavor, and the company all agreed, they had never tasted better. It is as high flavored as the

1

celebrated parmazan, so well known to epicures,

The family who entertained us on this occasion, and who keep the present Hotel Royèle, are the fifth generation of the same descent, who have inhabited this bleak region, and kept a house for the accommodation of travellers. Their condition has been greatly improved by Bonaparte; but the landlady assures us, her ancestors were not discontented with their situation; nor had a wish to exchange it, for the boasted advantages of any of the neighboring valleys. The woman, who seemed to have the chief management of the establishment, spoke in raptures of the purity of the air and the healthfulness of the situation. I never saw a more perfect picture of health than herself. She was rather gross and short, her face remarkably full, round, and florid. The children had all the same peculiarities of countenance. I presume this remarkable conformation, is owing to the diminished atmospheric pressure under which they live. We imagined, an uncommon degree of vivacity and buoyancy of mind, was evinced, both by the mother, and the children, which we were disposed to refer to the same cause.

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LETTER XXXV.

Passage of the Alps continued--Houses of refuge---Place of deposit for merchandize--Descent of the Alps-Chamberry-Alpine scenery—Descent of the Alps continued-Scales of Savoy-Submontane excavation-Pont de Beauvoisin-Custom-house adventure-Verpiliere.

AFTER leaving the Hotel Royéle, we passed a number of houses, erected by Bonaparte as places of refuge for

travellers who might be benighted or overtaken by storms; and we were assured that many individuals, and families, had escaped inevitable destruction by seeking their shelter. We were now astonished, to find ourselves upon the very summit of the Alps, to which we had insensibly ascended; deceived by the admirable construction of the road, we climbed these mountains once deemed almost inacessible, without even changing our horses. The cold was so extreme, that we were glad to get into our carriage and wrap ourselves in our box coats. In two hours from the Hotel Royèle, we began to descend. On the brow of Mt. Cenis we passed a small vallage; a place of deposit and exchange for the productions of both sides of the Alps. Cold and fatigued, we arrived at the place called St. Michaels, where we slept. Every thing around this village, showed that a severe winter was just past. The frost was not quite out of the ground, and the road broken and undermined by winter torrents. Before we retired to rest, we observed the mud around the door of the inn, so much frozen, that we could walk upon it, and we slept with our chamber windows closed. Indeed, every thing had changed since we ascended the Alps, and we breathed the air of another, and more inhospitable climate. The surrounding scenery constantly reminded us of the change we had so rapidly passed, and we saw in the physiognomy of the inhabitants, the strong lineaments of a race accustomed to bodily toils, and inclemencies of weather. Although the ice and snow covered the road, and in many places was of such thickness that we journeyed through galleries excavated in solid ice, yet we were assured that the whole, melts away, and the inhabitants. enjoy a delightful summer, of between three and four

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months. At 6 o'clock we passed a small village, Lancbourg, at this season below the boundary of snow. tinuing still a rapid descent another post, we reached St. Michaels at a later hour than we have before found it necessary to continue our journey, and in consequence of unusual fatigue, ordered fire, which was brought by two Goitrous servants, More than half the individuals at this place were laboring under this deformity, but many have only a slight enlargement about the neck, which would not be observed unless by a person who attended particularly to the subject. In the worst cases it does not seem to impair the health, ba

May 3. The descent of the Alps is not as rapid as on the Italian side. We travelled all day among Alpine mountains and arrived after sun set at Chamberry, the capital of the department of Mont Blanc, in Savoy.” It contains ten or twelve thousand inhabitants, and the general appearance of the city is mean. A number of houses are ornamented with piazzas, but most of the buildings are small, and the streets, crooked, confined and narrow. We yet feel an uncomfortable degree of cold in consequence of the vicinity of the Alps, and observe the pea santry disfigured with Goitres.

The scenery of these Alpine regions possess astonishing variety and grandeur. The summits of the high Alps, in all places covered with snow, give a remark able and characteristic aspect to these mountain solitudes. As the Alps have greater height and extent, they afford more imposing views, than any mountains I have before seen. It is impossible for language to give an adequate description of these everlasting monuments of the greatness of the Creator.

The traveller lingers in astonishment and admiration; his spirit is exalted by the grandeur which surrounds him, and every faculty of the soul, expands in devotion to the sovereign of the universe.

I am to part with my friend the Admiral, at this place. He will visit the baths of Aix, where he is to remain a few weeks on account of his health.

May 4-After exchanging kind wishes, we took leave of the Admiral, and left Chamberry before it was quite light. Lonely and a stranger I joined the party in the diligence. Mons. Paul, with the lady and her children, and the silent old gentleman, for he had not yet spoken, remained in the diligence; and two ladies, a woman from Paris and her daughter, a beautiful lass of eighteen, were added to our party. They have accepted the gallant tender of the protection of Mons. P. quite to Paris; consequently I am provided with travelling companions.

The descent still continued after leaving Chamberry, and we could perceive a rapid amelioration of climate; but at no time have we felt the mild air peculiar to the south side of the Alps. At 11 o'clock we arrived at the last pass of the Alps, called the Scales of Savoy. The road here crosses a rocky precipice, which was never ascended or descended by any carriage, without its being hoisted by ropes, until improved by the late Emmanual, Duke of Savoy. During the dominion of Bonaparte in Italy, this ridge, which seems designed by nature as a barrier between two nations, was nearly annihilated, by a perforation through the solid mountain, large enough for a, military road. The excavation was continued with infinite expense and labour, near half a mile in length.