the scenery changes as he proceeds; the precipitous banks, enormous rocks, the rapids and cataracts, and the mountain prospects of the upper valley, yield to sloping banks, which sometimes expand almost into a plain, a broad and generally smooth-flowing river, and prospects which partake of the beautiful rather than of the sublime. The land of the lower valley between Botzen and Trent is rich in corn and wine.

Trent is an ancient and picturesque town, most agreeably situated on the Adige; its embattled walls, by which it is still surrounded, its church-towers, palaces, and ruined castle, have, at a distance, a stately appearance. It is a bishop's see, the chief town of a circle, and has a population of 12,000, who for the most part speak Italian.

On proceeding from Trent towards the the south, the scenery becomes richer and softer, the productions of the soil grow in greater luxuriance, and the fruits in greater perfection; but, perhaps, the change is most marked in the appearance of the inhabitants. We are still in the Tyrol, but the firm step and independent air of the Tyrolean of the upper valleys are no longer observable here. "We do not see the man who labours for little, but who labours nevertheless; we see them who would rather not labour at all; who are tainted with the idleness of the south. Obsequiousness takes the place of hauteur, mendicity comes in the room of independence; the open and fair countenance is exchanged for a darker tinge and a narrower visage; and instead of the smart costume of the north, we become accustomed to a negligent apparel, and even to rags."

The road between Trent and Roveredo is lined on both sides with walls, eight or nine feet high, which conceal the country, full of beauties, from the notice of the traveller. As he approaches Roveredo another change is perceived; he finds himself in the environs of a manufacturing town. "The signs can never be mistaken;-traffic on the road, new houses, large square high buildings, smoke, and a crowded population, in whose air and countenances even it is not difficult to read manufactures."

The road between Roveredo and Riva is said to be one of the most beautiful and interesting roads in Europe; it includes every variety of scenery, the beautiful, the picturesque, and the sublime. At the distance of a few leagues from Roveredo, the great road and the valley of the Adige cross the Tyrolean frontier, and lead to Verona; the road to Riva and the Lago di Garda leaves the road to Italy on the left, crosses the river, and climbs the mountain range that bounds the valley on the right. "I left Roveredo a little after mid-day, and passed through a rich fruit country to the bank of the Adige. I noticed at almost every door girls sitting winding silk, and dividing their light labour with the recreation of eating the mellow pears or juicy cherries that lay beside them. It was still a country of mulberries and vines and fruit, but now the olive began to appear, indicating another step in the scale of climate. About an hour after leaving Roveredo we reached the bank of the Adige, which we crossed by a ferry. The scenery is here imposing,-the rich fertile banks that lie on the left being finely contrasted with the mountainous aspect of the country on the farther side. After crossing the Adige, I passed through a succession of very wild and desolate scenes; a narrow lake winds out and in among the steep rocks, which are covered only with wild shrubs, while the road climbs up the mountain that towers above. I passed through two very wretched villages, one of them, however, a place of considerable size; every one seemed idling,some of the women were sitting at the doors combing each other's hair, and the men were lying in the shade eating cherries.

"Leaving these villages we still continued to ascend among rugged rocky steeps, till at length having reached the summit, the magnificent prospect to the south-west opened before us. Directly below lay the Lago di Garda, blue, and calm, and beautiful, its head cradled in the midst of the gigantic mountains of the Tyrol, and its lower extremity reposing upon the softer scenes of Italy, and across the head of the lake the broken and shapeless character of the huge rocks and mountains offered a scene of the most savage grandeur." From the spot where this prospect opens, the descent to the banks of the lake is of extraordinary steepness; the road then winds along the head of the lake, and crosses the river Scarca, which feeds it before it reaches Riva.

SECTION 7.

EXCURSION TO THE ORTLER SPITZ, AND THE PASS OF
MONTE STELVIO.

On proceeding from Meran to Glurns, Mr. Inglis was particularly struck with the fine athletic forms and highly intellectual countenances of the peasantry: their costume, too, was entirely national, and showed off the wearers to advantage. One reason for the peculiarly straight, upright, and well proportioned figures of the natives of the upper valleys is said to be this; all the children in arms are carried extended upon a wooden board, which admirably preserves the back from bending, and saves the spine the exertion of supporting itself before it has acquired strength. It is, also, the invariable rule in the Tyrol, not to allow a child to walk until it be at least a year old, so that the limbs, as well as the back, are the object of care.

On first leaving Meran the traveller finds himself in a vine country, but fertile too in all other productions. Indian corn covers the land, and the vines are trained in arches above. A great part of the road extends under a vine bower, the plant being trained overhead, so that even the breadth of the road is not lost. On emerging from these bowers, and continuing to ascend, the vine disappears; Indian corn yields to barley and grass, and a beautiful pastoral country stretches upward.

At this spot the river Adige presents the magnificent spectacle of a rapid, almost a cataract, extending nearly a mile in length. "It is one continued sheet of foam, rushing with a deafening noise and resistless force, between quiet, green, pastoral banks, resembling more the shores of a gentle lake than of a cataract." All this part of the country

is liable to destructive inundations from the rise of the Adige, and also to dreadful devastations from the mountain carried away, so as to render it quite impossible for any streams that pour into it. In some places the road is kind of vehicle to pass, and half fields of grain, and the soil along with them, are sometimes swept into the Adige, so uncertain is the tenure by which the people of these upland valleys hold their possessions.

of upland valleys, like so many steps, every one higher than From a place called Latch, there is a regular succession another; and the character of every one, owing, of course, to the influence of temperature, with crops more scanty, and hamlets and cottages poorer. "You come to a cataract; and the road ascends by its side; then a new reach of half a league, or a league, presents itself, and a higher valley; then another cataract, another ascent, and another valley same in ascending to the sources of all rivers. still more upland, and so on: but indeed this is nearly the Many charming pastoral pictures were presented to me among these uplands-resting places yet, in the long vista of memory. Rich scenery has its charm; and rocks, and woods, and precipices-the picturesque or the sublime-have their charms also: but I do not know that any of these possess so perfect and abiding a charm as the green, quiet, pastoral slopes; treeless and unornamented, with only their brawling stream, and the flocks that stray over the hills."

On approaching Glurns, castles become numerous, as is generally the case near the frontier of a country. There is one of extraordinary size, the property of Count Trappe, which occupies the whole summit of an extensive height: it is yet habitable, and sometimes inhabited for the sake of hunting in the neighbourhood. Near this castle stands the village of Glurns.

From Glurns, the traveller may conveniently visit the Ortler Spitz, and the great military road over Monte Stelvio, of which mention was made in our former Supplement.

The Great Ortler Spitz ranks as the third summit in the chain of European Alps. Its elevation is fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty-six feet above the level of the sea. It rises from an extensive range of high glaciers, but is not to be viewed with advantage from the valleys at its foot, as their extreme narrowness prevents the spectator gaining such a point of view as would give the mountain the full advantage of its great height.

The first ascent of this colossal mountain was made in the year 1804. The Archduke John of Austria had authorized Dr. Gebhard, a scientific gentleman, to pass into this corner of the Tyrol, and procure information as to the practicability of the ascent. He accordingly examined all the valleys descending from the flanks of the mountains. Insurmountable difficulties seemed to oppose the project, and though a reward was offered to any one who could gain the summit, no one was found sufficiently hardy to effect the enterprise.

Dr. Gebhard seems to have despaired of success, when suddenly a chamois hunter, named Pichler, a native of the Passeyrthal, offered himself for the service. His known character as a fearless and skilful hunter obtained him the assistance of two peasants of the Zillerthal; and, on the 27th of September, he set off from Drofui. Between ten and eleven o'clock A. M., they reached the highest point. The difficulty of breathing was so great that they were only able to make a halt of five minutes; but they employed this short interval in observing the barometer. At eight o'clock in the evening they were again at Drofui. Fatigue had almost deprived them of the power of speech; for they had been, during seventeen hours, in almost incessant motion over rock, snow, and ice, and often in the most appalling danger. The two barometers on the summit tallied exactly; and corresponding observations were made at Malo. At the time of Mr. Latrobe's visit, Pichler was still living, and was described as being in his movements more like a goat than a human being. From fifty to sixty chamois, in the course of the summer, were his usual spoil.

In the course of the following summer, Dr. Gebhard ascended the Great Ortler three several times, choosing his path by the Suldnerthal, from which flank it is much more accessible. Its geological formation is a dark grey lime

stone.

Mr. Latrobe, in his visit to this mountain, advanced up the ravine which forms the only approach to the base of the glaciers from the northward, though it has two distinct heads, separated by buttresses of the Ortler: the westernmost that of Drofui; and the easternmost, that of Sulden. The great glacier, descending into the latter, is recorded to have suddenly made an advance of nearly five miles in the course of the year 1823.

"Beyond Drofui, the head of the valley opens into a kind of basin, overhung by impending glaciers; the Ortler Spitz rises to the left, and before you lies the long waste of ice and snow, stretching between the latter and the Madatsch Spitz, a singular black mass of rock, starting abruptly from the breast of the snowy mountain, directly over the further end of the valley. Extensive glaciers descend on either side of it toward the base. The acclivities are partially covered with larch forest, and furrowed by immense earth slides. You are too much under the Ortler to see it with advantage. "In these elevated valleys, lying under the shadow of the huge mountains to the southward, spring makes its appearance at a very advanced period of the year. At that cheering and delicious season, when the face of nature appears to smile under the influence of genial suns and fruitful showers in the lower and more favoured portions of these regions, and upon the vast plains at their feet,-the gales of winter are still moaning in these awful solitudes. And while other lands put on their fresh covering of verdure, a fearful contrast is afforded by the broad work of desolation which here heralds the close of winter. There is no early verdure-no cheerful song of birds; but the frequent avalanche, the bursting and encroaching glacier, and the fall of rocks, are the tokens of the sun's return.

"The great military road over the Stilfser-joch, or Monte Stelvio, now turns to the right, up the north side of a ravine, descending from the westward, and opposite to an enormous and precipitous pile of rock, forming the shoulder of the Madatsch-berg. After clearing the first angle of the mountain, by following its windings, you arrive at a small inn, from whence the eye commands the depth and termination of the ravine before you, and the whole course of this astonishing route to the summit of the ridge, in a series of interminable zig-zags, lessening in the perspective. The sun was getting to its full power, and as I surmounted turn after turn, I felt that some fatigue would be incurred before I stood on the boundary between the Tyrol and the Thal Tellina. The forests ceased with the valley of Drofui, but to them succeed slopes, covered with a vegetation of such brilliancy and beauty that I could not but be amused. Many rare plants, found only upon the southern Alps, crowd the sod at the side of the road.

"Long, however, before the five miles, at which the ascent is calculated, had been surmounted, the herbage grew thinner, and at length ceased altogether, giving place to rock and shale, which returned the hot sun-beams with interest. The greater portion of the last league presented a singular and astonishing example of human labour. Half the width of road is for the most part covered in by strongly coustructed wooden galleries, with roofs and supports sufficiently massive to resist the pressure of descending ava

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| lanches, to which this slope is very subject. This need not be wondered at, when the great height of this ridge, over which this great undertaking is carried, is recollected. The glaciers descending from the flanks of the Madatsch-berg, had long been under my feet, and, when breathless and exhausted, I stood upon the highest point, I seemed nearly upon the same level as the waste of glaciers from which the principal summits are seen to arise. They almost may be said to border the route. The extreme height of the pass is nine thousand and ninety-one feet above the level of the sea, and consequently the road over Monte Stelvio is by far the most elevated in Europe. It has been but recently constructed at an enormous expense by the Austrian government, to enable the troops of that power to pass from the heart of Germany into the Milanese, without infringing upon the territories of any neutral power. The Swiss have long and nobly resisted the cession of the neighbouring Monte Brauglio to facilitate the purpose."

As the ridge is computed to rise nearly eight hundred feet above the snow line, the road is said to be scarcely practicable for troops or heavy stores for longer than a period of eight weeks in the height of summer.

The following interesting details respecting this road are given in Mr. Murray's Hand Book:

"On the summit of the pass, at a height of 9272 feet above the level of the sea, and nearly 800 above the line of perpetual snow, stands a solitary house of refuge, one story high, inhabited by an inspector of the road. It is the highest permanent habitation in the European continent. The frontier line separating Lombardy from Tyrol is marked by an obelisk. The view from this point of the Ortler Spitz,-the third of European mountains in height, 14,400 feet above the sea level, -seen from top to bottom surrounded by subordinate peaks clad in snow, and with glaciers streaming from his sides, is inconceivably grand. The portion of the road from Bormio to the summit was completed within four years; but the works could only be carried on for about four months each year: the cost was 449,000 florins*. In order to protect the road, it is here covered with a solid roof of timber, extending half over it, and sloping at such an angle as to prevent the snow lodging, and assist in turning it on one side. The Tyrolese side of the pass is far steeper than the Italian, and nearly fifty zigzags or tourniquets (giravolte) are constructed between the summit and Gomagoi, in order to preserve a gradual descent. By this means, the fall never exceeds ten inches in a hundred, and the post horses can trot down with only one wheel locked. A post-house, originally built among these turnings, called 'Bey den Wandeln,' was destroyed in 1826 by an avalanche, and has not since been rebuilt; it was constructed with the utmost solidity, in order to resist the weight of any snow which might fall upon it. The event proved the impossibility of any human structure withstanding so fearful an engine of nature, as the house was crushed to atoms, and the postmaster found dead with a rock upon his breast which ten men could not move. His two hostlers, who were in the stable at the time, were saved almost by a miracle. Had the building been constructed with a sloping roof, so as to assist the descent of the avalanche, instead of opposing its progress, it might have escaped."

"It is not the most picturesque of the passes of the Alps," says Mr. Latrobe, "but certainly one of the most singular. The engineer was an Italian, of the name of Donegani. From this point, the Ortler is seen to much greater advantage, rising directly opposite, with a roundish summit to a vast height. Yet I cannot but own that I was disappointed. The whole form and colour of the rocks of these mountains is far from being picturesque, and they conveyed to my mind an impression at the time of forming so many enormous piles of cinders half covered with snow. Light fleecy clouds were in motion over this and the other elevated summits, sailing majestically along till they reached the highest ridges, when they flew with increased velocity, which showed there must be a strong wind playing around them. The finest point of view for the Great Ortler is probably the passage at the head of the Vintschgaw, between Glurns and Nauders."

The neighbourhood of Glurns, and the country between it and Nauders, is a very populous upland. On the same wide slope as that on which Glurns lies, there are three other considerable villages; and on advancing higher, every slope is found to possess its village; and even on the very highest of them, whence gush out the sources of the Adige, one or two hamlets are found.

The value of the florin is about two shillings, English.

There is also everywhere evidence of great industry in the cultivation of such crops as the climate will bear.

The principal source of the Adige is a narrow mountain lake, surrounded by a scanty vegetation and a few firs. From the basin of the lake, the country declines on both sides to Glurns and to Nauders, to the valley of the Adige and to the valley of the Inn. A rapid descent conducts the traveller down to Nauders by the margin of a rivulet, which hurries towards the Inn through deep grass valleys. From Nauders the traveller may visit the celebrated pass called the Finstermünz. It consists of a crack or cleft in the mountains 2800 feet above the sea, through which the Inn forces its way out of the Engadine (a province of Switzerland) into Tyrol. "The river is literally jammed in between lofty precipices, which at the lower extremity of the defile are spanned by a narrow bridge. Close to it is a group of antiquated dilapidated buildings, consisting of a tower and gateway under which the road passes, a hostelry of very humble pretensions, and a chapel. At this, the narrowest part of the gorge, the precipices almost meet over head, and below the rocks are worn away and scooped out, evidently by the force of water, but at a height far above the present level of the river. Indeed, on viewing this sublime scene, it is difficult to form any other opinion of its origin, than that of supposing the waters of the upper valley of the Engadine to have burst through the opposing mountains, and thus forced a passage for themselves. At one spot, where the cliffs overhang their base, the road is carried under a gallery, roofed with solid timbers, to protect it from falling fragments of rock. The river rushes and roars along the base of a precipice many fathoms below the carriage way. The Finstermünz yields in grandeur to the Via Mala alone of all the defiles of the Alps. So precipitous are the sides of the fissure, that the road, after a short space, quits the side of the Inn, and turns to the left through a minor but not less sublime glen, which leads to Nauders. The angle of the road above the junction of the two rivers is the most magnificent point of view in the whole defile. Near this the pass has been fortified by a wall, bored with loop-holes for musketry, extending down to the road. The Austrian Government, regarding this as one of the portals into Tyrol, intend, it is believed, to maintain and strengthen these fortifications."

Mr. Inglis thus notices the Finstermünz:-"Nothing can exceed the union of the picturesque and the grand which this extraordinary defile presents. So deep does the Inn flow, so gigantic are the rocks that form the defile,that, without any poetical exaggeration, the stream does appear like a glistening thread; the rocks, too, are entirely covered with wood; and among many cascades, there is one not less than five hundred feet in height. I gathered abundance of magnificent wild pinks here, almost as large and quite as fragrant as carnations; and columbine, which halt covers the banks; and mountain dahlia, and mint, and many other beautiful and sweet-smelling flowers."

In comparing the Tyrol with Switzerland, travellers generally agree with Mr. Inglis, that in the charm of sterile grandeur-of sublimity, unmixed with the picturesque or the beautiful, the Tyrol will bear no comparison with Switzerland; but as regards the picturesque, and the union of the beautiful with the picturesque, the claims of the Tyrol are higher. In all the charms which rocks, woods, and running water are capable or producing, the Tyrol may fairly compete with Switzerland, while the numerous castles and ruins that are scattered over it undoubtedly add to the picturesque, one feature that is wanting in Switzerland: but this is more than counterbalanced by the absence of lakes. In the charm of richness and beauty adorned by the picturesque, the Tyrol has also higher claims: "the productions of nature are more varied, and in greater perfection, and fertility extends over a greater space. The Swiss valleys are more numerous than they are in the Tyrol; but they are more contracted. There are no valleys in Switzerland, like those of the Inn, or the Adige, seventy or eighty miles in length, and in many places eight or ten miles wide."

"But in all that regards the people, the Tyrol seems to be a more interesting country than Switzerland. In these days, when the continent of Europe is almost one highway, it is difficult to find the people among whom foreign customs have not been introduced, and among whom we find both national manners and national costume; and, with the exception of Spain, the Tyrol is alone, I think, entitled to this distinction; and possesses, therefore, an interest that is peculiarly its own."