II.-Alpine Mountains and Valleys-Snow Fields-Morning in the Alps-Eveuing in the Alps-Winter in the Alps-Glaciers-Motion of the Glaciers-Moraines- Avalanches-The People of Switzerland III.-The Jura Mountains-Crossed to St. Cergues-Nyon-First Sight of the Lake of Geneva-The City—Its Edifices—Island of Rousseau-Historical Associations of IV.-Lake Leman-A Voyage on it-Lausanne-Vevay-Festival of the Vine-dressers- The Castle of Chillon, and its Prisoners-Villeneuve-First Sight of Mont Blanc- Lake Loman in a Calm and in a Storm-Port du Sex and Bovarct-Meillerie- V.-Route from Geneva to Chamouni-Bonneville-Cluses-Grotto of Balme-Nant d'Arpenas-St. Martin-St. Gervais-Col de Bonhomme-Naut Noir-Servoz- Mont Buet-Another Route-Col d'Auterne—The Valley of Chamouni VI.-Mont Blanc-The First Ascent of the Mountain-Subsequent Ascents-The Course taken, and the Peril encountered in the Ascent and Descent VII.-Route to Martigny-The Tête Noire-Overflow of the Dransc VIII.-The Val d'Aosta-Magnificent View of Mont Blanc-Ascent of the Col de la Seigne.. 101 IX.-The Ascent of the Col du Géant-St. Didier-Pass of the Little St. Bernard-Scene X.-Route from Martigny to the Hospice of the Great St. Bernard-Its Visitants and Monks-Dogs of the Hospice-the Morgue. Switzerland a Country of singular Beauty and Diversity-Ascents of Mountains-l'henomena of the Glaciers 124, 144 XI.—Animals of the Alpine Regions-the Chamois, the Marmot, the Lynx, and the Goat- 173 XVII.-Cascade of Giessbach-The Valley of Lauterbrunnen-The Staubbach--The Jungfrau 251 XVIII.-The Valley of Grindelwald-Its Glaciers-The Faulhorn-Passage of the Strahleck 269 XIX.-Valley of Oberhasli-Meyringen-The Pastures of the Alps-Flax-growing-Amuse- XX.-The Pass of the Brunig-The Ascent of the Grimsel-Its Hospice XXI.-A Day at the "Hôtel des Neuchatelois" 277 296 306 XXVIII.-Bâle-Solcuro-Aarau--The Town and Falls of Schaffhausen 367 383 398 XXXII.-The Canton of the Grisons-Coire-Mayenfeld-Country of Davos-Col Fluella .. 460 XXXIII.-The Pass of the Splugen-The Pass of Bernhardina-The Valley of Misocco XXXIX.-Lombardy-Verona-Padua-Mantua-Cremona XL.-The Lakes of Lombardy: Garda, Como, Maggiore, and Lugano THE ALPS. SWITZERLAND, SAVOY, PIEDMONT, AND LOMBARDY. CHAPTER I. MOUNTAIN-RANGES-FORMATION OF THE CLOUDS THE DESERT CHANGED THE SNOW-LINESWITZERLAND THE ROUTE TAKEN TO THE NORTH OF ITALY. THE impression produced by the beauty, grandeur, or sublimity of a chain of lofty mountains, is ordinarily unaccompanied by a sense of their vast importance in the entire economy of the globe. Contemplated, indeed, when these eminences are attired in their beautiful verdure, when they appear dotted with human habitations, or when flocks graze on their sides, the idea of their utility may be apparent, especially when the marks of culture are scattered over their surface. But when they lift their bare summits to the cold, clear sky; when they are wrapped in a mantle of drifted snow; when a dense mist renders them invisible; when their scanty clothing is a poor and stunted herbage; and when there is no trace either of the feet of animals, or the traversings and toils of human kind; then the only purpose of these immense elevations, as they tower aloft from the rich and fertile plain, appears to be to add a charm of loveliness or majesty to the scene, as the light fades on their azure coverings, as they are radiant in the sunshine, or they are thickly veiled by the storm. around, with all his Had they not existed, And yet, "God is on the mountains," scattering there and munificence, his rich and precious gifts on the children of men. and had the earth's surface presented only one mass of granite or lava, the limestone, clay, and sandstone, now so admirably intermixed to secure the beauty and fertility of the globe, and the welfare of man as its inhabitant, would have found no place; while the inestimable treasures of minerals, salt, and coal, would have been wholly inaccessible, and of all these essential elements of industry and civilisation we should have been utterly destitute. The mountain-ranges-an immense and exhaustless depository of instruments for man's advancement in the scale of being-are as certainly bulwarks of defence to the outspreading valley and the plain. For when his lot is cast on the face of countries near the poles, they form a grateful screen from blasts of fatal bitterness; and when B |