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until at length he remains in the water 8 hours a day-4 before breakfast and 4 after dinner. The usual cure time (kur) is about 3 weeks. The want of the accommodation of private baths, and the necessity of preventing the ennui of such an amphibious existence, if passed in solitude, has led to the practice of bathing in common. The principal bath-house is a large shed divided into 4 compartments or baths, each about 20 ft. square, and capable of holding 15 or 20 persons. To each of these baths there are two entrances, communicating with dressing-rooms, one for the ladies, the other for the gentlemen. Along the partitions dividing the baths runs a a slight gallery, into which any one is admitted, either to look on or converse with the bathers below. The stranger will be amazed, on entering, to perceive a group of some 12 or 15 heads emerging from the water, on the surface of which float wooden tables, holding coffee-cups, newspapers, snuff-boxes, books, and other aids, to enable the bathers to pass away their alloted hours with as small a trial to their patience as possible. The patients, a motley company, of all ages, both sexes, and various ranks, delicate young ladies, burly friars, invalid officers, and ancient dames, are ranged around the sides on benches, below the water, all clad in long woollen mantles, with a tippet over their shoulders. It is not a little amusing to a bystander to see people sipping their breakfasts, or reading the newspapers, up to their chins water-in one corner a party at chess, in another an apparently interesting tête-à-tête, is going on; while a solitary sitter may be seen reviving in the hot water a nosegay of withered flowers. The temperature of the bath is preserved by a supply of fresh water constantly flowing into it, from which the patients drink at times. Against the walls are hung a set of regulations and sumptuary laws for the preservation of order and decorum in the baths, signed by the bur-* gomaster, who enforces his authority by the threat of a fine of 2fr. for the highest offence against his code.

"Ar. 7. Personne ne peut entrer dans ces bains sans être revêtue d'une chemise longue, et ample, d'une étoffe grossière, sous peine de 2 fr. d'amende.

"Ar. 9. La même peine sera encouru par ceux qui n'en entreraient pas, ou n'en sortiraient pas d'une manière decente."

Four hours of subaqueous penance are, by the doctor's decree, succeeded by one hour in bed; and many a fair nymph in extreme négligé, with stockingless feet, and uncoifed hair, may be encountered crossing the open space between the bath and the hotels. From their condition one might suppose they had been driven out of doors by an alarm of fire, or some such threatening calamity.

The principal curiosity of the neighbourhood is the Ladders (Leitern), A rough path through the woods, on the 1. or E. side of the Dala, about 1 1/2 mile long, leads to the foot of the precipice, which, as before observed, hems in the valley of Leuk on all sides, as with a colossal wall. Upon the summit of this precipice, however, stands a village, called Albinen; and the only mode by which its inhabitants can communicate directly with the baths, is by a series of 8 or 10 ladders placed perpendicularly against the face of the cliff. It can hardly be called difficult to climb to the top, but it would not do for any of weak nerves, and a dizzy head, as inany rounds of the ladder are loose, others broken; and the ladders themselves, which are pinned to the crevices of the rock by hooked sticks, are often awry and very unsteady : yet they are traversed at all seasons, day and night, by the inhabitants of the village above-by men as well as women and children, often with heavy burdens. The use of the ladders, which the nature of the sides of the valley render indispensable, has given rise to a singular modification of the dress of the female peasants, which here includes those nether habiliments confined in other parts of the world to men and shrews. Nor are they ashamed of this portion of their attire, as, in climbing the mountains, the petticoat is tucked up, and the wearers do not differ in appearance from boys.

The rocky pass, called Felsen Gallerie, on the opposite side of the Dala, on the way to Siders, near Inden, is a very striking scene.

Mules are kept at the baths, under the direction of a commissaire, to transport travellers the prices are fixed by a printed tariff (S 10).

There are two ways from the baths into the valley of the Rhone and the road of the Simplon--the one follows the course of the Dala torrent through the centre of the valley, and conducts, in about 9 miles, to the village of Leuk: it is just passable for a char-à-bane, but is very rough.

2 2/3 Leuk (Inns: Kreutz; Stern)—a village of 620 inhabitants, on the rt. bank of the Rhone, near its junction with the Dala. A covered bridge over the Rhone connects it with the Simplon road (Route! 59). Above it are ruins of two casties, destroyed by the Vallaísans in 1414.

The other, a mule-path carried along the W. side of the valley of the Dala, but high above that river, conducts at once to the town of Sierre (Siders), 15 miles distant, and is a short cut for those who wish to descend the valley of the Rhone towards Martigny and Geneva. It traverses the high pasturages, and beyond them a forest of larch, and passes, first, the village of Imden, near which a most extensive view

is gained over the valley of the Rhone, its towns, villages, farms, and old castles. The unsightly debris brought down by the furious torrents issuing from the opposite valley, and the wide expanse of bare gravel overflowed by the Rhone in spring, and converted into a river-channel-but in summer left bare and arid,-give a desolate character to the scene.

Between Imden and another village, called Varen, the road makes an abrupt turn, and the traveller finds himself beneath the shadow of a most tremendous and overhanging precipice. The effect of approaching it from the side of Sierre is grand in the extreme, and totally unexpected, after turning a corner of the rock. The path is carried along a narrow ledge in front of the cliff; beneath it is a gaping abyss, extending nearly down to the bed of the Dala, and above, the rocks lean so far forward, that stones falling from their tops would deseend upon the road, and it is therefore partly protected by a roof. This spot is called the Gallerie, and was the scene of a bloody combat in 1799, when the Vallaisans defended this spot for several weeks against the French, effectually checking all attempts to pass, by rolling down stones and logs from

above.

A rough and steep descent leads from this, in about 1 1/2 hour, to Sierre, upon the Simplon road (Route 59.)

ROUTE 39.

PASS OF THE RAWYL. THUN TO SION, CROSSING THE
GRIMMI.

22 stunden-72 Eng. miles.

This pass was once more frequented than at present it is in places difficult and dangerous. It is only practicable on foot, and should not be attempted except by one of sure foot and steady nerves, nor without the aid of an experienced and stout guide.

An der Lenk, at the N. foot of the pass, is a good haltingplace; thence to Sion, over the mountain, forms a day's journey.

It is about 12 miles from Thun, along the margin of the lake (see Route 38, p. 144), to

3 1/2 Erlenbach, at the entrance of the Sinmenthal. As that valley (described in Route 41) makes a considerable curve, the shortest way to the Rawyl is to strike up the Diemtigen Thal, running nearly due S. from Erlenbach. The pass crosses the stream of the Chivel, and follows its 1. bank through Diemtigen and Narrenbach, then crosses it to

2 3/4 Thiermatten, where there is an inn. About a mile beyond this it again crosses the stream, and, leaving it on.

the 1., gradually ascends to the pass of the Grimmi (5580 ft). Descending through the Fermel Thal (a fertile valley, only 6 miles long), it reaches

3 1/2 Matten, in the Upper Simmenthal.

About 4

miles above this, on the 1. bank of the Simmen, lies the village of

1 1/4 An der Lenk (Inns Bär; Kreutz;)-beautifully situated, surrounded by high peaks and glaciers. “The wild Strubel (10,500 feet), with the waste of snowy glaciers beneath it, forms the most striking and prominent feature, rising into the air above an unusually long line of grey precipices, down which 10 or 12 cascades are seen rolling into the country at the base."-Latrobe.

The Simmen rises about 6 miles above An der Lenk, at the foot of the glacier of Räzliberg, from a source called the Seven Fountains. In the source itself there is little to compensate for the trouble of the ascent to it, but the scenery around it is of great grandeur. Between it and An der Lenk the Simmen forms several cascades.

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The direct road from Lenk over the Rawyl to Sion, a distance of 11 leagues, or 30 miles, adheres to the W. side of the valley, and instead of proceeding to the source of the Simmen, ascends by the bank of its tributary, the Iffigenbach, flowing from the S. W. to Iffigen, a group of wretched chalets, at the foot of the Rawyl (Les Ravins). A series of short zigzags lead up the mountain over fallen rocks and detached patches of snow, crossing the channel grooved by the descending avalanches; and then along a ledge, in many places not a foot broad, with a precipice on one side and an abyss on the other. "When about 1500 feet above the Iffigenthal the path becomes more and more hazardous. Here one cascade, from the higher part of the precipice, flies over the head of the passenger as he creeps between it and the rock; and there, in a black and dismal rift, round which, the pathway winds, a second falls upon the very ledge upon which you pass, and sweeps down the precipice below you. caught on this passage by a tornado, or violent thundergust, which instantly adds to the volume of these cascades, can hardly fail to entail loss of life, which, in this part particularly, not unfrequently occurs in bad weather and early in spring. After 11/2 hour's climb (from Iffigen) I reached the summit of the precipices without accident. The pathway emerged upon a flat, partly loose, wet shale, partly thick grass."-Latrobe.

To be

A bed of snow lying on the W. bank of a small lake, the Rawyl Sec, must then be crossed; an acclivity succeeds which brings you to the cross marking the summit of the pass (7450 feet).

4 1/2 The summit of the ridge, or plateau, between the N. and S. declivities, is several miles broad. Another small Jake is reached before the traveller gains the brow of the S. declivity of the mountain, consisting of precipices similar to those on the side of Berne. The view hence of the mountains on the S. side of the vale of the Rhone, especially of the Matterhorn and its glaciers, is very sublime. A zigzag path conducts down the cliffs, and then bearing away to the rt., ascends another steep mountain, passing over rough ground, and through fir forests; a walk of 4 hours from the suminit Lefore it reaches the first hamlet

41/4 Ayent-(No Inn here)-"Among the many cascades on the S. declivities of the Rawyl I noticed, in particular, one, as I descended the line of precipices, of an uncommonly fine and singular appearance, bursting out of a black cleft in the face of a broad and precipitous rock, in 5 or 6 distinct columns, and afterwards forming a fine wild tumble of foaming water."-Latrobe.

2 Sion (Route 59).

The above route is not described from personal knowledge, but chiefly from Latrobe, and some German authorities. The editor will be thankful for any personal information respecting the passes of the Rawyl and Sanetsch.

ROUTE 40.

PASS OF THE SANETSCH.-SAANEN TO SION.

101/4 stunden-341/2 English miles.

This is a walk of 8 hours without interruption; a long, steep, and tedious pass, but not dangerous, except in very bad weather. The village of Saanen (or Gessoney) and the road between it and Thun is described in Route 41.

At Staad the path turns S. by the valley of the Saane, the upper end of which is called Gsteig-Thal to

3 Gsteig-Inns: Bar; Rabe)-the highest village in it; situated close under the lofty and precipitous Mittaghorn, and near the foot of the Sanetsch, the most westerly of the passes over the Bernese chain. The direction of the path from Gsteig is S. E., still by the side of the Saane, through a confined and savage gorge, until its source passed. The summit may be reached in 1 1/2 hour.

2 1/3 The summit is 7500 feet above the sea, and presents a wild rocky solitude, unvaried by vegetation; but the view from the S. side over the chain of Alps and glaciers, from Mont Blanc to the Cervin, is very noble.

After descending for some time, skirting along under the edge of the great glacier de Champ Fleuri, the path reaches. the stream of the Morge, and crosses it to

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