NUMINI AUG--- -VM- VIA ETA PERT- It stood on the boundary-line, separating the people of the Rauraci, who extended to Bâle, from the Sequani. The archway is about 40 ft. high and 10 or 12 thick. The pass was fortified by the Austrians in 1813. 1/2 Sonceboz-(inn not very good)-a village in the Val St. İmier (Germ. Erguel), up which runs a good road to Chaux de Fonds, and out of which another branches S. to Neuchâtel from Villaret. The road to Bienne descends the valley along the 1, bank of the Süze, which forms several small cascades. The projecting rock of Rond Châtel was occupied in feudal times by a fort, and held by the powerful Bishops of Bâle, to whom it gave the command of this pass. The view from the last slope of the Jura, over Bienne, and its lake, backed in clear weather by the snowy range of the Alps, is exceedingly beautiful. 3 Bienne (Germ. Biel)-Inns: H. du Jura, outside the town, recently established, and good; -Couronne, within the town.-Bienne is prettily situated at the mouth of the valley of the Suze, at the foot of the Jura; here mantled with vines, and about a mile from the head of the lake of Bienne (Route 45). It is still surrounded by its ancient walls and watch-towers, and is approached by several shady avenues. The number of inhabitants, chiefly Protestants, amounts to 3000. The town anciently belonged to the Bishop of Bâle, but the citizens, early imbued with the spirit of freedom, formed a perpetual alliance with Berne in 1352, for the defence of their liberties, in revenge for which the town was burnt by their liege lord. The Reformation further weakened the connexion between the town and its ecclesiastical ruler, and at the beginning of the 17th century his authority became nominal. Bienne is an industrious town, situated at the junction of the high-roads from Berne, Bâle, Soleure, and Neuchâtel, between all which places there are públic conveyances daily. The new road, recently completed, along the W. shore of the lake, shortens the distance to Neuchâtel by nearly 8 miles: it passes near the Isle St. Pierre, celebrated as the residence of Rousseau, and is described in Route 45. Those who have a taste for climbing may gratify it by ascending from hence the Chasseral, one of the highest mountains of the Jura, 5616 ft. above the lake, and 4936 ft. above the sea, with the certainty of being rewarded with a magnificent view if the weather be clear, but the ascent will occupy 5 hours. Quitting Bienne the high-road first crosses the Süze, on its way into the lake, and a quarter of a mile farther on, the Thiele (Zihl), on its way out of the lake. The last is a navigable river which drains the three lakes of Bienne, Neuchâtel, and Morat, and joins the river Aar about four miles lower down. On the margin of the lake, at the outlet of the Thiele, stand Nydau-(Inn: Bear)-and its castle, flanked by round towers and surmounted by a tall square keep. The lords of Nydau, an extinct family, to whom it once belonged, were foes of Berne; their stronghold now bears on its front the Bernese bear, painted of colossal dimensions, and is converted. into the Cantonal salt-warehouse. From the slope of the hill, near Belmont, a good view is obtained of the lake and of St., Peter's Isle. 1/4 Aarbergisa town of 700 inhabitants, on a rocky promontory, nearly surrounded by the Aar, which, indeed, at high water, actually converts it into an island. The road enters and quits the town by two covered bridges. 3 1/4 BERN-in Route 24. ROUTE 2. BASLE TO SCHAFFHAUSEN, 17 1/2 stunden=56 1/2 Eng. miles. There are two roads of nearly equal length, one on the 1. bank of the Rhine, which is traversed by the daily diligence (13 hours is the time occupied in the journey); and the other on the rt. bank, through the territory of Baden, which is provided with post horses at the following stations:-Warmbach, 2 Germ. miles, -Säkingen, 2 1/2, -Waldshut, 3 1/2,Ober Lauchingen, 1 1/2,-Schaffhausen 3. The road on the Swiss side of the Rhine passes through the two villages of 2 Augst, which stand on each side of the river Ergolz, on the site of the Roman city Augusta Rauracorum, founded by Munatius Plancus, in the reign of Augustus. Its existence on this spot is sufficiently proved by the quantity of Roman remains that have been, and still are, discovered wherever the ground is turned up. There are indications of an amphitheatre, now converted into pleasure grounds; but the remains of buildings are very slight. 11/4 Rheinfelden-(Inn: Drei Könige)-a town of 1500 inhabitants, on the 1. bank of the Rhine, here crossed by a wooden bridge, above and below which the rocks in the river bed form considerable rapids and falls. On an island in the middle of the river, above the bridge, rise the ruins of the feudal Castle of Stein, which was destroyed by the army of the Swiss Confederacy in 1445. 41/4 Lauffenburg-a town of 900 inhabitants, connected by a wooden bridge with Klein Lauffenburg, on the rt. bank of the Rhine. The river is here interrupted by more rapids and falls, in German called Lauffen, whence the name of the place. Small boats descending the stream can only pass them by unloading their cargoes above, and being let down gradually by stout ropes, held by men stationed on the bank. The road here, crossing the Rhine, enters Baden and proceeds along the rt. bank to 23/4 Waldshut, a walled town of 1000 inhabitants, on the skirts of the Black Forest. A mile above this, near a small village called Coblenz (ConAuentia), the Rhine is joined by the Aar. At Waldshut our road turns away from the Rhine, and proceeds by Thiengen and Erzingen to 51/4 Neunkirch, a Swiss village, in the canton of Schaffhausen. 2 1/2 SCHAFFHAUSEN. Route 7. ROUTE 3. BASLE TO SOLEURE, THE WEISSENSTEIN, AND BIENNE, BY THE OBER HAUENSTEIN. To Soleure 12 stunden 39 1/4 English miles; thence to Bienne 3 3/4 stunde. The road, on quitting Bâle, crosses the river Birs, and proceeds along the l. bank of the Rhine till within a short distance of Augst (p. 10). where it turns S. to 3 Liesthal-Inns: Schlüssel (la Clé); -Baselstab. Chief town of the division of the canton distinguished as Bâle Campagne (Basel Landschaft), which, having revolted from the town of Båle after the July revolution, was sepa-, rated from it by an act of the Diet in 1832, though the two divisions are still regarded in the Diet but as one estate. Bâle Campagne includes 53 parishes, with about 36,000 inhabitants, or about four-fifths of the canton. Liesthal contains 2170 inhabitants, and since the Revolution has been hurriedly fitted up with the apparatus of government, a "kanzley," or chancery, an arsenal, a prison, two gens d'armes, and three sentry-boxes. The pretty and smiling valley of the Ergolz, in which it is situated, was the scene of a shocking massacre in 1833 (August 3). In consequence of the aggressions of the country people the inhabitants of Bâle town were compelled to march against them a force of about 1500 men, chiefly citizens, merchants, and shopkeepers, little skilled in the arts of war. The countrymen, having gained, intelligence of the movement, at the instigation of a number of foreign refugees, placed themselves in ambush along the sides of a narrow defile overlooking the high road. No sooner were the incautious townsmen completely enclosed within the snare, than a merciless fire was opened upon them by their enemies from behind rocks and bushes. They were instantly seized with a panic, became totally disorganised, and, throwing away their arms, attempted to save themselves by flight. Hemmed in, however, on all sides, they were completely exposed to the deadly aim of the rifles of their opponents, who picked off the officers and butchered indiscriminately many of the wounded and prisoners. While of the Bâle countrymen scarcely a man was touched, 70 of the townsmen, including some members of the first families of Båle, were killed, and 200 wounded, in an affair which, from the advantages, both of numbers and position on the side of the countrymen, deserves the name of a wholesale murder rather than of a battle. Beyond Liesthal the valley contracts and assumes a very romantic character on approaching 21/3 Waldenburg-asmall village of 600 inhabitants, at the S. base of the Jura, and at the commencement of the ascent of the Ober-Hauenstein. On the height to the E. may be seen the ruins of the castle, destroyed in 1798. The road over the Ober-Hauenstein, once formidable from the abruptness of the ascent, has been greatly improved, and the steepness of the slope so much diminished, that extra horses are unnecessary except for very heavily laden carriages. A gradualascent, easily surmounted in an hour, leads to the summit. A heavy toll, amounting to 21 batz for a carriage with two horses, is paid on crossing it. On this account the Swiss voituriers generally avoid this road. The correction which the road has undergone carries it through the village of Holderbank, lower down than the ancient route, which passed over the crest of the mountain. Down to the end of the last century so steep was the old road that loaded waggons were drawn up on one side and let down the other with a rope and windlass. 2 Ballsthal (Inns: Rössli (horse) Löwe;)-a village at the S. foot of the Hauenstein. Above it, and over the road, tower the imposing ruins of the Castle of Falkenstein; it rises midway between the two roads to Bale, by the Hauenstein and Passwang, which both unite here. This position gave to its ancient owners the power of levying black-mail upon each of these passes. It belonged at one time to Rudolph von Wart, who was broken on the wheel for his share in the murder of the Emperor Albert, and was consoled in his agony by the presence and fortitude of his wife. (See Route 6.) The castle was destroyed by the men of Basle, because a waggon, laden with saffron, belonging to their merchants, had been pillaged by the lords of Falkenstein. Bellow Ballsthal the road traverses the singular and romantic defile of Klus, a rent which severs the Jura chain from top to bottom. It derives its name from having been closed (clausus) in ancient times by gate and wall. It is of much importance, in a military point of view, as one of the main portals into Switzerland. In the middle ages it was commanded by 3 castles; that of Neu Falkenstein at its N. entrance, on the E. by the Bechburg, and on the S. by the Blauenstein, whose owners constituted themselves into tollgatherers, levying taxes on their own behalf from all who passed. At the N. of the pass stands the village of Klus, with its iron furnaces, in which the pea-like iron ore (bohnerz), so common in the Jura, is smelted. Near Klus the traveller is greeted by a fine view of the snowy chain of the Alps. The Castle of Blauenstein was built in the 12th century, by the Counts of Falkenstein, a powerful family, from which many Swiss abbots and other ecclesiastical dignitaries proceeded, while the main branch followed the profession of robber-knights. It was one of these Falkensteins who burnt the town of Brugg. The pass terminates below the small village of Aussere Klus, and the road descends into the valley of the Aar. 21/2 Wiedlisbach. 2 SOLEURE.-(Germ.Solothurn). -Inn: Couronne: the best, but not very clean. The capital of the canton is prettily situated on the Aar, at the foot of the Jura range, and has 4250 inhabitants. In the middle of the 17th century it was surrounded by fortifications of great extent, which took 60 years to complete, and consumed vast sums of money. In 1835 the removal of these costly and useless works was decreed by the Great Council of the canton, and they have already, in part, been levelled. It is on the whole a dull town, with little trade and few manufactures. The following obects are most worth notice. At the end of the principal street, approached by a flight of steps, flanked by fountains, stands the Cathedral of St. Ursus (a soldier of the Theban legion), a modern building of Italian architecture, finished 1773; distinguished by its size, and on the whole handsome. The clock tower (Zeitglockenthurm), in the market-place (a continuation of the same street), is stated by the guide books to bes a Roman work, while a German inscription upon it attributes its foundation to a period 500 years earlier than the birth of Christ; but it owes its origin in reality to the Burgundian kings. It is square in form, and constructed of the most solid masonry, rough outside, without window or other opening, for 80 feet. If we are to believe the two Latin verses on the front of this building, Soleure is the most ancient city in N. W. Europe except Treves. |