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which they occupied. They were seized with a panic and fled at once; many in the direction of the glacier of Aar, where escape was hopeless, and those who were not shot by the French, perished in the rents and chasms, where human bones, rusty arms, and tattered clothes are even now met with, and attest their miserable fate. The guide of the French did not profit by his barren mountain, remaining as poor as before he became possessed of it, but it has since been called after him, Nägeli's Grätli.

The source of the Aar lies in two enormous glaciers, the Ober and Unter-Aar-Gletscher, to the W. of the Hospice. The Unter-Aar glacier is the best worth visiting, and may be reached in 2 hours. It is remarkable for the evenness of the surface of ice and the rareness of cavities on its surface. In places it is covered with accumulated rubbish which has fallen from the granite rocks around. It is about 18 miles long, and from 2 to 4 broad. Out of the midst of it rises the Finster-Aarhorn; the Schreckhorn is also conspicuous. There is no danger and little difficulty in exploring it for 2 or 3 hours, accompanied by a guide; and a path has recently been made by which it is accessible even on horseback. Hugi traversed the whole glacier in this manner on a horse hired from the Hospice.

The best panorama of the Grimsel and the neighbouring peaks and glaciers may be seen from the top of the Seidelhorn, a mountain on the rt. of the path leading to Brieg and the Furca; its summit may be reached in 3 hours from the Hospice: it is 8634 feet above the sea-level.

The summit of the pass of the Grimsel (7016 feet above the sea) is 2 miles from the Hospice--a steep path, marked only by tall poles stuck into the rock to guide the wayfarer, leads up to it. On the crest lies another small lake, called Todten See, or Lake of the Dead, because the bodies of those who perished on the pass were thrown into it by way of burial. Along the crest of the mountain runs the boundary-line between Berne and the Vallais, and here the path divides that on the 1. side of the lake leads by the Meyenwand to the glacier of the Rhone (distant about 5 miles), and to the pass of the Furca (Route 30); that on the rt. of it goes to OberGestelen, but it would be worth the while of the traveller bound thither to make a detour of about 6 miles to visit the glacier and source of the Rhone. By the direct road it is a walk of 6 miles from the summit to

3 Ober-Gestelen (Fr., Haut Châtillon). The inn, kept by Bertha, used to be a decent house. This is the highest village but one (Oberwald being the highest) in the Upper Vallais, and is 4360 feet above the sea-level. It is situated on the rt. bank of the Rhone, about 8 miles below its source in the glacier. It is the dépôt for the cheese transported out of Canton Berne into Italy, and is a place of some traffic, as it lies at the junction of the three bridle-roads over the Grimsel, the Furca, and the Gries (Route 29).

In 1720, 84 men were killed here by an avalanche.

The descent of the Upper Vallais to Brieg, a distance of 35 miles, is very uninteresting. The road runs along the rt. bank of the Rhone. For a part of the way it is praticable for chars, and will be finished, it is said, all the way, in two or three years. (?) Opposite the village of Ulrichen, the valley of Eginen opens out-up it runs the path leading over the Gries and the Neüfnen (Route 35).

The Upper Vallais (Ober-Wallis) is very populous, and numerous unimportant villages are passed in rapid succession. One of the largest is Münster, containing about 400 inhabitants. The natives of the Upper Vallais are a distinct and apparently superior race to those of the Lower. The language is German. The Romans never penetrated into the higher part of the Rhone valley.

4 Viesch lies at the entrance of a side-valley, blocked up at its upper extremity by a glacier, above which rise the peaks called Viescher-Hörner. There exists a tradition, that a path once led up this valley to Grindelwald: it is now entirely stopped by the glacier, and this circumstance is supposed to prove a great increase of the mass of ice. From Laax to Brieg the char-road is completed.

The stream of the Massa, descending from the W., is supplied by the great glacier of Aletsch, a branch of that vast expanse of ice which extends to Grindelwald in Canton Berne (§ 17).

31/4 Naters, a village of 600 inhabitants, lies in a milder climate, where the chestnut begins to flourish. Above it rises the ruined castle of Fluh, or Saxa (Supersax). A wooden bridge leads across the Rhone to

1/2 Brieg, at the foot of the Simplon (Route 59).

ROUTE 29.

PASS OF THE GRIES OBER-GESTELEN TO DOMO D'OSSOLA, BY THE VAL FORMAZZA (POMMAT), AND THE FALLS OF THE

TOSA.

About 14 stunden=46 Eng. miles.

A mule-path, not dangerous, though it crosses a glacier, but difficult and very fatiguing. A guide should be taken over the Col.

The inns on the Italian side of the pass are wretched, but the traveller will be rewarded by its scenes of wildness and

grandeur, which, according to Brockedon, are nowhere exceeded among the Alps."

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Below Ober-Gestelen (page 119) a bridge leads across the Rhone, and the path follows the 1. bank as far as the village Im Loch, where it turns to the 1, and begins to ascend the Eginenthal, crossing the stream of the Eginen above a pretty cascade 80 feet high, which it forms. A hard climb of about 2 hours, first through larchwood, then across a steril, stony traet, and finally over a little plain of green meadow, dotted with the chalets of Egina, brings the traveller to the foot of the final and most difficult ascent. Near this point a path, striking off on the 1., leads over the pass of the Nüfenen (Route 35) to Airolo. Here vegetation ceases, snow appears first in patches, and at last the glacier blocks up the termination of the valley. It takes about 20 minutes to cross it. The direction of the path over the ice is marked by poles stuck upright in the ice. Along the crest of the mountain runs the frontier-line separating Switzerland from Sardinia. The summit of the pass is 7900 feet above the sea.

"Bare and scathed rocks rose on either side in terrible grandeur out of the glaciers to an immense height. The silence of the place added greatly to its sublimity; and I saw, in this most appropriate spot, one of the large eagles of the Alps, the Lämmergeyer, which was whirling its flight round a mountain-peak, and increased the deep emotion excited by the solitude of the scene." - Brockedon.

In clear weather a magnificent view presents itself from this point of the chain of Bernese Alps. The descent on the Sardinian side of the pass (as usualamong the Alps) is steeper than that on the N.; it is also more difficult. The upper part of the Piedmontese valley of Formazza, or Frutval, presents four distinct stages or platforms, separated by steep steps or dips from each other. The first is called Bettelmatt; the second, Morast (morass), on which the miserable group of chalets, called Kehrbächi (the highest winter habitations), are situated; the third, is Auf der Frutt, with another hamlet of chalets, and a small chapel. Before reaching it, the traveller falls in with the river Toccia, or Tosa, which rises in the upper extremity of the valley, and terminates in the Lago Maggiore. Beyond the hamlet the path crosses to the 1. bank of the stream, and, descending the fourth steep declivity, arrives at the Falls of the Tosa, the approach to which has for some time previously been proclaimed by the increasing roar of the water. It is one of the most remarkable cataracts among the Alps, less on account of its form than for its vast volume of water, in which it is surpassed only by that of the Schaffhausen. It does not descend in one leap, but in a succession of steps, forming an uninterrupted mass of white foam for a length of perhaps 1000 feet, while the entire perpendicular descent is not much less than 500. Seen from below, it has a triangular appearance; above, not more than 80 feet wide, and expanding gradually towards the bottom.

2 miles below the Falls is the village of Frutval, situated on the 4th plateau, whose inn affords accommodation of the most wretched kind. Two miles farther is the village of Formazza, also called in the Italian Al Ponte, and in German Zumsteg, and Pommat. The inhabitants of the upper part of the valley, as far as Foppiano, are of German descent, speaking that language; and, according to tradition (?), descendants of a colony from the Entlebuch. Owing to this intermixture of languages almost all the villages have a German as well as Italian name. Formazza is about 23 miles from Ober-Gestelen.. The inn here is called the Cross (Kreutz).

The lower part of the vale of the Tosa abounds in exquisite scenery. The Gorge of Foppiano (Germ. Unter-Stalden), 5 miles below Formazza, is particularly grand. Lower down it expands, and displays all the softer beauties of high cultivation, luxuriant vegetation, and thick population. Below the village called Premia, a stream descending from the W. joins the Tosa, and the valley changes its name into Val Antigorio.

"The savage grandeur of the Val Formazza, down which the river takes its passage, and the delicious region through which it rolls in the Val Antigorio, cannot be painted in too glowing colours. In these high valleys, fully exposed to the power of the summer sun, there is truly a blending of all beauties.' The vine, the fig, and the broad-leafed chestnut, and other proofs of the luxuriance of the soil of Italy, present themselves everywhere to the eye, intermixed with the grey blocks resting on the flanks and at the feet of the high granite ridge, out of whose recesses you have not as yet escaped. Instead of the weather-stained and simple habitation of the hardy Vallaisan, sheltered by the bleak belt of forest, upon which alone I had glanced yesterday, I now saw, on the southern declivity of the same range, the substantial Italian structure, with its regular outline and simple yet beautiful proportion, and the villa, the handsome church, or the stone cottage, surrounded by its girdle of vines-the vine, not in its stiff and unpicturesque Swiss or Rhenish dress, but the true vine of Italy and of poetry, flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches over the rustic veranda or twining its long garland from tree to tree."-Latrobe.

This charming valley is the chosen retreat of numerous retired citizens, such as bankers, jewellers, etc., who have built themselves villas in it. The mica-slate rocks occurring

near Premia and San Michele, are stuck as full of red garnets as a pudding is with plums.

At Credo there is a Sardinian Custom-house. The road then crosses the river twice, before it reaches San Marco, and about two miles farther enters the Simplon road, at the Jofty and beautiful bridge of Crevola, near the junction of the Vedro with the Tosa (Route 59).

3 miles farther on lies Domo d'Ossola.

ROUTE 30.

PASS OF THE FURCA, FROM THE GRIMSEL, TO HOSPITAL ON THE ST. GOTTHARD, BY THE GLACIER OF THE RHONE.

About 7 stunden-23 Eng. miles.

A bridle-path, by no means dangerous, and not very difficult, excepting the part between the summit of the Grimsel and the glacier of the Rhone, which it is better to cross on foot than on horseback. The distance from the Hospice of the Grimsel to the glacier of the Rhone is about 5 miles. On reaching the summit of the pass (p. 119), the path leaves on the rt. hand the gloomy little Lake of the Dead, and, skirting along the brink of a precipitous slope, called the Meyenwand, descends very rapidly. This portion of the road is the worst of the whole, being very steep, slippery, and muddy, in consequence of the melting snow, which generally lies near the summit. However, it soon brings the traveller in sight of the glacier, though at a considerable depth below him. On attaining the bottom of the valley he will find a very rustic cabaret, affording refreshment of some kind, and a bed upon an emergency. N.B. Its character as a house of entertainment is said to have improved of late. About half a mile above it the Rhone issues out to day at the foot of the Rhone Glacier, one of the grandest in Switzerland, fit cradle for so mighty a stream. It fills the head of the valley from side to side, and appears piled up against the shoulder of the Gallenstock, whose tall peak overhangs it. The source of the Rhone, in a cavern of ice, is about 5400 ft. above the sea. The path leading to the Furca ascends along the E. side of the valley, having the glacier on the 1. for a considerable distance. From this point the best view is obtained of this magnificent sea of ice, and a correct idea may be formed of its extent and thickness as the traveller passes within stone's-throw of its yawning crevices. The path then turns off to the rt., mounting upwards through a valley of green pastures to the summit of the pass, or Fork, between two mountain peaks, from which it receives its name. From this point, 8300 feet above the sea, near the Cross which marks the boundary of the cantons of

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