cially as they have no fuel here but brushwood, of which they are obliged to be very sparing, as it must be fetched up the mountains from a distance of about three leagues; for at the summit, they tell us, scarcely any wood grows. The reverend father is returned from Airolo so frozen that he can scarcely utter a word."—(GOETHE, in November 1779.) Tourists, however, have no business on the St. Gothard so late in the year as this. In winter and spring certain portions of the route are exceedingly dangerous on account of the avalanches, which then fall in great numbers. In the travelling season the danger from this source is inconsiderable, but three or four persons perish every year during the bad season. In the whole valley of St. Gothard there are but three Alps-those of Rudunt, Sella, and Luzendro, where cows can be pastured, or where the traveller will find a châlet.

The St. Gothard was the scene of some sanguinary conflicts at the close of the last century. In 1799, in the middle of May, the French, under Marshal Soult, seized the hospice. On the 16th and 18th of the same month they encountered the Austrians, united with the inhabitants of the country, in the Val Levantine and in Mont Cevere. On the 19th, the French withdrew from the Grisons to Ursern, under Souchet. On the 28th, the Austrian General Haddich repulsed the French under Lecourbe. On the 29th, the Austrian general, Count St. Julien, seized the Devil's Bridge, and advanced towards Wasen; and on the 6th of June, after a severe struggle, the French were compelled to abandon the canton of Uri. In August, the French again penetrated through the Surene Alps from Sustenberg to the Val Maggia, driving the Austrians before them to Flueln and Wasen. On the 17th they obtained possession of the valleys of Ursern, the St. Gothard, and the Ober-Alp, as far as Disentis in the Grison; and a corps coming from the Valais occupied the Furca. On the 24th and 25th of September, Suwarrow, with 25,000 Russians and 5000 horses, passed the St. Gothard, and drove the French to the Surene Alps. On October the 4th, the latter returned to take possession of St. Gothard from the side of the Valais. On the 28th of May, a division commanded by Lorge and Money traversed the St. Gothard, fighting incessantly all the way along the Val Levantine as far as to Lugano and Como,

where they arrived in June. It seems almost incredible, on looking at these passes, that a whole army, with cavalry and artillery, could have traversed them; and yet it is true. The cannon were taken to pieces, and carried by men; the horses were held by their tails, and supported. Many things, indeed, were lost by the way; many a horse and piece of baggage; and 500 Russians fell over into the abysses: but the generals marched on, and let them lie, as indeed they were compelled to do.

FROM THE HOSPICE OF ST. GOTHARD TO
ALTORF.

Distance, 10 stunde. The first portion of this journey retraces the zigzag way of St. Gothard as far as Hospital, and there again enters the valley of Ursern. From Hospital the high road leads to Andermatt, half a stunde distant. A gallows on the way-side is carefully kept up, as a monument of the power of life and death, formerly exercised at Andermatt, when the valley of Ursern formed a republic in itself, and was governed by separate laws. To-day it is merged in the canton of Uri, of which Altorf is the capital.

ANDERMATT (inns, Drei Könige and Sonne, the former one of the best in Switzerland) is the largest of the four towns of the valley of Ursern, and is delightfully situated: the little green valley, environed by snows, presenting an image of spring in the arms of winter. Very fine trout are to be had at the inns, obtained from the lake of the Ober-Alp. The high pasturages produce a very beautiful cheese, which, however, is too delicate for exportation, and is reserved for the crowds of tourists who traverse the St. Gothard pass in the season.

During the war of 1799-1800, Andermatt was thrice pillaged, and lost two-thirds of its cattle, besides sixty-two châlets on the Ober-Alp. A portion of the little ash forest, preserved with religious care for so many generations, and which protected the village from avalanches, was then also destroyed. When the Russians, under Suwarrow, arrived in the village, September 25, 1799, they were so famished, that, in default of other provisions, they devoured an enormous quantity of soap, which they found in an auberge, and cutting in pieces several hides which were drying in a yard, boiled

and ate them. In the strength of these aliments they drove the French across the Devil's Bridge, and rushed themselves to the passage. The French, in their retreat, broke down the bridge by blasting the arch, but this put no stop to the impetuous fury of the Russians, who crossed the chasm on beams of wood tied together with the officers' scarfs, and in their rage to come to their enemies, plunged hundreds of the foremost ranks of their own columns into the foaming cataract.

During the night which succeeded the retreat of the French, one of the Cossack sentinels passing the banks hearing a gurgling voice in the depths below, descended. He found there a young French officer, at a depth of 200 feet, so broken and bruised by the fall that he could not stand. The Cossack fastened him on his shoulders with his belt, and in that way set to work to carry him up. When he had

made some progress with his burden, a part of the rock broke under his feet, and he fell, receiving himself considerable injury. At length he regained bis post, after incredible fatigue, bringing his charge with him. The officer was sent to Ilanz, and there recovered.

The Devil's Bridge, where these scenes were enacted, is about half-a-league from Andermatt, on the way to Altorf. From the green, smooth, and open meadows of Andermatt the road abruptly enters a mountain, through the long gallery or tunnel of Urnerloch, hewn in the solid rock over the river Reuss, 180 feet in length, and wide enough for carriages. Before this grand tunnel was bored, the mountain, shutting down perpendicular into the roaring river, had to be passed by a rude suspension gallery of boards outside, hung down by chains amidst the very spray of the torrent. It was a great exploit to double this cape.

A stranger is not at all prepared for the scene which bursts upon him on the other side of the tunnel, for he has been luxuriating in meadows, and there is no sign of change. From the green and quiet slopes of the sheltered Ursern valley, after spending a few moments in the darkness of Urnerloch rock valley, you emerge at once into a gorge of utter savageness, directly at the Devil's Bridge, and in full view of some of the grandest scenery in all Switzerland. It bursts upon you like a tropical storm, with all the sublimity of conflicting and volleying thunder-clouds. It

is a most stupendous pass. The river, with a great leap over its broken bed of rocks, shoots like a catapult into the chasm against the base of the mountain, by which it is suddenly recoiled at right angles, and plunges, bellowing, down the precipitous gorge.

The new bridge spans the thundering torrent at a height of about 125 feet over the cataract. It is of solid, beautiful masonry, the very perfection of security and symmetry in modern art. As to a wild sublimity, though there is from it by far the best view of the cataract of Reuss, and though, being nearer to that cataract, it sets you more completely in the midst of the conflicting terrors of the gorge, yet for itself it is not to be compared with the simple rude old structure, above which it rises. That, the genuine Devil's Bridge, is still standing a few yards lower down than the new, like an arch in the air, slight, frail, and trembling. It is much more in accordance with the scenery than the new, and is so covered with mosses, being made of unhewn stones, which centuries have beaten and grizzled with tempests, that the mountains and the bridge seem all in wild harmony.

The old bridge was built in 1118 by the Abbot of Einseidlen, probably to facilitate the journeying of pilgrims from a distance to that famous convent. The upper bridge spans the cataract of the Reuss at an angle in the mountain, where, naturally, there is not one inch of space for the sole of the foot, but a perpendicular cliff, against which the torrent rages, and in which the only way of blasting the rock, and scooping out a shelf or gallery for the passage on the other side, was by lowering down the workmen with ropes from the brow of the mountain; where, hanging over the boiling gulf, they bored the granite, and fixed their trains of powder.

The old bridge was only one arch thrown across the gorge, and but just broad enough to admit of two persons passing each other in safety, with scarcely any protection at the sides, and at a height of about a hundred feet above the torrent. It was a dizzy thing to pass it, and to get upon it the passenger must coast the gulf on zigzag terraces. The new bridge is of two arches, with safe and strong parapets, and of ample width for carriages. Till the first bridge was made there was no communication possible from one side to the other.

After the gorge of the Devil's Bridge, you plunge down the

precipitous valley by well-constructed zigzags, crossing and recrossing the Reuss repeatedly, till you come to the savage defile of Schellinen, where, for about a stunde, the ravine is so deep and narrow, that the cliffs seem to arch the heavens, and shut out the light. The Reuss meanwhile keeps such a roaring din, making in the short space of four leagues a fall of 2500 feet, almost in a perpetual cataract, that the people have called this part of the way the Krachenthal, or Crashing Valley.

There are curious legends in this part of the valley. Enormous fragments of rock are strewn around, one of which, almost a mountain by itself, nearly in the road, goes by the name of Teufelstein, or Devil's Stone, having been dropped, it is said, by the overworked demon, in attempting to get it across the St. Gothard pass. The legend runs, that he set out to convey this crag across the valley for a wager, but let it slip, and lost the game.

At GESCHENEN the road emerges from the defile of Schellinen, and the scenery henceforward gradually becomes more varied and beautiful. Charming meadows lie by the waterside, diversified by little orchards of walnut and pear-trees; cottages and hamlets stud the slopes, at a height which places them beyond the reach of the winter floods, as well as of the stones and avalanches, which descend at times into the valley. Just before coming to Wasen there is a tollhouse, where foot-passengers pay half a batz, and carriages fourteen batzen, for the maintenance of the highway.

At WASEN, a village of 500 inhabitants, on the left bank of the Reuss, where it is joined by the Mayen torrent, there is a good inn, the Ochs. Beyond the village the road crosses to the right bank by a wooden bridge, then leads through a wood, and still descending, returns to the left bank, finally crossing the stream again, near Arn Steg. The traveller is still in the magnificent pass of the St. Gothard, which continues to present a character at once picturesque and beautiful, wild and savage. The gorges are tremendous; the bridges thrown across the torrent frequent and bold. Here and there dark forests of fir cling to the mountains, and sometimes are seen the savage jagged paths of recent avalanches. Now and then there is a little chapel on the mountain's brow; the chime of bells comes ringing up the