Where large bodies are moved with such velocity as has now been described, and so tremendous a force of course produced, everything had need to be done with the utmost regularity, every obstacle carefully removed that can obstruct the motion, or that might suffer by so fearful a collision. Everything, accordingly, with regard to launching off the trees, was directed by telegraphic signals. All along the slide men were stationed at different distances, from half a mile to three-quarters, or more, but so that every station might be seen from the next, both above and below. At each of these stations also was a telegraph, consisting of a large board like a door, that turned at its middle on a horizontal axle. When the tree was launched from the top, a signal was made by turning the board upright; the same was followed by the rest, and thus the information is conveyed, almost instantaneously, all along the slide, that a tree was on its way. By and by, to any one that is stationed on the side, even to those at a great distance, the same was announced by the roaring of the tree itself, which became always louder and louder; the tree came in sight when it was perhaps half a mile distant, and in an instant after shot past with the noise of thunder and the rapidity of lightning. As soon as it had reached the bottom, the lowest telegraph was turned down, the signal passed along all the station, and the workmen at the top were informed that the tree had arrived in safety. Another was set off as expeditiously as possible; the moment was announced as before, and the same process repeated, till the trees that had been got in readiness for that day had been sent down into the lake. The trees thus brought down into the Lake of Lucerne were formed into rafts, and floated down the very rapid stream of the Reuss, by which the lake discharges its water, first into the Aar, and then into the Rhine. By this conveyance, which is all of it in streams of great rapidity, the trees sometimes reached Basle in a few days after they had left Lucerne, and there the intermediate concern of the Alpnach company terminated. They still continued to be navigated down the Rhine in rafts to Holland, and were afloat in the German Ocean in less than a month from having descended from the side of Pilatus, a very inland mountain, not less than a thousand miles distant. The Emperor Napoleon had made a contract for all the timber thus brought down. This useful work has since been taken down. Beyond the bays of Alpnach and Kussnach the boat passes the cape of the Meggenhorn and the little island of Altstadt, and soon touches land at the Hofbrucke, when the voyager is at Lucerne. LUCERNE.-Hôtels : Schweitzer Hof, near the pier, firstrate; Waage, good and fair; Schwann, good. There are likewise two pensions. Lucerne is built on both sides the Reuss, at the point where Switzerland's most historic river leaves its only lake in a clear sea-green stream. Its situation is extremely beautiful, with the Lake of Lucerne on the south-east; and a fertile country lies in its rear and on both sides, while Mount Pilate rises in grand gloom on its right, and the Righi with cheerful verdure in front. Lucerne is one of the three towns, with Berne and Zurich, where the Diet of the Confederation holds its sessions. It is styled "Town and Republic," having a Council of One Hundred for its government, divided into a daily council of thirty-six, and the larger council of sixty-four, the whole hundred meeting every three years, or, if the daily council require it, oftener. At the head of the council is a chief magistrate, called the Avoyer. The number of the inhabitants in the town is about 8000 Romanists and 200 Protestants, the Protestants being excluded from all participation in the rights of citizens, and only admitted on sufferance. Lucerne is a very ancient city, with a wall and numerous towers. It has been said to derive its name from a tower in the lake, on which a light was kept burning. Dr. Casimir Pfyffer states that a Benedictine monastery was founded here in 698, and that the town grew up around it. In the progress of history the citizens gained for themselves many rights and privileges, elected their own magistrates, and in 1291 acknowledged allegiance to Austria, but in 1332 removed it, and joined the league of the Forest Towns, fighting with them at the battle of Sempach. The first constitution of the canton was democratic, and the citizens had equal rights; but by the close of the fifteenth century the patrician families had contrived to appropriate all the public power and prerogatives in public matters. No one not born in the town could sit in the Cantonal Council, and in 1773 an ordinance was published making certain offices here ditary. After many revolutions, a liberal constitution was formed in 1831; but in 1841 a peasant democracy swept it clean away, and placed all power in the hands of the clerical party. In 1845, Colonel Ochsenbein marched against the town at the head of a free corps, intending to overthrow the Jesuit influence; but, through some misunderstanding, the expedition had a disastrous issue, and many a citizen was left for months in a dungeon before he was ransomed by his canton. The bridges of Lucerne are remarkable features of the town. The Hofbrucke, which extends across a portion of the lake, and, until 1835, was 1380 feet in length, is hung with 240 pictures representing the whole Scripture history, scenes from the Old Testament being arranged on one side, and subjects from the New being represented on the other. The Kappellebrucke is hung on one side with pictures, representing, in oil-colours, all the heroic events in Swiss history. "Long may these homely works devised of old, Filling the soul with sentiments august, The beautiful, the brave, the holy, and the just !" The Mühlbrucke, the most distant from the lake, is hung with paintings of the Dance of Death. The Arsenal contains the banner of the canton, stained with the blood of the Avoyer de Gundoldingen, who died while defending it at Sempach, 1386; the coat of mail worn by Duke Leopold of Austria; and the collar of spikes, intended to have been put on the neck of the Avoyer had he survived and the Austrians been victorious. In a garden about five minutes' walk outside the Weggisgate, is a monument erected to the memory of the Swiss Guards who fell in defending the Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792. It is hewn out of a solid rock, and represents a lion dying wounded by an arrow, and seeming in the agonies of death to protect the Bourbon fleur-de-lis. The figure is twenty-eight feet in length, and is eighteen feet high. The idea was proposed to Thorwaldsen, by a person sent to Rome for that purpose by General Pfyffer; and that sculptor, varying a little the original conception, produced a model, which was brought to Switzerland, and intrusted to Mr. Ahorn of Constance, who completed the present work. It occupied him eighteen months, and he was paid for it 20001. sterling. The names of the Swiss Guards who fell in the event commemorated are carved beneath. The churches of Lucerne are not very remarkable. The cathedral contains a picture by Lanfranc, and a very fine organ, which is only surpassed in Switzerland by that recently placed in the cathedral at Fribourg. The corn-market held at Lucerne once a-week is one of the largest in Switzerland. Lucerne, although one of the largest cantons of the Confederation, and covered with the finest soil, which produces most abundantly whereon time and industry are bestowed on the land, produces little more than it consumes, and has paupers in every commune. The market is supplied with rye and wheat, the greater part of which is brought from Aargovia, and which feeds not only Lucerne, but Unterwalden and Uri. The boats from Fluellen and the Unterwalden side of the lake arrive on market-days in considerable numbers. The Papal Nuncio honours the first Catholic canton by residing in his capital; a fact which intending travellers in Italy should remember, if they would have their passports en règle. Diligences run daily to Berne, Solothurn, Basle, Aargau, Zurich, and Zug. LUCERNE, OVER THE RIGHI, TO ARTH AND ZUG. The Righi is the chief feature in this route, commanding as it does a magnificent view into the mountain-world of Switzerland, which no tourist should neglect. The simplest and most direct way of reaching the Kulm (or culminating point) of the Righi from Lucerne is over the lake to Weggis, thence ascending the mountain. The ascent from Kussnach is not to be recommended. Many travellers ascend from Arth, on the opposite side of the mountain. The drive from Lucerne to Arth by Kussnach, a distance of about 13 miles, is very pleasant, a good road lying on the banks of the lakes Lucerne and Zug nearly the whole distance; and the tourist intending to return to Lucerne by Weggis may vary his excursion by taking the road. The ascent of the mountain from Arth, however, is far more toilsome than from Weggis, owing to the greater steepness and roughness of the path. The Fluellen steam-boat touches at the Weggis twice aday. Sailing-boats with two rowers may also be hired at Lucerne, at prices regulated by an official tariff exhibited in every inn. By steam-boat the lake is crossed in about an hour; for a sailing-boat, another hour should be allowed. From Weggis to Righi Kulm is about 3 hours; from the kulm to Arth, 24 hours. From Arth to Zug there is a capital carriage-road; distance about 7 miles. To see the sun rise is, of course, the great object of the tourist, for which purpose it is necessary to sleep on the mountain. In the height of the season, travellers who are not prepared to take their chance of accommodation in the crowded inn on the summit must send and engage a bed. The view, after all, is extremely uncertain. An ordinarily fine morning will not answer; the sky must be clear the moment the sun rises into it. Though the whole heavens besides be fair, yet if there happen to be a stripe or bank of clouds lying along the eastern horizon, the great spectacle is lost. The fog, which sometimes rises in fine weather, is still more destructive. So it may thus easily be conceived, that of the many thousands who travel thither very few obtain the object of their journey. By taking care to gain the summit before sunset, a chance of a view only second to that of the morning is secured. WEGGIS (inn, Lowe), a clean, small village, stands on a little platform at the base of the Righi, where the pitch of the mountain slope is less than ordinary. In 1795, a torrent of mud descended from the Righi, and swept away a great portion of the village. In the spring, the melted snows and rains had entered the crevices of the rocks above, until gradually they had converted a considerable portion of the internal stratum of the mountain into a bed of mud. the cohesion of a superior part of the pile been broken, a landfall would have occurred; but such not being the case, the immense weight forced the mud through openings in the rock to the surface, whence it flowed down the declivity into Had |