126 Route 43. · Berne to Lausanne, by Morat cient. Bertha, Queen of Burgundy, the founder of it, and of the adjoining convent (suppressed since the Reformation, and now a school) was buried in it. The curiosity of the place is Queen Bertha's Saddle, a cumbrous machine kept in the parish church, from which it appears that, in her days, it was the fashion for ladies to ride en cavalier; but Bertha spun as she rode, having a distaff planted on the pummel. In the same church is Bertha's tomb, an antique sarcophagus discovered 1818, now covered with a slab of black marble. A carriage road runs from Payerne by Estavayer to Yverdun, running partly near the lake of Neuchâtel. That to Lausanne ascends the valley of the Broye, past Lucens, and its castle, to Germ. 4 Moudon Milden (Inn Cerf; dirty and dear). This town was the Roman Minidunum, hence its modern name. At the village of Carouge a road turns off on the 1. to Vevay. The stage to Lausanne, about 13 miles, consists of nearly 7 of long and incessant ascent, and 5 of descent. Extra horses are required for the first. From the summit and S. slope of the Jorat (for that is the name of the hill) a beautiful view expands over the Leman Lake, and in clear weather the snows of Mont Blanc and the high Alps border the horizon. It is a drive of 3 hours from Moudon to 4 LAUSANNE (Route 56). on the road enters canton Freyburg. This part of it exhibits a more industrious and thriving aspect than the rest it is Protestant. 21 Morat-Germ. Murten-(Inns : Couronne; Croix Blanche). - a thriv ing town of 1650 inhabitants, situated on the E. shore of the lake of Morat, on the high road from Berne, Basle, and Soleure, to Lausanne. Its narrow and somewhat dismal streets are overlooked by an old Castle; and it is still partly surrounded by feudal fortifications the same which, for 10 days, withstood the artillery of Charles the Bold. "There is a spot should not be pass'd in vain Morat! the proud, the patriot field! Where man May gaze on ghastly trophies of the slain, Nor blush for those who conquered on that plain. Here Burgundy bequeathed his tombless host, A bony heap through ages to remain; The battle of 1476, which has rendered the name of this otherwise insignificant town famous all over the world, was fought under its walls. The Swiss were drawn up along the heights a little to the S. W., and nothing could resist their impetuous charge. The loss of the Burgundians was immense: 15,000 dead bodies were left on the field, and thousands perished in the lake. The bodies of the slain were collected by the Swiss in an Ossuary, which, after standing 300 years, was destroyed in 1798 by the soldiers of the Burgundian Legion in the Revolutionary French army, anxious to efface this record of their ancestors' disgrace and defeat. The ringleaders were the band of the 75th half-brigade. Byron, who visited the spot in 1816, says -"A few bones still remain, notwithstanding the pains taken by the Burgundians for ages (all who passed that way removing a bone to their own country), and the less justifiable larcenies of the Swiss postilions, who carried them off to sell for knife-handles— a purpose for | which the whiteness, imbibed by the bleaching of years, had rendered them in great request. Of those relics I ventured to bring away as much as may have made a quarter of a hero, for which the sole excuse is, that, if I had not, the next passer-by might have perverted them to worse uses than the careful preservation which I intended for them."-Byron. Since Byron visited the spot the scattered remains have been collected and buried, and an obelisk has been set up over them (in 1822), by the canton, at the road-side, about a quarter of a mile S. of Morat, on the site of the bone-house. The inscription belonging to it, and one or two cannon, made of iron hoops, used in the battle, are still preserved in the Town-house of Morat. bitants, situated in the S.W. angle of as a quarry out of which the neighbouring houses and villages have been built. Close to the modern town, on the 1. of the road, a solitary Corinthian column, 37 ft. high, is still standing, and has, for a long time, served the storks as a pedestal tó build their nests on. 1. is seen a tower, which, though ruined, is the most perfect of the Roman edifices here. They owe their The best view of the battle-field total destruction to their massy maand lake is from the hill of Münch-sonry having been for ages regarded wyler, near an enormous lime-tree, 36 ft. in circumference, and 90 ft. high, still in full vigour and luxuriant foliage; it is probably at least 600 years old, since, according to tradition, the Swiss held a council of war before the battle, under its shade. According to Ebel, the tree is 36 ft. in diameter, and the American, Cooper, in consequence, took a long walk up the hill, under a hot sun, to see it. "There we went, dragging our weary limbs after us, to discover that for diamètre' we ought to have read 'circonférence.' I wish the erratum had been in his book instead of mine." The lake of Morat is about 5 miles long and 3 broad; it is separated by a narrow flat tract of land from the lake of Neuchâtel, but empties itself into it through the river Broye. The steamer from Neuchâtel proceeds, 3 times a week, to Morat, up the Broye, returning the same days. About 5 miles beyond Morat is 1 Avenches Germ. Wiflisburg (Inns: Couronne; Hotel de Ville) an ancient walled town of 1050 inha "By a lone wall, a lonelier column rears years, And looks as with the wild bewildered gaze Of one to stone converted by amaze Making a marvel that it not decays, Other traces of former splendour, such as broken cornices, inscriptions, the remains of an amphitheatre, and fragments of an aqueduct, exist, and may be discovered by minute search. Tacitus has recorded the history of a young Aventian priestess, named Julia Alpinula, who, when her father, the chief man of the city, had been condemned to death for aiding and 128 Route 44. Berne to Neuchâtel. abetting an insurrection against the Romans (A.D. 69), betook herself to the camp of the Roman General, and, throwing herself at his feet, besought him to spare her father's life. He proved inexorable to her tears; her youth and innocence were alike unavailing; the sentence was fulfilled, and she died of a broken heart. ke oh! sweet and sacred be the name! Julia the daughter, the devoted - gave Her youth to Heaven; her heart, beneath a claim Nearest to Heaven's, broke o'er a father's grave. Justice is sworn 'gainst tears, and her's would crave The life she lived in; but the judge was just, And then she died on him she could not save. Their tomb was simple, and without a bust, And held within one urn one mind, one heart, one dust." 1500 years after this event the epitaph of Julia was found among these ruins : it runs thus:-"Julia Alpinula: Hic jaceo. Infelicis patris infelix proles. Deæ Aventiæ Sacerdos. Exorare patris necem non potui: Male mori in fatis illi erat. Vixi annos xxiii. (I, Julia Alpinula, lie here unfortunate child of an unfortunate parent, priestess of the Goddess A ventia. I failed in averting by my prayers, the death of my father: the Fates had decreed that he should die ignominiously. I lived to the age of 23.)" Byron says "I know of no human composition so affecting as this, nor a history of deeper interest. These are the names and actions which ought not to perish, and to which we turn with a true and healthy tenderness, from the wretched and glittering detail of a confused mass of conquests and battles, with which the mind is roused for a time to a false and feverish sympathy, from whence it recurs at length with all the nausea consequent on such intoxication." · Byron. This inscription has been bought by an Englishman and removed from the spot. The feudal Castle was built by a Count Wivilo, in the 7th century, whence the German name of Avenches. At Domdidier, 2 miles from Avenches, a road strikes off on the right to Freyburg, described along with its remarkable bridge, in Route 42. 2 Payerne. Here we fall into Route 42. from Freyburg to 8 LAUSANNE (is described in Route 56). ROUTE 44. BERNE TO NEUCHÂTEL. 92 stunden-31 English miles. There is another way by Morat, and thence in the steamer to Neuchâtel; but it only goes 3 times aweek, and the days and hours must be ascertained before setting out. The following road passes by Seedorf, a village named from the pretty little lake, to 4 Aarberg-(Inn: Krone;)—a town of a single street, on a promontory on the Aar, which, when high, sometimes flows entirely around it. Here the roads from Basle, Soleure, Neuchâtel, and Lausanne meet. Travellers desirous of visiting Rousseau's island, on the lake of Bienne (Route 45.), may proceed from this by Walperswyl and Teuffelen to Gerolfingen, on the margin of the lake, about 4 miles from Aarberg. The road to Neuchâtel is carried through Siselen and 23 Anet, or Ins, a village on an eminence, from which the Alps are well seen in clear weather, with the lake of Morat and Neuchâtel near at hand. The lake of Bienne lies about 3 miles to the N. of this place. An excellent road has been made from Anet to Morat, opening a ready communication between Neuchâtel and Freyburg. Skirting the hill of Jolimont we cross the river Thiel, or Zihl, through which the waters of the lake Route 44. of Neuchâtel are discharged into that of Bienne. It forms the boundary line of cantons Berne and Neuchâtel. The Castle, close to the bridge, is now a prison; a road runs from this to Erlach (Cerlier), a town of 1000 inhabitants, on a spur of the Jolimont, which projects into the lake like a wall or causeway, nearly as far as Rousseau's Island. The castle of Erlach was the cradle of the noble family of that name: among its members was Rudolph, the hero of Laupen. Near St. Blaize the road, recently macadamized and improved, reaches the margin of the lake of Neuchâtel, and continues along it at the foot of the Chaumont, as far as 23 NEUCHÂTEL, German Neuenburg -Inns: Faucon, good H. des Alpes, at the water-side. its blue expanse of lake, will be pronounced beautiful. The Old Castle on the height, now occupied by the Prussian Governor, and partly converted into government offices, was originally the residence of the French princes of Neuchâtel of the house of Chalons (Longueville), who were, at least nominally, the sovereigns of this little state: literally a principality, with republican institutions, yet retaining many feudal tenures. The subjects, indeed, of the Prince of Neuchâtel, maintained jealously their privileges and liberties, allowing him but very limited authority over them. When the house of Chalons became extinct in 1707, the King of Prussia was chosen as the nearest descendant by the female line, to be sovereign or stadtholder. The rule of the house of Brandenburg was interrupted by Napoleon, who made Marshal Berthier Prince of Neuchâtel, but has been resumed since 1815. The king has the right of appointing a governor, the mayor and 45 members out of the 75 who compose the Grand Council. Of these the governor alone is permitted to be a foreigner: 70,000 francs are paid out of the taxes annually to the king. Though long an ally of the Swiss cantons, Neuchâtel was not formally incorporated as a member of the Confederation until 1814. Neuchâtel, the chief town of the canton, is built upon the steep slope of the Jura mountains, and along a narrow shelf of level ground between the hills and the lake, formed for the most part of alluvial deposits brought down by the river Seyon, partly gained by embankments from the water. Within a few years several new streets have been built on the land thus acquired. It has nearly 6000 inhabitants. Except as the threshold of Switzerland, it has little to interest the passing traveller: it has but little trade, and not much activity, except on market days. Its objects of curiosity are few and unimportant; and the scenery of its lake, though agreeable, is tame, compared with that of other Swiss lakes. the other hand, to one newly arrived in the country, the first, and under all circumstances glorious, view of the Alps from the heights of the Jura above the town, must appear mag-ing view from this terrace. nificent; and should the sky be clear, and the traveller's temper even, the objects around will assume a different aspect, and Neuchâtel, with its picturesque old castle, its numerous white country houses, its vine-clad hills, and On The Church, adjoining the castle, is a Gothic building of the 12th century; but the E. end, in the round style, is older. Within it is a curious monument of the French princes of Neuchâtel, decorated with their effigies. Farel, the reformer, was buried on the terrace, in front of the building, but the situation of his grave is unknown. There is a pleas The Hotel de Ville, in the lower town, is a large modern edifice, faced with a Grecian portico. In it the meetings of the Grand Council of the canton are held. The Gymnasium, a handsome new 130 Route 44. Neuchâtel-Pierre à Bot. building near the lake, erected by the town, as a kind of public school, contains a very interesting Museum of Natural History, including good collections in zoology, conchology, and geology. The specimens of rocks and fossils illustrating the structure of the Jura mountains, are very complete and instructive. This institution owes much to the zeal and talents of Professor Agassiz, a native of Neuchâtel, whose interesting discoveries in the history of fossil fishes have thrown more light on that branch of the study than any one since Cuvier had done. The charitable institutions of this town, for which it is indebted to its own citizens, are on a very splendid scale. In 1786 one David Pury left his whole fortune of 4,000,000 of livres (166,000l.), to endow an hospital and poor-house, and for other purposes connected with the improvement of his native town. He had quitted it a poor lad, without money or friends, had gradually, by industry and talent for business, increased his means, becoming, in turn, jeweller, owner of mines, banker, and, finally, millionaire, at Lisbon, where he died. The Hospital Pourtales is a similar monument of the benevolence and public spirit of a townsman. open to people of all religions and countries alike. It is Those who would enjoy one of the finest distant views of the Alps, with the lakes of Neuchâtel, Morat, and Bienne in the foreground, and the long range of the Jura on the N. should ascend to the summit of the Chaumont, the hill immediately above Neuchâtel. It is but an hour's walk, and a carriage road leads thither. It is 5580 feet above the sea level. The view comprehends the whole array of Alps, from the Titlis to Mont Blanc, and is said to be finer even than that from the Weissenstein. It must, however, be borne in mind, that the atmosphere is seldom perfectly clear; so that this magnificent view is, per haps, seen to perfection not more than between 10 and 20 times in a summer. On the slope of the hill, about a mile above the town, lies the largest boulder-stone known on the Jura; it is called Pierre à Bot, (toad-stone), and is situated in a wood, near a farm house; it is 62 feet long by 48 broad, and is calculated to contain 14,000 cubic feet. It is of granite, similar to that of the Great St. Bernard, from which part of the Alps it probably came, as there is no similar rock nearer at hand; yet it exhibits no symptoms of attrition, all its angles being perfectly sharp. No satisfactory explanation has yet been given of the extraordinary multitude of similar detached rocks, which strew the entire N. slope of the Jura, and which, from the nature of the stone, must have all been derived from the high Alps. Their presence in this spot is attributed by Prof. Agassiz to the existence of glaciers here at a former period of the world's exist ence. The Gorge of the Seyon (the stream passing through the town), immediately behind Neuchâtel, is a most singular scene, and those who find little to amuse them in the town will not repent a walk to explore it, though its recesses are only to be reached by scrambling and climbing. It is a deep narrow fissure, cleaving the centre of the chain of the Jura, and allowing the river Seyon to escape from the Val de Ruz, into the lake of Neuchâtel. The section it presents of the strata of the Jura limestone will prove particularly instructive to the geologist. In one spot they may be observed curved and fractured, probably by the upheaving force from below, which first broke this crevice in the mountain. Outside the town, near a singularlyplaced water-mill, the rent, or gorge, makes a sudden bend at right angles to its former direction, and the rocks nearly close over the stream, which |