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on the way, the Isola dei Pescatori, so called because its inhabitants are poor fishermen, whose rude semi-plastered hovels contrast abruptly with the stately structures on the neighbouring island. The Isola Bella has a tolerable inn, which, in 1838, was much cleaner than that at Baveno. The island belongs to the Count Borromeo, who resides a part of the year in the vast unfinished palace which occupies one end of it. An ancestor of the family, in 1671, converted this mass of bare and barren slate-rock, which lifted itself a few feet above the surface of the lake, into a beautiful garden, teeming with the vegetation of the tropics. It consists of 10 terraces, the lowest founded on piers thrown into the lake, rising in a pyramidal form one above another, and lined with statues, vases, obelisks, and black cypresses. Upon these, as upon the hanging gardens of Babylon, flourish in the open air, not merely the orange, citron, myrtle, and pomegranate, but aloes, cactuses, the camphor-tree (of which there is a specimen 20 ft. high), sugar cane, and coffee-plant- all inhabitants of tropical countries and this within a day's journey of the Lapland climate of the Simplon, and within view of the Alpine snows.

The proverbial disagreement of doctors is nothing in comparison with the discord of travellers on the Imerits of this island. To Simond the sight of the island at a distance suggests the idea of “a huge Perigord pie," stuck round with the heads of woodcocks and partridges;" Matthews extols it as "the magic creation of labour and taste fairy-land, which might serve as a model for the gardens of Calypso;" Saussure calls it "une magnifique caprice, une pensée grandiose, une espèce de création;" while Brockedon sternly pronounces it as worthy only of a rich man's misplaced extravagance, and of the taste of a confectioner." To taste, it may have

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little pretension; but, for a traveller fresh from the rigid climate of the north, this singular creation of art, with its aromatic groves, its aloes and cactuses starting out of the rocks and, above all, its glorious situation, bathed by the dark blue waters of the lake, reflecting the sparkling white villages on its banks, and the distant snows of the Alps, cannot fail to afford pleasure, and a visit to the Isola Bella will certainly not be repented of.

Every handful of mould on the island was originally brought from a distance, and requires to be constantly renewed. It is probable that its foundation of slate-rock favours the growth of tender plants by long retaining the heat of a noon-day sun; but few persons are aware that, in addition to this, the terraces are boarded over during winter, and the plants protected from the frost by stoves heated beneath; thus converting the terraces into a sort of hothouse. The garden is let out to a nurseryman from Genoa, who keeps it in order, shows it to strangers, and receives their douceurs.

A laurel (bay) of gigantic size is pointed out, as well for its remarkable growth as for a scar on its bark, where Napoleon, it is said, cut with a knife the word " 'battaglia," a short while before the battle of Marengo. Rousseau once thought of making the Isola Bella the residence of his Julie, but changed his mind on reflecting that so artificial an abode would not be consistent with the simplicity of her character.

The Palace, standing cheek-by-jowl with a group of ruinous and very humble cottages, is shown to strangers, but is, on the whole, scarcely worth entering, unless the visitor has plenty of time on his hands. The most remarkable among the pictures it contains are those by Tempesta an artist who murdered his wife to marry another, and took refuge here after the deed, being sheltered by the

It

An ancient town, of 4000 inhab., with a small castellated harbour. is built on the very margin of the lake; the principal street, in which the inn is situated, is so narrow that only one carriage can pass. The Simplon road runs through the upper part of the town. The steamer touches here twice a day; carriages can be embarked here.

The principal Ch. (Santa Maria) contains a beautiful picture by Gaudenzio Ferraria Holy Family, with shutters, bearing figures of saints, and the portrait of a Countess Borromeo, by whom it was presented to the church. St. Carlo Borromeo was born at Arona, 1538, in the old castle, now nearly destroyed.

On the summit of a hill, about half an hour's walk from the town, stands the Colossal Statue of St. Charles Borromeo, 66 feet high, and placed on a pedestal 40 feet high. The head, hands, and feet alone, are cast in bronze, the rest of the figure is formed

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of sheets of beaten copper, arranged round a pillar of rough masonry which forms the support of it. The saint is represented extending his hand towards the lake, and over his birth-place Arona, bestowing on them his benediction. There is grace in the attitude, in spite of the gigantic proportions of the figure, and benevolence beams from the countenance;

altogether the effect of it is good and very impressive. It was erected, 1697, by subscriptions, principally contributed by the Borromean family. It is possible to enter the statue and to mount up into the head, but the ascent is difficult and fatiguing, and not to be attempted by the nervous. It is effected by means of two ladders, tied together (provided by a man who lives hard by), resting on the pedestal, and reaching up to the skirt of the saint's robe. Between the folds of the upper and lower drapery the adventurous climber squeezes himself through- a task of some difficulty, if he be of corpulent dimensions; and he then clambers up the stone pillar which supports the head, by placing his feet upon the iron bars or cramps by which the copper drapery is attached to it. To effect this, he must assume a straddling attitude, and proceed in the dark till he reaches the head, which he will find capable of holding 3 persons at once. Here he may rest himself by sitting down in the recess of the nose, which forms no bad substitute for an arm-chair. In the neighbouring church several relics of St. Carlo are preserved.

hours), where it turns sharply to the east. At the angle, the view along hoth branches of the valleys is superb; the upper portion is wider and longer than that which has been passed, extending to the great Loetsch-gletscher, a branch of the sea of ice around the Jungfrau, overhung by the Lauterbrunn Breithorn on one side, and the Aletsch-horner, or some of their off. sets, on the other; while on the south the Nesthorn and other very lofty mountains rise almost perpendicularly in icy peaks. The curé's house at Kippel, 15 minutes from Ferden, affords the best, if not the only, accommodation. Good guides may be had. The nephew of the curé is a capital mountaineer, but few or none can speak anything but their own German patois. A direct, but difficult, and, it may be, dangerous route (pass it cannot be called), lies over the crest of the Bernese Alps to Lauterbrunn, passing under the Tchingelhorn, and descending by the Tchingel-gletscher and Steinberg to Lauterbrunn. (See Route 27.) It meets the route above described from Lauterbrunn to Kandersteg, somewhere about the summit of that pass. The descent from the Tchingel is steep enough to be formidable; what difficulty there may be in crossing the main chain the writer cannot say. The passage of the Loetschberg presents no difficulty. The first hour is through magnificent larch woods, after which there is about three hours over pastures, bare stony slopes, and beds of snow to the Col, which is overhung by the grand precipices of the Balmhorn, which forms the eastern end of the Altels group. By giving about 3 hours more to the excursion, a high peak to the E., called the Hochhorn, may be ascended. A less time might probably suffice if the shortest route from Kippel were taken; our guide did not suggest it till we had nearly reached the Col, from which it is one stunde (1 hour), chiefly over ice. Some fearfully steep slopes are

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to be crossed, from which the eye plunges down right into the Gasternthal, 5000 to 6000 ft. beneath. A singular and most striking scene occurs in passing round an insulated steeple of rock, rising out of the ice, with a pool of clear blue water at its foot. Between it and the peak lies

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narrow isthmus of ice, sloping steeply down on either side; after passing this, the icy shoulder of the mountain is to be wound round, with empty space on two sides; and then the last ascent, up a sharp pile of stones, which we estimated at 5 minutes, and found to take 15. The view is superb. To the S. and S. W. Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, and Mont Blanc towering far above nearer mountains, are the leading objects. To the E. the Tschingel-horn and other points of the chain on which we stood, extending to the Jungfrau and the Aletsch-horner. To the W. a sea of lower mountains towards the Simmenthal, and an extensive view over the Bernese lowlands, which, however, was obscured by a coming storm, which hastened our descent to a more secure position, Retracing our course for a good way, we then descended over bare rocks and beds of snow to the lower part of the Balm-gletscher, and reached in a short 2 hours from the Hochhorn, the point where the direct route across the Loetschberg quits the glacier, after lying across it probably for 1 to 2 miles. Thence there is about 1 hour of very steep descent into the Gastenthal. The river is to be crossed by a bridge, which must not be missed: thence to Kandersteg, about 2 hours. (See Route 27.)

This, though over the ice, was formerly a mule path of some traffic, but fell into disuse when the road over the Gemmi was made; it is now impassable for mules. The glacier is much crevassed, but not dangerous. Eight hours is abundantly sufficient to go from Ferden or Kippel to Kandersteg, so that the whole distance