there is a beautiful promenade, where fairs and public amusements are held. The views from it of the mountain and the lake are fine. The level of the lake is about 1400 feet above that of the sea; it abounds in fine fish; among those least known to travellers are the lotte, and a fish peculiar to this lake, the vairon.

A good road carried along the southwest shores of the lake leads to Faverges. About two thirds of the distance is the Château Duing, placed on a neck of land which runs out into the lake here many strangers come to board and lodge during the summer, and enjoy the most delightful excursions in its delicious neighbourhood.

The best way to get to the Château Duing is by the lake: a boat may be hired for a few francs, and a boatman to row there. In ascending the lake, an opening in the lofty mountains which bound its northeastern side, discloses the Château of Menthon, on the delicious slopes of a recess : here St. Bernard, the Apostle of the Alps," was born, and the place of his nativity, independent of its local beauty, cannot fail to interest the traveller. (Route 108.)

A road leads up by Menthon, and across the mountain above into the valley of Thones, one of the most retired, and unfrequented by strangers, in Savoy. It may be visited in going from Annecy to Bonneville, on the road to Chamouny, for a road leads there in 8 hours through Thones and Entremont, an excursion offering much beautiful scenery, and very little known. Opposite the Château Duing, is Talloires, the birthplace of the celebrated chemist Berthollet.

From the Château Duing, the road to Faverges continues up the valley of Eau Morte about three miles; it is so nearly level, that the plain of the valley is often inundated.

Faverges has a population of about 2000, it is beautifully situated amidst wooded slopes and mountains; it is

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well cultivated, and abounds in rich meadows. It was known in the 12th century as Fabricarium, a name arising from its numerous forges for copper and iron. Its reputation has not decreased; there are now silk mills established there, manufactories of cutlery, and tanneries; and since the completion of the road by Ugine into the Tarentaise it is daily improving. situated.

Its old castle is finely

A slight elevation divides the head of the valley of the Eau Morte from that of the stream of Monthoux, which runs into the Arly at Ugine (Route 119.) The valley of Monthoux is richly wooded and picturesque. There is, however, a much shorter way than by Ugine to l'Hôpital Conflans; two hours may be gained by going there over the mountains by the Col de Tamie.

If the traveller have time, a short excursion may be made from Annecy to Annecy-le-Vieux; where, on the inner and southern angle of the tower, will be found the following inscription:

The establishment at Cran of the hydraulic machines for the drainage of the lake, are also deserving of a visit.

From Annecy to Aix there is nothing remarkable. The road passes through the villages of Vieugy and Balmont to

13 Alby, a village containing about 800 inhabitants. It is situated on the Chèron, and one of the most remarkable objects between Annecy and Aix is its fine stone bridge-a single arch of great height and span, which is thrown across the Chèron, at Alby. This village was more important formerly when the Comtes of Geneva surrounded it with a wall and castles, of which some traces exist,

which were built on both sides of the river to defend the passage of the valley. Beyond Alby the route is without particular interest, except at

1 Albens, a village of 1000 inhabitants, where coins of Claudian, Antoninus, Gallienus, and other emperors have been found. Beyond Albens the road soon descends, and overlooks the plain of Aix, where that town, the lake of Bourget, and the basin of Chamberry, bounded by the Mont du Chat, the Mont d'Azi, the Mont Grenier, present a scene of singular beauty.

1 Aix les Bains. Inn, Hôtel de la Poste, beautifully situated, with large gardens; the wine of Montmeillant is good. There are numerous boarding-houses; the best are those of M. Guillaud and the Hotel Venat, a very comfortable house in a good situation. Charges, dinner, 4 fr.; breakfast 1 fr.; baths in the house at 1 fr. 20 c.; douches 11⁄2 fr.

This watering-place was known to the Romans under the name of Aquæ Gratianæ, and it is still resorted to on account of its mineral springs, and of the attractions of the beautiful country round it, by more than 2200 visitors yearly. The town itself is situated at a little distance to the east of the pretty Lac de Bourget, and contains 2000 inhabitants; in itself it has little to recommend it, and little or nothing has been done to promote the accommodation or amusement of strangers. It contains several Roman Remains, a Triumphal Arch, in a debased Doric style, probably of the 3d or 4th century, raised by T. Pompeius Campanus, a portion of an Ionic Temple of Diana or Venus, and a Vapour Bath, lined with bricks and marble, with hypocaust, and pipes for the water, in a tolerably perfect state.

Its Mineral Springs are warm and sulphureous; they have a temperature varying between 100 and 117° Fahr. The Alum Spring (incorrectly so called, as it contains no alum) issues

Aix les Bains

from beneath an antique arch; it is partly employed in douching horses.

The Sulphur Spring is exceedingly copious; it is drunk at the source, and is good for correcting derangement of the digestive organs. These waters, however, are chiefly employed for baths, and above all for douche baths. A handsome bath-house has been built by a former king of Sardinia, into the apartments of which the hot water is introduced in streams, which descend from a height of eight or ten feet upon the patient. After undergoing the douching process, which consists in having the water applied to various parts of the body, while they are, at the same time, subjected to brisk friction by the hands of two attendants, the patient is wrapped up, dripping wet, in a blanket, carried home in a sedan. chair, and put into a warm bed. brisk perspiration succeeds.

A

Balls are given twice a week during the season in the room at the Cassino, where there is also a reading-room. Gaming is prohibited.

A portion of the time not occupied in the bathing process, may be agreeably employed in rides and walks in the neighbourhood, whose varied and beautiful scenery cannot fail to afford pleasure and amusement. The favourite excursion is to Haute Combe on the opposite or north-west shore of the Lac de Bourget (Borghetto). This monastery, beautifully situated by the side of the lake, and at the foot of the Mont du Chat, was founded in 1125. Its Gothic chapels were the burial places of the princes of Savoy, canons of Citeaux, &c. Among them was an archbishop of Canterbury, Son of Count Thomas of Savoy, who died in 1270. The building was pillaged and desecrated at the French revolution; the coffins were opened and rifled, and the monuments, paintings, and stained glass destroyed. It was, however, restored by Charles Felix, king of Sardinia, as nearly as

possible to its original condition; the tombs have been renovated, the walls painted afresh, and the windows replenished with Bohemian glass. About half a mile behind the abbey is an intermittent spring, called Fontaine des Merveilles.

The west shore of the lake consists of a tall precipice of limestone, rising almost perpendicularly from the water's edge, and extending from Haute Combe to the castle of Bordeau. One of the meditations of Lamartine, that entitled "Le Lac," was inspired by the scenery of this spot. Behind Bordeau commences the ascent of the Mont du Chat, the probable route of Hannibal; the old Roman road has been recently replaced by a fine causeway, skilfully conducted in zigzags up the hill.

An agreeable way of visiting the scenery of the lake is to take a boat from Aix to Haute Combe, and then send it to wait at the little village of Bordeau, at the foot of the ascent to the Mont du Chat; and after visiting the chapel and fountain, walk by agreeable by-paths along the heights which skirt the south side of the lake, and descend by the great road from the Mont du Chat. The boats are ill built and worse appointed, requiring three men. The trip will cost about 8 or 9 frs.

Steamers now ply on the lake of Bourget, passing daily between Chamberry and Aix on the lake, and Lyons by the Upper Rhone during the season. The voyage is one of much interest on the lake, and in the navigation of the very tortuous canal which carries the waters of the lake into the river Rhone where the appearance of a steamer, large enough to carry 300 people, winding about like a vast animal in the meadows, is sufficiently strange.

The length of the entire voyage descending is only about 9 hours; but a long, and vexatious delay takes place at the douanes both of Savoy and France, which makes it from 2 to

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3 hours more. The ascent of the Rhone from Lyons is very tedious requiring 22 hours; the scenery is not generally remarkable, but there are some points both striking and exciting; the most remarkable of these is at the Saut du Rhone, where the channel narrows into a deep ravine between vast overhanging rocks, those on the side of France surrounded by the garrison of Pierre Châtel in a most commanding situation; through this narrow channel the water rushes in fury amidst vast rocks, and presents a fearful navigation, but the pilots with great skill pass in safety, and immediately below the greatest point of danger, shoot beneath a bridge of iron wire that connects the frontiers of France and Savoy under the fort of Pierre Châtel. The most difficult navigation in the ascent is to work the steamer up the rapid in this ravine. See HANDBOOK for FRANCE.

At the south extremity of the lake was the castle of Bourget, the residence of the ancient counts of Savoy, down to the time of Amadeus V. or the Great, who was born in it in 1249. He sent for the painter Giorgio di Aquila, a pupil of Giotto, to decorate its interior; and some fragments of fresco, now nearly effaced, in a cabinet formed in the thickness of the wall of one of the towers, are probably a part of his work.

The route from Aix, is very beautiful as it passes below the finely wooded slopes of the Mont d'Azi and Dent de Nivolet, its undulations often presenting views of the lake of Bourget and the fine range of the Mont du Chat. The approach to

2 CHAMBERRY (Route 127.) is highly picturesque, and offers some beautiful views.

ROUTE 121.

GENEVA TO CHAMBERRY, BY RUMILLY, 11 posts.

There is so little to interest the traveller in this route, that it is gene

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rally avoided by strangers, who prefer going by Annecy, though it is a little further round.

From St. Julien, the point at which the route by Annecy separates from that by Rumilly, the latter takes a more westerly course toward the

Rhone; it rises over the ridge of the Mount Sion, but, at a place 1200 feet lower than the point of passage to Annecy. Hence it descends into the beautiful little valley of the Usses, at

4 Frangy, a neat little town, with good houses, and tolerable inns. Many Roman antiquities, in coins, medals, and inscriptions, have been found here.

The road rises steeply from the vale of the Usses, and is carried over a country where the valley of the Rhone can be traced, which is, at one point, only a few miles from Seissel; there it takes a course, up, and high above the valley of the Chéron, and presents many and extensive views into and over this valley. This is the most picturesque part of the route.

3 Rumilly. Here the Chéron, near its confluence with the Elpha, is crossed. In every village along this route, Roman coins and medals have been found. At Rumilly, these and other relics have been dug out. The antiquity of Rumilly, Rumilliacum, is high; it lay in the principal road from Aix to Geneva, but nothing is known of its early history; and of later, traces of a fire or a plague alone mark the progress of time in the history of most of the Savoyard towns of this class. It has now a population of nearly 4000 inhabitants.

From Rumilly to

1 Albens the drive is very beautiful, especially under the hill of Chautagne, where the village of Bloye is situated. At Albens the road by Rumilly and Annecy from Geneva to Chamberry unite. A little off the road at Gresy is a cascade, in visiting which, a lady, in the suite of Queen Hortense, lost her life, perishing by a

fall over the precipice before the eyes of her friends.

1 Aix les Bains, p. 340.
2 CHAMBERRY, p. 356.

ROUTE 122.

CHAMBERRY TO LANSLEBOURG BY L'HÔPITAL CONFLANS, MOUTIERS, TIGNES, AND THE COL D'ISERAN.

Montmeillan, 2 posts. (Route 127.) Here the routes to the Mont Cenis and the Val Isère divide: the former crosses the Isère to enter the valley of the Arc at Aiguebelle, and continue in it to Lanslebourg; the latter ascends nearly up to the head of the Val Isère, and, after crossing the Col d'Iseran, descends by the valley of the Arc to Lanslebourg.

The

This is a post road to l'Hôpital, the distance being 4 posts. first post station from Montmeillan is Gressy, 23 posts. Thence to l'Hòpital, 13.

Montmeillan is left, after having ascended through its steep streets to where two roads branch off: one, on the left, leads to Aix; the other, on the right, proceeds along the mountain side, on the right bank of the Isère, to

St. Pierre d'Albigny, a neat little town with a good inn. There is nothing worthy of notice before reaching St. Pierre. The Isère flows through a portion only of its broad winter bed, leaving the blanched stones to mark its extent

at that season. The slopes around Montmeillan and St. Pierre are celebrated for the wine they produce.

A little beyond St. Pierre is a fine feature in the scenery of the valley, the Château de Miolans. It is built on a mass of rock jutting out of the mountain side in a most commanding situation. The ascent is gradual to the platform, which on the top of the rock is extensive enough for the castle. Its elevation is about 800 or 900 feet above the Isère, commanding extensive views up and down the valley,

and across into the valley of the Arc; for it is nearly opposite to the confluence of the Arc and the Isère.

"The old towers of the Château de Miolans overhang inaccessible precipices, four or five times their height. The look out upon the beautiful scenes in the valley below, from the slits which serve as windows to the cells in the towers, must often to the poor prisoners within (for this was the state prison of Savoy) have created a desire for liberty, and at the same moment have crushed the hope of its attainment.

"The château originally belonged to one of the most ancient families in Savoy, distinguished as early as the ninth century. Between that period and the sixteenth, many of the barons of Miolans were celebrated as soldiers, and other members of the family were eminent in the church, as bishops of the Maurienne; but the male line becoming extinct in 1523, the château was bought by Charles III., duke of Savoy, and converted into a state prison, which continued to be its appropriation until the events of the French revolution united Savoy to France, when the castle of Miolans was dismantled. However strong it might have been as a prison, as a military station, at least since the use of cannon, it must have been defenceless. Now it is interesting only to the painter and the antiquary; rank weeds fill its courts, its drawbridges are decayed; its walls are crumbling to the earth, and bear to oblivion in their ruin the names written upon them by the soldier in the guard-room, and the captive in his cell. Where for merly the sighs of the poor wretch once pierced the walls of the dungeon, blasts of wind have now passed through a thousand rents, and whistled the requiem of feudal tyranny." - Journals of an Alpine Traveller.

A path on the northern side of the road leads down through the meadows and vineyards to the village of Fraterive in the road beyond Miolans;

thence through the village of Gressy, and the hamlets of St. Vial and Fronteney to l'Hôpital Conflans (ad Publicanos). (Route 119.)

At l'Hôpital the Arly is crossed to pursue the course to the upper valley of the Isère, a district distinguished as the Tarentaise. The journey to Moutiers, distant about 16 English miles, is through a picturesque valley. The road lies on the right bank of the Isère, through a succession of beautiful scenes. The direction of the valley in ascending from Montmeillan to Conflans is N. E., but from Conflans to Moutiers it is a little east of south.

Above Conflans the valley is much narrower; the lower ranges of the mountains are more richly wooded, the valley retired and pastoral in its character. The ruins of châteaux are often seen, on heights that jut out on rocks in commanding situations from the rich backgrounds of forest trees.

The first village that is passed is La Batie (Oblimum), and the next of any importance is Roche-Cavins, which is about halfway between Conflans and Moutiers. About 10 miles from Conflans, near the hamlet of Petit Cœur, there is a fine cataract, which dashes down amidst immense rocks, a spot forming a striking contrast to the general fertility and repose of the valley. About three miles farther, the valley opens into a rich little plain, where the pretty village of Aigueblanche is situated. Here the road rises, and having passed its crest, descends into a deep defile that leads to Moutiers, by a road terraced on the steep slope of this ravine, from which it abruptly enters the basin of the Val Isère, in which Moutiers Tarentaise (Daren-, tasia) is situated on the confluence of the Isère, and the Doron of Bozel.

Moutiers. Inn: Hôtel de la Diligence. Chez Genard, and also a small inn, Chez Vizioz, both dirty; the former perhaps the worst. Inhabitants 2000. This capital of the Ta