bridle-path, barely practicable for light carts. As far as

4 Lenz, it is identical with the preceding route, but at Lenz it turns round the shoulder of the mountain to the E., leaving Tiefenkasten on the right, and, passing the village of Brienz, ascends the vale of Albula. On the left towers the Castle of Belfort, on an almost inaccessible rock. In about 3 miles more we reach the Baths of Alveneu, on the rt. bank of the Albula, and, crossing the mouth of the Davos Thal and the stream running out of it, follow the Albula, ascending, in a S. E. direction, to

23 Filisur, a village on its rt. bank. Near it stand the ruins of SchlossGriefenstein. The inhabitants of this and the adjoining valley emigrate from home to various parts of Europe, where they exercise the craft of pastry-cooks, frequently returning hither to end their days in opulence earned by industry. Two miles above Filisur are the abandoned silver mines of Bonacelsa, and 4 miles from hence the path enters the narrow ravine called BergunerStein, which, like that near Tiefenkasten (p. 212.), has been compared with the Via Mala. For a distance of more than 1000 ft. the path is hewn, or blasted, out of the face of the rock, and the Albula roars at a depth of 500 or 600 ft. below.

2 Bergün (Rom. Bergogn), a village of about 600 inhabitants, chiefly Protestants, speaking Romansch, and muleteers or carters by profession. It is beautifully situated among the mountains. A Protestant synod was held here 1617.

A steep ascent leads to the inn, or châlet of

2 Weissenstein, 4900 feet above the sea, in the vicinity of a small lake, the fountain head of the Albula. "A few stunted firs are scattered about the lower end, where the water is shallow; on all other sides the lake lies dark and treeless, beneath the frightful precipices that tower

above."

-The Engadine.

The ascent from this point

is very rapid, the path lies along the N. side of the lake; traces of the Roman road may be discovered near this. A savage ravine, called Trümmer-thal, because filled with fragments of broken rocks, hurled down from the heights above, along with the avalanches, which render this part of the pass dangerous in spring, brings the traveller to

14the summit of the Pass of the Albula. The culminating point, marked by a cross, is 6980 feet above the sea level; near it is another small lake. It is a scene of complete desolation. On the N. of the path rise the two peaks of the Albula - Crap Alv, or White Rock, 7560 ft.; and on the S. E. that of Piz Err, 8770 ft. high.

The descent into the Ober-Engadine is also at times exposed to avalanches.

2 Pont, or Punt, in Route 84.

ROUTE 84.

THE ENGADINE; ST. MAURITZ TO NAUDERS, AND THE PASS OF FINSTERMÜNZ.

15 stunden=49 Eng. miles. A tolerable char-road, traverses the Engadine.

The Engadine, or Valley of the Upper Inn, is nearly 60 miles long, and is one of the highest inhabited valleys among the Alps, varying between an elevation of 5600 ft. above the sea, at Sils, the highest village, and 3234 ft. at Martinsbruck, the lowest. There is no other valley among the Alps where so many and such large and populous villages are to be found at so high an elevation. It has at least 20 tributary valleys. Owing to this high elevation, and the icy barrier of enormous glaciers which separates it from Italy on the S., it possesses a most ungenial, nay, severe climate. In the language of its inhabitants it has 9 months of

winter and 3 of cold weather. The only grain grown in it is rye and barley, a stunted crop; and, in the upper portion, potatoes rarely come to maturity; yet it is one of the most opulent valleys among the Alps, though the source of its wealth must be sought for in another theatre than the valley itself. Its inhabitants, aware of the inclemency of their climate and of the barrenness of its soil, are but little addicted to agriculture. The surface, where not actually bare rock, is either covered with forests or converted to pasture, with the exception of small patches on the lower grounds, set apart for the plough or spade. Yet even of this the natives appear to take small account; they let their pastures annually to the Bergamesque shepherds, and intrust the mowing of their meadows and the gathering of the hay harvest to Tyrolese haymakers, who repair hither at the season when their labour is required. The sons of the valley, for the most part, emigrate at an early age, scatter themselves over all parts of the Continent, and may be found in most of the great capitals exercising the professions of pastrycooks, confectioners, distillers of liqueurs, keepers of cafés, and sellers of chocolate. Many of them in the exercise of their calling acquir considerable wealth, and become millionnaires in florins, with which they retire to end their days by the side of the stream of their native valley. They display their wealth especially in the architecture of their houses, which

are distinguished by their large dimensions, by their decorations of whitewash and fresh paint. They are usually decked out with fresco friezes, and pillars, reminding one of the pretension to taste of a cockney citizen's box near London, combined with the studied neatness of a Dutchman's country house, both equally unexpected and out of place, amidst the savage landscape of a Grison valley. Some of the buildSwitz.

217

ings really may be called splendid, though few are in good taste. The windows are few and small, to guard against admitting the cold. Poverty is rare, beggary almost unknown, and the people, who are, with the exception of one or two parishes, Protestants, are creditably distinguished for their morality, and are exempt from the vices common in other parts of Switzerland. Their pastors are held in great respect, but their pay is miserable, affording a striking proof of the working of a voluntary system. The sabbath is strictly observed; strangers only are allowed on that day to ride or drive until after church-time.

The accommodation of travellers is not much studied in the Engadine. The Inns (except at St. Mauritz) are very inferior, and the traveller who resorts to them, must be prepared often to content himself with hard rye bread, baked only once a quarter; eggs, cheese, and perhaps coffee. The universal language is the Ladin (see p. 189.); but among the returned emigrants, in almost every village, may be found individuals speaking French, Italian, or even English. Many of the retired patissiers are otherwise well-informed men; so that it is seldom that the stranger will not find an interpreter. The wine of the Valteline may be had good and cheap, and pastry (made with flour imported from St. Gall) is set before the traveller in spots where wheaten bread is not to be had; indeed, some villages, which cannot boast a shoemaker or tailor, possess 10 or 15 pastry-cooks.

The higher Alpine pastures of the Engadine are let out every summer to Bergamesque shepherds, from the valleys Seriana and Brembana, on the Italian side of the Alps-a wild, dark, and scowling class of men, but hardy and honest, clad in homespun brown and white blankets, and feeding frugally on water pollenta of maize-meal, and a little cheese. They;

L

218 Route 84. arrive about the beginning of July, with their flocks lean and meagre, after their long march, performed generally in the cool of the night. After a solitary sojourn of nearly 3 months, spending often the night as well as day in the open air among their flocks, they return home with fattened kine and long fleeces, which are sold to the wool manufacturers of Bergamo.

Just below St. Mauritz, (p. 215.) the Inn, on quitting the small lake, forms a pretty fall. The first villages passed are Celerina and Samadan (Sommo d'On, Romansch; summum Eni), the principal and wealthiest village in the Upper Engadine, with 500 inhabitants. Opposite to it, the valley of Pontresina opens out, up which runs the road to the Bernina (Route 85.).

Beyond Bevers the path from the Albula (Route 83.) descends into the valley.

At the foot of the Albula lie Pont, and Madulein, and over the latter village towers the ruined Castle of Gardoval, connected with which the following story is told: - In the days of the Faustrecht, before Switzerland was free, this castle was held by a tyrannical and licentious seigneur or bailiff, who greatly oppressed the peasantry around, retaining in his pay a body of lawless soldiers for the purpose of overawing his neighbours. This libertine lord in an evil hour cast his eyes on the fair daughter of Adam, a farmer of the opposite village of Camogask. The maiden was still of a tender age, but of surpassing beauty, like an opening rosebud. One morning, her father, who doated fondly on her, was surprised by a summons brought by two of the bailiff's servants, to convey his daughter to the castle. The father stifled his indignation, promised obedience, and next morning set out, conducting his daughter attired as a bride, and accompanied by a number of his

friends in festive garments as to a wedding, but with mournful mien. The lord of the castle watched the approach of his victim with impatience, and rushing down to meet her was about to clasp her, when, ere his polluting lips could touch her fair cheek, her father's dagger was buried deep in his breast, and his companions throwing off their peaceful garb, and brandishing their concealed weapons, fell upon the guards, and made themselves masters of the tyrant's stronghold. It was immediately burnt, and from that day freedom dawned upon the serfs of the Engadine.

3 Zutz, or Suoz, is a village of 550 inhabitants. An old tower still remains of the Stammhaus, or original castle of the family of Planta, who, as far back as 1139, held the Engadine in feof. The climate here first becomes a little milder, Zutz being sheltered from the cold blasts descending from the Maloya. There is a path from Scanfs to Davos, over the Scaletta pass, 7820 ft., a distance of about 20 miles.

At the Ponte Alto, 'under the Casannaberg, is the division between Upper and Lower Engadine; the country is poor and not very interesting, but the road is rougher and more hilly.

4 Cernetz, or Zernets, is a considerable village with a handsome church, and two feudal towers, one of which anciently belonged to a branch of the Planta family, and is called Wildenberg. Up the opposite valley of Forno runs a path into the Münster Thal, by the Buffalora Pass -6 stun den; "6 hours' hard walking. It is a tolerable char-road, but may be mistaken without a guide. After a gradual ascent from Zernetz, it de scends into a desolate valley, where is a wretched inn (2 hours) the only house between the two places. The top of the pass is reached in 24 hours from this, and a fine view is obtained of the Münster Thal, which is reached

at Tschierf (1 hour), 2 hours more bring you to Santa Maria." By the Val Forno you may reach Bormio, at the foot of the grand Pass of the Stelvio.

The names Lavin, Zutz, and Ardetz, three villages in this part of the Engadine, are said to be a Romansch corruption of the Latin Lavinium, Tutium, and Ardea.

The road winds much up and down to reach the villages, which are often perched on the top of steep heights, as in the case of Guarda. Between Ardetz and Fettan, it also makes a wide sweep, away from the river Inn. Tarasp, on the rt. bank of the Inn, opposite Fettan, is the only Roman Catholic village in the Engadine; its inhabitants differ from their neighbours in another respect, that they do not emigrate. Though less enlightened, perhaps, they devote themselves to tilling their own land.

4 Schuols or Schulz, the most populous place in the valley, contains 1143 inhabitants, and is prettily situated. There is much corn-land near this. Avalanches sometimes fall from the hill of Balluns behind. At Schuols, the first Romansch translation of the Bible was printed 1679. (See p. 189.) Perhaps the most picturesque scene in the Engadine is near Remus, where a wooden bridge, 60 feet span, is thrown over the deep gorge called Wraunka Tobel, through which a torrent issues out of the vale of Ramosch. Above the bridge, which is called Ponte Piedra, rises the ruined castle Chiamuff, burnt by the Austrians in 1475.

The scenery of the valley of the Inn is very grand on approaching

3 Martinsbruck (Pomartino). Here the traveller, after crossing the river, leaves the Inn to find its way directly through the pass of Finstermünz; the path takes a more circuitous route, and ascends a considerable wooded eminence, forming the boundary between Switzerland and Tyrol, and enters the Austrian dominions a short while before reaching

Nauders, where there is a tolerable inn, about a mile distant from the remarkable defile of Finstermünz. (See HANDBOOK for SOUTH GERMANY.)

ROUTE 85.

PASS OF THE BERNINA, FROM SAMADAN IN THE ENGADINE ΤΟ TIRANO IN THE VALTELINE, BY PONTRESINA, AND PUSCHIAVO.

10 stunden = 323 Eng. miles. The Bernina is a very lofty chain of mountains, separating the valleys of the Engadine and of Bregaglia on the N., from the Valteline on the S. They vary in height between 8000 and 12,000 ft., the highest summits being the Ligoncio, the Monte del Oro, the Rosegg (Rosatch, and in Romansch, Ruseig), the Monte della Disgrazia, and the Pizzo Scalino. Several arduous paths cross it, but the most frequented is that called par excellence, the Bernina Pass, a bridle-path, practicable at its two extremities for chars, and traversed annually by 700 or 800 mules.

From Samadan the road turns S., ascending the Val Pontresina, by the rt. bank of the torrent Flatz, to

11 Pontresina, a village having an inn. From this place, an excursion may be made in a S. W. direction to the glacier of Bernina, one of the largest in the Alps, filling the upper extremity of the Val Rusegg. The Flatz issues out of a cave of ice called Sboccadura, at its base. This glacier is stated to extend without interruption a distance of 50 miles. Several other arms or branches of this vast sea of ice descend the side valleys on the W. of our route, and appear from time to time in view.

13 Near the summit of the pass is an inn; but a very wretched one.

1 At the culminating point, 7180 feet above the sea, are several lakes. A branch path passes them, and descends at once to the village of Pus