steg), the last trees are passed, and the path mounts continually for nearly another couple of hours along the W. flank of a naked desolate ravine. It skirts on its way, in the bed of the stream, the remains of an immense avalanche which fell 1849-a mass of snow, dirt, and fallen rocks, probably a mile long. Beside it stands a cross with the date 1834. A small marshy basin succeeds the ravine, the valley here changing its direction from S. to W. At this basin the way to the Kreuzli quits the valley, passing the river and ascending the eastern mountains. There is a bridge; the track is not perceptible in the neighbourhood of the river, though it soon reappears during the subsequent ascent.

"It is well worth while to follow up the valley for half a mile or a mile above the basin just mentioned, instead of immediately leaving it for the pass. The river is pursued towards the W., till it is lost in a short defile beneath the snow, with which the bed of the narrow passage is choked up. A multitude of gigantic blocks, heaped one above another, form one side of this cleft in the mountains. The snow affords good walking, and the defile soon gives admittance into a large hollow of the highest savage character. It is utterly sterile and uninhabited; a mere receptacle for fallen rocks and snow. The glaciers of the Crispalt sweep down upon it; craggy mountains of the boldest elevation girdle it in; their splintered summits rise on all sides high into the sky. To visit this spot in the journey over the Kreuzli would not increase the duration of the day's walk by much more than half an hour.

"The track which leads to the Kreuzli pass, after the marshy basin is left and the river crossed, continues to ascend towards the E. up an uneven slope, until it reaches the opening of a kind of high, short valley, by pursuing which the summit is to be gained. From this point there is an unexpected view of the bay o. Uri, and of the plain at the entrance of the Reuss into the lake. The last ascent to the

Kreuzli is gentle but rough, the ground being covered with loose blocks, alternating with patches of snow. The track only appears at intervals, generally upon the snow; but the course of the little valley is in itself a sufficient guide. The crest of the pass, marked by a pole, is reached in 5 hrs. direct from Amsteg, or 6 allowing halts to enjoy the view, and has an elevation of 7710 feet above the sea.

"The views from the Kreuzli are on both sides of an extremely savage nature, amongst the neighbouring mountains and glaciers. There is also an extensive view, looking down the valley, of the snowy mountains between the Grisons and the canton Ticino.

"It is a bad descent into the valley of Strim down a steep declivity, broken by numbers of jutting crags. Occasional goat-tracks supply the place of a regular path. Neither is the track down the valley-when its bed is attained, and the ice-cold river, just sprung from its glaciers, crossedanything like a good path. It requires two long and rather fatiguing hours from the summit of the pass to reach the village of Sedrun or Tavetsch in the valley of the Fore Rhine. The valley of Strim is uninhabited, and its nakedness is not relieved by a single tree, not even a stunted fir. From Sedrun to Disentis down the valley of the Fore Rhine is an easy walk of 2 hrs. (See Rte. 82.)

"As far as the hospice of Santa Maria, 5 leagues from Disentis, the way to this pass is the same as that to the Lukmanier. (Rte. 85.) A little tributary valley of the Medelser Thal opens from the S.W. into the plain of Santa Maria, and leads to the Uomo pass. The path ascends from the plain on the rt. bank of the stream which waters this valley. There is no difficulty on the ascent, which is rapid and continuous. The valley is narrow and barren, and presents nothing remarkable. The summit of the pass is reached easily in an hour and a half from Santa Maria. Its height is 7160 ft.; the ground is flat and boggy, and not adapted for a path: it is accordingly traced along a gentle slope on the S. edge of the marsh, where there are one or two rude châlets.

"The descent is scarcely begun before a commanding view of the knot of the St. Gothard Alps opens out in front above the lesser mountains. The pastures, or Alp' of Piora, down which the path lies, produce a cheese of considerable repute in the canton. The descent is at first rapid, but then reaches a little plain and lake, and then the lake of Ritom. The descent from the lake is abrupt and long, the river forming in quick succession three very fine falls.

"After passing the third fall, the path is fairly out of the Val Piora, and on the flanks of the Val Leventina, having been throughout, during the descent from the pass, on the rt. bank of the stream, which it now abandons. The rest of the way to Airolo is very interesting. The Val Leventina and the St. Gothard road are left far beneath, and the path continues high on the

ROUTE 85.

PASS OF THE LUKMANIER DISENTIS TO OLIVONE IN THE VAL BLEGNO.

10 hrs.

A path, much frequented in summer, and practicable throughout on horseback, though very steep towards its two extremities. It is a long and not very interesting pass, but has acquired importance from the comparative facilities it offers for the construction of a Railway with tunnels through the Alps-so as to connect Switzerland, W. France, and South Germany, with Sardinia, Lombardy, and the cities of Milan, Turin, and Genoa. A succession of long and comparatively level valleys on either side of the pass have caused it to be surveyed for the construction of a Railway, and it is practicable by means of a tunnel 15 m. long, which is to enter the mountain at Perdatsch and to emerge at Camps in Val Blegno.

The valley of Medels, up which this route lies as far as Sta. Maria, runs in a direction nearly due S. from Disentis, and is traversed through its whole length by the Middle Rhine, The entrance to it is by a rocky and wooded gorge, about 2 m. from Di

sentis, called Conflons, because the Vorder and Mittel-Rhein unite in it. In the midst of it the Rhine forms two cascades, and beyond it the valley opens out into a wide basin, lined with pastures and forests, in the remoter parts of which the bear is still found, while the chamois abounds on the granite peaks forming the highest summits of the surrounding Alps. The path scales the steep and craggy ridge to the rt. of the gorge, of which it affords but a very imperfect view, and then descends into the valley, opposite Curaglia, a village on the rt. bank of the M. Rhine, placed just above the influx of the torrent which descends from the Medelser Gletscher. A little further up the Rhine is crossed to

Platta (accommodation at the Cure's), the principal place in the Medélser Thal. In 1 hr. more, passing through the hamlet St. Rocco, a spot is reached, whence, looking back, the view of the Dödi is superb. hr. higher is Perdätsch-situated at the opening of the Val Cristallina, which runs in a S.E. direction, and sends forth one branch of the Middle Rhine. It is celebrated for its rock-crystals, out of which the shrine of St. Carlo Borromeo, in the Duomo of Milan, was formed. The ascent here becomes more rapid, and the scenery wilder and finer. Huge rocks are jumbled about. Below Perdätsch the Mittel-Rhein plunges, in a fall 100 ft. high, into a deep gulf. The little hospices of St. John and St. Gall, each with its warning bell, are passed, and, in about 5 hrs. from Disentis, Sta. Maria is reached. Here a stream descends from the W. out of the Lake Dim, at the end of the Val Cadelina; and another issues from the foot of the Monte Scuro.

Sta. Maria is a hospice kept up for the benefit of travellers, and, though very wretched in appearance, the traveller may procure tolerable accommodation for horse and man.

hr's. walk above Sta. Maria brings you to the culminating point of the Pass of the Lukmanier (in Latin, Mons Lucumonius; in Romansch,

Lukmajn, or Culm Sta. Maria), 6340 ft. above the sea.

It is said that the army of Pepin passed this way, A.D. 754, on his invasion of Italy. Poles, stuck into the rocks, mark the direction of the path across the Col. A horse-path over the Uomo Pass (Rte. 84) branches off from the hospice to Airolo, through the Val Termini, or Val Forno, the Val Piora, by Altanca, Brugnasco, and Madrano.

A cross on the summit of the Lukmanier marks the boundary of the Grisons and Canton Tessin. Hence the path to Olivone and the Val Blegno descends the Alpine Val Casaccia, in 1 hr. to

The Hospice of Casaccia; and, a few miles lower, to that of

Camperio, both founded, it is said, by St. Carlo Borromeo, for the reception of travellers.

The first glimpse of the spires and plain of

Olivone, from the wooded steeps of the Lukmanier, is very striking, the descent to it beautiful, and the village itself is one of the most charming spots in the Alps. The small Inn of Stefano Bolla is comfortable, though of no inviting exterior, and rather high-priced. Diligence to Biasca.

Olivone is the highest village in the Val Blegno, and stands at the point where the lateral valley of Casaccia joins it; it has about 740 Inhab.

The Val Blegno (Germ. Polenzerthal) is traversed by the stream of the Brenno, which enters it from a narrow cleft in the mountain; and a tolerable char-road, in part carriage-road, has recently been formed along the l bank of the stream, from Olivone to Biasca, on the route of the St. Gothard (Rte. 34), a distance of 14 m. All the valley on the W. is very beautiful.

Many of the chocolate-sellers and chestnut-roasters, who swarm in the streets of the cities of Italy, come from the Val Blegno.

Biasca, on the St. Gothard road.

ROUTE 86.

ILANZ TO OLIVONE IN THE VAL BLEGNO, BY THE PASSES OF THE DISRUT AND GREINA.

This route (14 hrs.) leads S. from Ilanz up the Lugnetz Thal, a beautiful valley, contracted at its opening into the valley of the Rhine to a mere defile, as far as Kumbels (1 hr. from Ilanz). A little farther up the valley divides; the E. branch, the St. Peter's Thal, leads to the pass of the Valserberg (Rte. 89); the W. branch, or Vrin Thal, leading to the Val Blegno. Near the junction are the Baths of Peiden, where tolerably good accommodation may be had. The road to the Disrut, after leaving Kumbels, passes for a very long time over an elevated and extensive tract of open fields, dotted with several villages and hamlets, and commanding a view up the main valley as far as the pass of the Valserberg. At length the narrow upper valley of Vrin is entered, and, after crossing a deep ravine, the village of Vrin, which gives its name to the valley, is reached (5 hrs. from Ilanz). The curé here will give lodging to travellers.

On leaving Vrin the path descends to and crosses the river, which it recrosses almost directly afterwards. The last hamlet is Buzasch (1 hr. from Vrin). From Buzasch to the summit of the Disrut is an ascent of nearly 2 hrs. For the first hour there is a path marked; the rest of the way may be called pathless. By a gap, in which snow lies, is at last attained, not the crest of the Disrut, but the

The

From this point there is a very bad descent into a plain below (the ascent must be extremely difficult). After a short-hr. of what cannot be called walking, but rather scrambling and slipping, down a crumbling declivity and a bed of snow lying in the depths of a rift, the highest part of the great plain is reached. *Right above the head, but just at a safe distance, a glacier is seen pushing itself forward to the edge of a precipice, and strewing the ground at its foot, almost close to the passer by, with heaps of fragments of ice.

The ascent to the Greina (6520 ft.) is all but nominal. The Greina is in fact merely the western edge of this long plain. The descenton the other side into the Val Kamadra, the highest part of the Val Blegno, is rather difficult. After crossing a wet stony flat, it is requisite to ascend the right hand of the two spurs into which the broken ridge is split, and then to make a very steep descent among stones and blocks of rock into the head of the valley, which is gained in about half an hour after leaving the summit of the Greina. The head of the Val Kamadra is partially occupied by a great bed of snow, and is overhung on the W. by the vast

Kamadra glacier, a portion of the same field of ice to which the Medelser glacier belongs. Once in the head of the Val Kamadra all the difficulties of the passage are surmounted. The rest of the way to Olivone is sufficiently easy, but will occupy full 3 hrs. more. It is advisable to manage to reach Olivone by daylight, as there is a ravine between Ghirone and Olivone, where the path skirts the edge of unguarded precipices, which makes the way rather awkward after nightfall.

The Greina may also be passed either from Somvix or Trons in the Grisons by following up the valley of Somvix. From Olivone downwards there is a carriage-road through the Val Blegno (Rte. 85).

In posting to Chiavenna, travellers are enabled to take the same postcarriage through the whole distance. The supply of post-horses is sometimes insufficient.

An extra horse must be taken in the ascent from Tusis or Chiavenna to the summit.

Diligences twice daily in summer by the Splügen to Como and Milan, and over the Bernardin; but by the diligence one side or the other will be passed in the night. The road is excellent all the way. It is a drive of about 7 hrs., posting, from Coire to

Splügen, and about 4 hrs. from Splügen to Coire; 6 hrs. by diligence or posting from Splügen to Chiavenna. Persons starting by the first steamer from Friedrichshafen, and taking the train at Rorschach, may now reach Coire in time for the 2nd diligence, which runs throughout the summer months, and SO reach Chiavenna about 12 at night on the 3rd day from London.

From Coire (Rte. 67) to Reichenau there is not much deserving notice in the scenery of the valley of the Rhine; but the mountain Galanda, on its 1. bank, is a conspicuous object; and on the same side of the Rhine, the village of Felsberg, partly buried by a slip from threatening rocks above it. The road runs along a nearly level bottom as far as

Reichenau-(Inn, Adler (Aigle), formerly a convent, good and moderate; a pleasant garden)-- a group of houses situated at the junction of the two Rhines, Vorder and Hinter Rhine, both crossed by covered wooden bridges. The handsome whitewashed Château, with garden, a seat of the Planta family, at the end of the last cent. was converted into a school by the burgomaster Tscharner. In 1793 a young man calling himself Chabot arrived here on foot, with a stick in his hand and a bundle on his back. He presented a letter of introduction to M. Jost, the head master, in consequence of which he was appointed usher; and for 8 months gave lessons in French, mathematics, and history. This forlorn stranger was no other than Louis Philippe, late King of the French, then Duke de Chartres, who had been forced, by the march of the French army, to quit Bremgarten, and seek concealment here in the performance of the humble duties of a schoolmaster. His secret was known only to M. Jost. His cheerful room is still pointed out, and 2 paintings-scenes from his own life-presented while he was King. The house contains 2 pictures by Winterhalter, presented by Louis Philippe to M. Planta, and