than from going direct from Turin to the last-named town. After having passed through Coni, a fortified town of some importance, you arrive at Limone, where a winding ascent leads to the summit, which commands a prospect of the Alps, with Monte Rosa high above the rest. The summit of the pass is strictly a col or neck, being little more than a narrow ridge, whence you may perceive, immediately beneath, the road descending the steep sides of the mountain, by numerous zigzag and corkscrew-like turns. On account of the exposed position of the pass, high winds are very common, and the snow is generally thick upon the road from the beginning of November till the end of May, so as almost to interrupt the communication. Tenda, at the foot of the pass, is a miserable and dilapidated looking town, beyond which you pass through some fine scenery, and the wildly romantic gorge of Saorgio; the road being cut for miles along the edge of the torrent, and frequently through rocks which impeded its construction. The town of Saorgio is perched upon the acclivity of one of the mountains. Its castle completely commands the defile, and made efficient resistance to the French during their occupation of Piemont. The scenery from Saorgio to Chiandola continues to be of the most interesting description. You then ascend another mountain pass, exceeding in savage grandeur and in the desolateness of its appearance that of Tenda, and descend to Sospello, between which town and the plain of Nice there lies yet another mountain, the scenery of which is of the same magnificent character as the former, the road being in several parts cut through rocks of granite and marble. From the summit you obtain a glance of the Mediterranean, with the harbour of Villa Franca, and the island of St. Marguerite. After passing through the village of Scarena, the road gradually descends to the regions of fertility, and approaches Nice through olive plantations and orange gardens.

In traversing Switzerland from Lausanne to Basle, travellers are obliged to employ a voiturier, the only post-roads being those from Geneva to Simplon, and from the lake of Constance to the Splugen. The route to Berne by Morat passes through a hilly and pleasing country, embellished with numerous cheerful-looking farm-houses, the inhabitants exhibiting every appearance of comfort and content. A plain pillar on "the proud, the patriot field" of Morat, marks the spot where the bones of the Burgundians lie unsepulchred. Berne is the handsomest town in Switzerland, and is the one which enjoys the greatest advantage with respect to the beauty of its situation. It is placed on the declivity of a hill, round the base of which the river Aar makes a considerable bend. The streets are spacious, extremely clean, and the houses are built on low arches, somewhat like those of Padua.

A stream of clear water runs through a small canal along the centre of each street, supplying several neat fountains, most of which are adorned with the statue of Winkelried, or some other hero of Swiss history. There are several agreeable terraces and public promenades in the town and in the environs, commanding magnificent prospects over a vast extent of highly cultivated and richly wooded country, above which the long range of the Bernese Alps, covered with snow, raise their majestic peaks, and form the most splendid and striking feature in the scene.

A drive of about six hours from Berne, through a beautiful country, brings the traveller to Interlacken, situated in one of the pleasantest valleys of the Oberland, and much frequented in the summer by English visitors, the number of whom had so much increased, that the size of the village is more than double what it was a few years ago. Several new boarding-houses have also been erected at Unterseen, a small town about half a mile distant from Interlacken, and, like it, deriving its name from its position with respect to the lakes of Thun and Brientz. The Jungfrau, with other "thrilling regions of the thick-ribbed ice," rise immediately above the valley; whence the small cross, planted on its summit by the party who first ascended, may be seen with the naked eye in clear weather. Interlacken is a central spot for excursions among some of the sublimest scenery of Switzerland, though less eligible as a summer residence for an invalid than Geneva and its environs. During the last two or three seasons, Interlacken has been less resorted to than formerly, to which, perhaps, the unaccommodating conduct of the authorities may have in some degree contributed.

The country between Berne and Basle is less hilly, but, like that between Berne and Lausanne, teems with fertility and population. Basle is a large manufacturing town, which contains no remarkable public edifices, and derives much of its importance from being close to the French and German frontier. It is divided into two unequal parts by the Rhine, which is here of considerable breadth, and is crossed by a wooden bridge.

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CHAPTER XIV.

Venice—Pass of Ampezzo—Innspruck—Munich—The Bavarians.

The lagoons, or shoals, upon which stands Venice, formed by the earth deposited from the rivers, which, descending from the Alps, empty themselves into the head of the Adriatic, may, as a traveller has observed, be compared, with reference to this sea, "to a side closet shut off from a room by a partition. This partition, which divides it from the open sea, is composed of different pieces with openings between them, which, if we pursue the same comparison, may be considered as so many doors; and in a line with these openings, though not uniformly straight, are the channels by which vessels approach Venice. The largest of these channels, or the grand canal, is crossed by one bridge, the Rialto, the only other communication between the two parts being by means of gondolas; and, as the same

L