across this trackless waste of frozen waters, and at last reached the opposite shore. Here we descended a series of steps called the Mauvais Pas, roughly hewn on the side of an almost perpendicular rock from whose eminence we could look down thousands of feet beneath us.

At the Chapeau, a mountain station, we found our mules awaiting to convey us to the valley below.

By private conveyance we passed through the romantic vale of Chamouni; over the Tête Noire, a wild and rugged mountain pass; and descending into the valley of the Rhone, arrived at the Gorge of Trient. This is a stupendous rent in the rock, six hundred feet in height, and extending a distance of several miles; at the base of the chasm flows a rapid torrent emanating from distant glaciers, which rushes madly on its way, boiling and seething, over boulders and jutting crags that intercept its course.

Leaving Brieg by diligence, we crossed the Alps by the Simplon Pass over the military road made by Bonaparte for the passage of his troops. Arriving at the Fifth Refuge, one of the stations instituted as places of shelter for the wayfarer, we exchanged our carriage for a sleigh, as recent snow-storms had rendered the roads otherwise impassable. For a distance of 20 miles we traversed vast plains of snow, and penetrated deep chasms cut through fallen avalanches, then resuming our

former mode of conveyance, began the descent through the Gorge of Gondo-awful in its sublimity- and emerging from rocky tunnels, amid scenes of wild and rugged grandeur, we were suddenly transferred into the vine-clad slopes and balmy air of sunny Italy.

Stressa, on Lake Maggiore, is situated just opposite the Borromean Islands, the property of Count Borromeo. On Isola Bella, the most beautiful of these little islands, is his palace: the bare rock having been metamorphosed into a scene of enchantment. This fairy creation is a series of ten terraces adorned with statues, obelisks, and vases, and here in sight of Alpine snows, tropical flowers bloom, and tea, indigo, citron, and magnolia thrive luxuriantly.

Sailing through Lake Maggiore, and then taking a carriage, we drove over a delightful road to Lugano, a small village nestling on the banks of the lake under the beetling shadow of Mt. St. Salvador. After a short sojourn here, we sailed through Lugano, the smallest and one of the prettiest of the Italian lakes, and continued our journey to Bellagio on the banks of Lake Como.

Bellagio, on a small peninsula formed by the three arms of Lake Como, commands from its eminence views of unsurpassed beauty, but a more extended range is obtained from the villa Serbelloni, on the heights above. Embowered in a rich luxuriance of tropical growth, this pretty little

villa is almost concealed from view, but from its secluded elevation are obtained glimpses of the panorama of mountain and lake so vividly portrayed by Claude Melnotte: "A deep vale shut in by Alpine hills from the rude world, near a clear lake margined by fruits of gold and whispering myrtles."

Lake Como, 30 miles long and 21⁄2 wide, is set like a precious gem in the midst of ever-green hills; along its shores are picturesque villas, and romantic ruins, standing out from a dark background of foliage; here the Villa d'Este, the fair casket that once enshrined Tasso's beautiful Leonora, and later the peaceful refuge of the unhappy Caroline of Brunswick; there, the Villa Taglioni, the lovely home of the famous danseuse, and again the Villa Carlotta, filled with the masterpieces of Canova and Thorwaldsen.

Como, at the southern extremity of the lake, has a population of 25,000, and is defended by double walls and environed by hills. The city

has four gates, one of which leads to Milan and is a grand specimen of architectural beauty. In front of the Cathedral are statues of the elder and younger Pliny, the latter having been born here A. D. 62.

Taking rail from Como to Basle the road passes through the finest of the Italian and Swiss scenery, skirts Lakes Como, Lugano, Lucerne, Zug, and Zurich, and enters the Alps through the

St. Gothard Tunnel. This, the most wonderful piece of engineering in the world, penetrates the mountain like a cork-screw, making four complete loops within a distance of twenty miles in order to attain the requisite elevation, when it emerges into daylight only to enter again the main tunnel which is nine miles in length. On the opposite side the road winds around cliffs, through rocky gorges, and crosses chasms of fearful depth, presenting a scene of surpassing grandeur.

CHAPTER XIII.

FREIBURG: STRASBURG: BADEN BADEN:

HEIDELBERG:

FRANKFORT: MAYENCE: THE RHINE: COLOGNE: AIX

LA-CHAPELLE: ᎷᎬᎢᏃ : RHEIMS: DIJON: MÂCON:

LYONS.

FROM Basle to Freiburg where in the latter city is a monument to Berthold Swartz, the monk who, it is claimed, in 1320, invented gunpowder, the rail follows the Rhine, and skirts the Black Forest so intimately associated with the legends of Germany.

Strasburg, the principal city of the German provinces of Alsace and Loraine, has a population of 105,000 and is noted chiefly for its wonderful clock, and its manufacture of patés-de-foie-gras;

this well-known delicacy is composed of geeselivers unnaturally enlarged by a process of excessive feeding. A singular sight is that of the great storks standing beside, or building their nests on the chimneys of many housetops. It was in Strasburg that Guttenberg first used type, and gave to the world one of the most useful of inventions.

The city, while in possession of the French, was bombarded by the Prussians, in August and September, 1871, from Kehl, the batteries being placed out of sight of the French, and under the direction of an officer stationed on a high steeple, who communicated by telegraph to the distant trenches.

The Cathedral which has a spire 470 feet in height, the highest in the world, contains the celebrated astronomical clock made by Schwilgué in 1838-1842 to replace a similar one of great antiquity. At the hour of 12 the cock crows, the twelve apostles appear, and other puppets are set in motion.

In the Church of St. Thomas is a fine monument to Marshal Saxe, and in glass cases are the bodies of the Duke of Nassau and his daughter, preserved for 400 years.

Baden-Baden, the famous German wateringplace, is in a valley on the northern extremity of the Black Forest. Along the banks of the river Oos are shaded avenues for public resort, leading to