Stockalper, who died in 1691, and he, with a guard of eighty men, formerly controlled the road, and consequently the trade into Italy over the Simplon.

It has been stated by a recent writer that Milton the poet, having, in 1639, visited Florence, Bologna, Ferrara and Venice, came to Milan, and, after crossing the Alps by the Simplon, arrived at the Lake of Geneva, and finally at Geneva itself. Quotations from 'L'Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso' are given as descriptive of the scenery en route, and a tradition exists in Domo d'Ossola that the poet stayed there on his journey.

But the road in those days was of the roughest description. It was exposed to great risk of avalanches and involved many crossings of rivers; consequently Napoleon I. gave instructions for a fine roadway to be made capable of carrying his army and artillery, and this occupied from 1800 to 1806, a period curiously similar in duration to the time devoted to the piercing of the tunnel. This road, which is made with easy gradients and carried by substantial bridges over the gorges and torrents, is provided with suitable stone buildings as refuges for travellers overtaken by snow and storm. The first of these is at an altitude of 3,510 feet, the second at 4,330 feet, while the third is at the picturesque village of Berisal (5,005 feet), now a health resort. It was at this point that it was proposed at one time to sink a bore-hole down to the tunnel, twenty inches in diameter, for conveying water to the drills. This, in consequence of its altitude above the railway, would have given ample pressure for working the machinery. A bore-hole of this depth, however, might and probably would have meandered to some extent from a true vertical line. It would have been an awkward engineering feat to hunt about in solid granite or gneiss endeavouring to find the hole. For this and other reasons the idea was abandoned, and Berisal is in no way connected with the actual tunnel.

Passing the fourth refuge we reach the fifth at an altitude of 6,345 feet, and it is between this and the top of the Pass that the most dangerous portion of the route exists. It is exposed during the season to avalanches which sweep across it from the Kalt Wasser Glacier, and hence it has two long covered tunnels or galleries, one the Old Gallery,' the other the 'Joseph Gallery,' over which the avalanches thunder while travellers are safe inside. We pass the sixth refuge and reach the Simplon Hospice at 6,565 feet. This was founded by Napoleon, but was not completed until 1825,

when it was taken charge of by the monks of Great St. Bernard and became their property, and they in their turn appointed the prior and his monks to board and lodge travellers gratuitously. This remarkable institution was originally founded by St. Bernard de Menthon in A.D. 962, and is maintained by revenues from land in Italy and elsewhere, and also by gifts from travellers and other

sources.

The two hospices of the Great St. Bernard and of the Simplon are large stone buildings capable of withstanding the very heavy falls of snow, and the great storms which prevail in the Alps in winter. The door of the hospice is never closed and any traveller entering can always reckon upon finding a bed ready for him in a clean but simply furnished room or cell, together with plain but substantial food. No payment is asked for in return, but a box labelled Offrandes pour l'Hospice' receives any contribution which may be given as a thankoffering. The number of travellers provided for annually at the Simplon amounts to many thousands, in one year reaching as high as 28,000. The fine St. Bernard dogs, who are trained to search for and give 'first aid' to travellers lost in the snow, are to be found also at the Simplon Hospice, and with this object in view each dog carries a small flask of brandy and suitable food round its neck. Hardly a winter passes but these noble animals rescue persons from severe suffering, or even death.

From the hospice the road begins to descend to Eggen, near the mouth of the Rossboden Valley, which was in 1901 the scene of a terrible landslip. Prior to that date this district was grazing land, with a small village attached and with a beautiful pine wood on both sides of the main stream; no one could, from the appearance of the place, have suspected danger. There were no overhanging cliffs, and the ground sloped gently up to the mountains. Suddenly one night, without warning, the Rossboden Glacier, some two miles or more away, burst its bounds, hurling everything away in front of it; it swept across the country, destroying the chalets, tearing the trees out by the roots, wrecking the Simplon road, blocking the river, and, rushing up the opposite slope, overwhelmed the forest there before coming to rest. When morning dawned, the scene of devastation was terrible; what had been a peaceful smiling landscape had become a horrible waste of mud and gravel, with large masses of dirty ice and blocks of rock the size of houses covering an area two miles in length by half a mile

in width. Such events as this are unfortunately not uncommon in this lovely country of Switzerland.

At a distance of twenty miles from Brigue the Simplon village, 4,852 feet above the sea, is reached, a centre of agricultural activity for the neighbouring pastures. It has its comfortable old-fashioned hotels, which for many years past have accommodated travellers passing by diligence and carriage. The road now descends rapidly by great zigzags into the deep and gloomy ravine of Gondo, in which flows the river Diveria. This is one of those rivers which have been harnessed' by the constructors of the tunnel, and whose waters have given the necessary power for the now famous Brandt boring machinery. A great mass of rock, which here seems to fill up the entire valley, has had to be tunnelled through for the roadway, the length being 245 yards; and as a sign that we are reaching the boundary line or frontier between Switzerland and Italy, this tunnel is 'mined,' so that in case of war it could, if necessary, be destroyed and the roadway effectually blocked.

At Gondo, twenty-seven miles on our journey, we reach the last Swiss village, with the Swiss custom-house, and two miles further on, at 2,155 feet above the sea, is Iselle, the Italian douane, and the site of the entrance to the great tunnel. For the whole of the last few miles the valley is extremely narrow, with lofty cliffs of rock hanging precipitously overhead, and in the two villages of Gondo and Iselle the houses are in consequence arranged close along the Simplon road, with their backs against the cliffs.

Below Iselle the valley widens out, and here, since the commencement of the tunnel the population suddenly, as by enchantment, increased tenfold; a workmen's city suddenly sprang into existence, and enterprising Italians erected the most extraordinary jerry-built houses for the accommodation of the men, small villas for the staff, and shops and 'magasins' for supplies. Unfortunately this temporary town was not under the beneficent rule and control of the Simplon tunnel authorities, and consequently sanitation and water supply were left to take care of themselves. The valley below Iselle reminds one somewhat of the lines of access on the St. Gothard Railway, and necessitates one helical or corkscrew tunnel and various other tunnels and bridges until the Domo d'Ossola plain is reached, and the railway effects a junction with the existing line.

Now let us come to the actual driving of the tunnel itself.

The works for this on the north side were commenced on August 1, and on the south side on August 6, 1898. From both ends the tunnel rises towards the middle in order that any water from springs encountered might flow away by gravitation; the gradient from the north being 1 in 500, and that from the south 1 in 143, the machinery at each side being calculated and arranged to be of sufficient power to carry on the work for 6 miles, or half the entire length of 12 miles. It is difficult to realise what a length of 12 miles really means, but the best way is to compare it with some distances with which we may be familiar. Taking the Houses of Parliament at Westminster as a centre, and describing a circle of this radius, it will pass through St. Mary Cray, Ewell, Hampton Court, Hounslow, Pinner, and each spoke of this large wheel will represent fairly accurately the length of the tunnel. The northern entrance is, as already stated, almost on the level of the existing terminus at Brigue, whereas at Iselle all machinery and material had to be carted for twelve miles up the steep road from the Domo d'Ossola valley.

The work went on steadily from both entrances, and consisted of one single line tunnel, with a parallel gallery for the second tunnel running alongside at a distance of about fifty-five feet; cross passages every 217 yards are provided both for purposes of ventilation and for taking in and out the various materials. Most praiseworthy arrangements were made for the care of the men, with the view to their suffering no harm from the exposure to Alpine air after working in the heat of the galleries. A large building was fitted up near each entrance provided with cubicles for dressing, and with hot and cold douche baths. At the top of the building steam pipes were fixed and each man was entitled to his own private rope and padlock; this rope passes over a pulley in the roof and has a hook at the end to which he can attach his day clothes, with his watch, purse and pipe, and pulling them up by the cord and padlocking it he secures the safety of his belongings. On returning from his work he at once enters this warmed building, has his bath, lowers his clothes, and, hanging his wet mining dress on the hook raises it to the roof. Here it hangs until he again returns to work, when he finds his clothes dry and warm.

The adoption of the Brandt hydraulic drill not only enables the gallery to be driven at at least three times the usual speed, but it avoids the creation of dust, which in mining is so produc

tive of miner's phthisis. Not a single instance of this fell disease has occurred during the work, and although a well-appointed hospital was provided at each end of the tunnel the beds were generally empty.

At a distance of 2 miles from Iselle a great subterranean river was met with in September 1901, which caused serious delay, and for a period of six months the total advance was only forty-six metres. The difficulties at this point were such as in the hands of men of less determination might have resulted in the abandonment of the undertaking. Not only was it necessary to closetimber the gallery on both sides and also at the top and floor with the heaviest baulks of square pitch pine twenty inches thick, but when these were crushed into splinters and the gallery completely blocked with their wreckage, steel girders were adopted, only in their turn to be distorted and bent out of shape. It seemed as if no available material could be found which would stand the enormous pressure of the rocks, until steel girders, forming a square placed side by side (the interstices being filled with cement concrete) resisted the load. Fortunately this bad ground' only extended for a distance of about fifty yards, but it cost nearly 1,000l. per yard to overcome this difficulty, and required the encasement of the tunnel at this point on sides, floor, and arch with granite masonry, eight feet six inches in thickness.

Meanwhile the progress at the Brigue side was good, and the miners reached the half-way boundary and then began to encounter great heat from both rock and springs. It was a curious experience to insert one's arm into a bore-hole in the rock and to find it so hot as to be unbearable; the maximum heat then encountered was 131° Fahrenheit. But now a fresh difficulty presented itself, as in order to save time it was desirable to commence driving down-hill to meet the miners coming up-hill from Italy, and thus the very problem which the ascending gradients had been provided to avoid had to be faced. As the gallery descended the hot springs followed, and the boring machines and the miners were standing in a sea of hot water; this for a time was pumped out by centrifugal pumps over the apex of the tunnel, but at last, and while there still remained some 300 or 400 yards to be penetrated, it was found impossible to continue going down-hill.

Nevertheless time had to be saved, and as the height of the heading was only some seven feet while that of the finished tunnel was 21 feet, it was decided to continue to drive the gallery forward,