shocking deformity of the goitres but too often meet the eye. The people live in hovels not houses, Stealing their whole dominion from the waste; Repelling winter-blasts with mud and straw." Old and young, male and female, wear on their outward frames the evidences of a destiny inauspicious alike to the body and intellect of the human species. Probably it is to the severity of distress inflicted by an Alpine winter, not less than to the heat and stagnation of the air* in summer, that these particular infirmities and sufferings are to be ascribed. My remark however, on this debateable point, is not intended to be offered without qualification. Indeed, we were continually meeting strong and healthy men. We occasionally saw well formed and even good looking women (though of the latter very few). As to houses and churches, groups of decent structures now and then attract our attention. But these for the most part discover themselves afar off, and at an altitude of some hundred yards above us. One circumstance that particularly struck us relates to the children, who are here the least lively of any I ever saw. They do not appear to have any amusements, either when by half. And these idiots are moreover disfigured with enormous goitres, or wens, hanging down from the throat."-Robert-Voyage en Swisse, vol. 2, p. 275.-This description applies to the worst stages of cretinism: one or two cases of which fell under our own observation. "M. de Saussure, who made very deep researches on this subject, ascribes Cretinism to the heat, and the stagnation of the air in the lower part of some of the Alpine vallies. In consequence however of the precaution taken by such of the inhabitants as are in easy circumstance, to send their wives to lodge on the mountains, and to bring up their children there until the age of ten or twelve years, this infirmity is not by any means so prevalent in the Valais as formerly."-Mallet. themselves or with each other. In the hamlets these little beings sit motionless on their parents' thresholds. By the road side we observed them lying on blocks of stone or in the dust. If they betake themselves to their legs, it is generally for the purpose of running after the traveller's carriage to beg sous. Between St. André and Modane we alighted; and quitting the main road after again crossing the Arc, we walked towards an assemblage of habitations which we saw at a short distance up the cliffs. There we had an opportunity of forming some judgment respecting the real situation of these mountaineers, than which surely nothing can be more forlorn. Fournau is the name of this little village. It contains, as we were informed, 36 families; has a church, but cannot maintain, and in point of fact is destitute of an officiating priest. We went into several of their cabins and found them dark with smoke and offensive from filth; with paper instead of glass in their windows, and the greater part of that is torn out in summer. They and their neighbours cultivate a good deal of hemp: they also grow oats and rye. They had milk, coarse brown bread, cheese, and potatoes; but no very large store of any of these articles. Their hay harvest was employing all hands. Seldom have I witnessed such abject povertynever did I see it joined to such apparent contentment, or at least such resignation to a hard and helpless lot. Four or five shillings' worth of French silver and copper money distributed among these Alpine villagers was sufficient to brighten up their sun-burnt and wrinkled countenances, and to call forth an abundance of thanks. The only intelligent and communicative individual that we found in this unmarked and unheeded place, was a young man employed, at the time we accosted him, in driving up his only couple of cows to the milking; and whose military air but ill concealed under the mildness of his manner and the peaceful nature of his occupation, induced us to ask him if he had always lived in this spot. He then acquainted us that he had served several years in the French Artillery Train, and was of the number of those unfortunate persons who had shared in the miseries of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow; that having escaped without injury from the perils of that and subsequent campaigns, he had at the conclusion of the war returned to this scene of his childhood, where he married the little woman who was then handing us each a wooden bowl of milk, and with whom he seemed to be perfectly reconciled to share a life of seclusion and privation in his native land: "Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms, At Modane (which after the hut-heap already dignified with the name of village we must call a town) the still increasing size and unterminating range of the mountains impressed us deeply with feelings of astonishment and awe. We had in fact entered the Upper Maurienne; where Alps, whose immense sides are darkened with fir trees, rise gradually to heights of from five to eight thousand feet on each side of us: the unpropitious influence of their icy vestures over the vegetation of the valley is revealed in the chilliness of its atmosphere, the scantiness of its produce, and the penury of its inhabitants. Our journey was continued in the obscurity of twilight; but we could perceive that the country was barren and wild in the extreme. It was amidst the hoarse murmuring of the rock-bound Arc, often increased to a roar by waters from some headlong height; and after a further progress of nearly three hours, sometimes under steep chalk bills, and not less frequently by the side of deep abysses, and through gloomy forests, that we reached the town of Lans-le-bourg, at the very foot of Mont Cenis.* *Night prevented us from seeing the double cascade of St. Benoit, situated between Verney and Termignon, and which Reichard describes as "the finest of this valley, and one of the finest among the Alps. The two falls of which it is composed give it a peculiar character. They have both dug for themselves an abyss of which one sees not the bottom, and where they seem to be swallowed up.”—Guide, vol. 3, p. 99. 62 CHAPTER V. Passage of MONT CENIS-Entrance into Piedmont-Susa-A characteristic of Italy-S. Jorio-Valley of the Dora-General view of the Cottian Alps-Rivoli.-TURIN-Evening Scene on the Piazza Castella-King's Palace-Cathedral-Sanctuary of the Sainte Suaire-Church of Corpus Domini-Vegetable MarketChurches of St. Christina, S. Spirito, St. Philip de Neri, and Consolata-Itinerant Musicians—Recorded Miracles-Hotel de Ville-Citadel-River Po—Public Walks—Square of St. CarloCarignan Palace-Allusion to the Religious and Political State of Piedmont-Palais des Sciences—General Observations. AT five o'clock in the morning (July 20th), we quitted Ꭲ Lans-le-bourg, and commenced our ascent of the mountain. Along a deep valley, the river Arc (here not far from its source in the Col de Calet) runs through a narrow bed of granite with prodigious rapidity and noise. We pass over to its left bank by a bridge of wood, well constructed. From the first principal landing of our grand staircase we view far beneath us the miserably mean town where we lodged last night, situated at the bottom of snow-crowned hills. In effectuating the passage, the lowest part of the chain has (as was natural) been selected. Several of the neighbouring points are considerably higher. The way is good: it is formed of six ascents, protected in the dangerous parts by stone parapets or strong wooden rails; and crosses are also erected at stated distances, close to the verge of each steep, |