106 Route 34. Vale of Urseren able defence." The improvidence of the inhabitants, at an early period, had reduced it to a small grove, which those of later times had learned to value for the protection it afforded to their dwellings from falling avalanches. They therefore guarded it with the utmost care, abstaining from cutting down a stem of it; but, in 1799, foreign invaders, reckless of the consequences, felled a great part of it, and consumed it for fire-wood, or to repair the Devil's Bridge. "Weakened by this inroad, each successive year has seen a decrease of these all-important sentinels. A few more winters, and those that are left may be swept away at a single swoop, when it will become necessary to abandon the village. Such is an Alpine existence." Cooper. This was but one of the evils which that calamitous year brought upon this remote and peaceful valley, when the armies of three nations chose it for the arena of their combats, letting loose the furies, fire, famine, and slaughter, upon its unfortunate inhabitants. Suwarrow's hordes arrived at Andermatt in that year, famished with hunger. Like ravenous wolves, they seized and consumed everything they could lay hands on. They greedily devoured a store of soap which they found in the larder of the inn, and, cutting into pieces some skins which had been hung out to dry previously to being tanned, boiled and ate them also. A bridle-path stretches up the side valley behind Andermatt, across the Oberalp, and past its lake, to Dissentis, in the Grisons (Route 77). The vale of Urseren is about 9 miles long and nearly 1 broad. It contains 4 villages and 1360 inhabitants, who gain a subsistence by rearing cattle and keeping dairies, and by forwarding the transit of goods across the St. Gothard, for which purpose 300 horses are kept in it. At Andermatt, Hospital, and Airolo, are many mineral dealers, from whom Pass of St. Gothard. specimens may be purchased of the many rare and valuable minerals with which the range of the St. Gothard abounds. The variety of species is surprising, and the cabinet of the mineralogist derives some of the rarest substances from these Alps. On the 1. of the road, in going to Hospital, two rude stone pillars may be seen; they are the potence or gallows, belonging to Andermatt, dating from the time when the valley of Urseren was an independent state, and Andermatt the chief place in it, enjoyed the right of criminal jurisdiction, now removed to Altdorf. It is curious to observe to what an extent the possession of a gallows and the right of hanging criminals thereon, was an object of pride in ancient times. Such relics as this may be found throughout Switzerland: they seem everywhere to have been preserved almost with veneration, and are kept in constant repair though destined never more to be used. Hospital, or Hospenthal - (Inn : Goldener Löwe (Golden Lion), very good; said to be even better than that at Andermatt). Excellent honey here. Hospital receives its name from an hospice which no longer exists here. Above the village rises a venerable tower, said to be, like the church of Andermatt, a work of the Lombards. There is a fine collection of minerals here for sale, formed by two monks : the prices seem high. The mule path over the Furca (Route 30) leads hence, in 5 hours, to the glacier of the Rhone, and in 2 more to the hospice of the Grimsel. Our high road now quits the valley of Urseren, and following the course of the Reuss, begins to ascend by numerous zigzags to the summit of the St. Gothard, which may be reached in about 2 hours from Hospital. Under the name of St. Gothard are comprised, not merely the depression, or col, over which the road passes, but a group or clump of mountains, all exceeding in elevation the snow line, situated between the cantons of Uri, Vallais, Ticino, and Grisons; and containing the sources of the Rhine, the Rhone, the Reuss, and the Ticino, all of which, with innumerable tributaries, rise within a circle of 10 miles, described from the summit of the pass. The river Reuss may be said to fall, rather than flow, into the lake of the Four Cantons. Between Urseren and Fluellen it descends 2500 feet, and between Urseren and the top of the pass 2000 feet, forming a succession of cataracts. Near the summit of the pass the road crosses it for the last time by the bridge of Rodunt, which marks the boundary of the cantons Uri and Ticino. The source of the Reuss is in the small lake of Lucendro, a short distance on the right of the road. The summit of the pass (6808 feet above the sea) is a valley, or saddle-shaped depression, in the great granite ridge of the central chain, overlooked by snowclad peaks varying between 8000 and 10,000 feet in height. It is a scene of the most complete sterility and desolation: the road winds among several other small lakes or ponds, some of which flow N., but the greater part are feeders of the Ticino, on the S. side of the pass. They may, indeed, be regarded as the head-waters of that river, which gives its name to the canton Tessin, or Ticino. The Hospice, a massive and roomy building, constructed at the expense of the canton Ticino, which has also caused several houses of refuge to be built, is designed for the accommodation of travellers, being fitted up as an inn, containing 15 beds, and placed under the management of two Capuchin friars. Attached to it are warehouses for goods. A very humble house of refuge, and a chapel have existed on this spot ever since the 13th century, owing their origin to the Abbot of Dissentis, who stationed a monk here to attend to the spiritual as well as physical wants of distressed travellers. In the 17th century, St. Carlo Borromeo suggested the construction of a hospice on a larger scale, which, after his death, was executed by his brother. This building, however, was swept away in 1775, by an avalanche: another which succeeded it, was gutted by the French, while encamped on this spot in 17991800, and every particle of wood burnt as fuel. It has remained ever since a ruin, and the only house for the reception of travellers on this inhospitable height was the older hospice, converted into a miserable cabaret fit only for carters and muleteers. The new hospice will prove a convenient substitute for this hovel. The passage in winter and spring is by no means free from danger: the snow is sometimes heaped up in drifts 40 feet high on the summit, and the descent towards Airolo is much exposed at times to tourmentes and avalanches (§ 18). A year seldom passes without the loss of 3 or 4 lives, and at times melancholy catastrophes have occurred. The spot called Buco dei Calanchetti is so named from a party of glaziers from the Val Calanka, who, persisting in pushing on from the hospice, in spite of the warnings of the inmates, were buried here beneath the snow, In 1478, an avalanche swept away a troop of 60 Swiss soldiers: in 1624 another, which fell from the Cassadra, buried 300 persons; and one in 1814 overwhelmed 40 horses laden with goods. The new line of road is carried as much as possible out of the course of these dangers, and though it is unprotected by any covered galleries, accidents of this kind are more rare. The descent towards Italy displays much skilful engineering; and the difficulties of a slope, much steeper on this side than on the other, have been overcome by a series of zigzag terraces not exceeded in numbers and tortuous direction on any other Alpine pass. They begin a little beyond the old hospice, and continue nearly all the way to Airolo. The turnings are less sharp than on many other passes; and a carriage drawn by horses accustomed to the work may trot down at a quick pace. Near the uppermost zigzag the words Suwarrow Victor, in large letters on the face of the rock, record the success of the Russians in gaining the pass from the French in 1799. It was on this ascent that the Russian grenadiers were for some time arrested by the fire of the French riflemen posted behind rocks and trees. The aged Suwarrow, indignant at being foiled for the first time in his life, caused a grave to be dug, and lying down in it, declared his resolution to be buried on the spot where "his children had been repulsed. This appeal was responded to by his soldiers with warmth, and, no sooner did he put himself at their head, than they drove the republicans from their position. The upper part of the gully down which the road passes, is called Val Tremola (Germ. Trümmeln Thal), Trembling Valley, from its supposed effect on the nerves of those who passed it. Since the new road has been made, its terrors, whatever they were previously, have been much softened. It is, however, exposed to some danger from avalanches in spring; and one or two houses of refuge have been built to shelter travellers. A very pretty mineral, named from this locality, where it was first found, Tremolite, abounds in the rock of the valley, and specimens of it occur even in the walls and loose stones at the road-side. The old road lay along the 1. bank of the Ticino; the new keeps on the rt. side of it, and before reaching Airolo makes many wide sweeps along the flank of the mountain, up 1 Airolo. into the Val Bedretto, traversing the forest of Piotella, where the slate rocks are full of crystals of garnet. The view up and down the vale of the Ticino, and over the snowy mountains on the opposite side of it, is extremely grand. Inns: 4 Airolo (Germ. Eriels)· the best is the Post, kept by the brothers Camossi: they are dealers in minerals, and have some choice specimens. Airolo lies on the 1. bank of the Tessin, near the junction of the branch flowing out of the Val Bedretto with that rising on the St. Gothard. It is 3794 feet above the sea-level, and its inhabitants, both in habit and language, are Italian. It possesses two relics of antiquity: an old house called Il Castello, and the stump of a tower (Casa dei Pagani), built, it is said, by Desiderius, king of the Lombards, A.D. 774. The Lombard kings constructed a line of similar forts from this all the way to Como, many of which will be passed by the traveller in descending the valley. The situation of Airolo, at the foot of the St. Gothard, and the consequent transit of travellers and goods, are its chief sources of prosperity. The summit of the pass may be reached by a carriage in 3 hours; by the old road a pedestrian might reach it in less than 2. Several mule paths also concentrate here. 1. That leading up the Val Bedretto to the Nufanen pass (Route 35), and to the Gries (Route 29); 2. Over the Leukmanier into the Grisons; 3. A summer path, and difficult, up the Val Canaria, past the beautiful waterfall of Calcaccia (?), and over the SellaGrat to Andermatt, in 5 hours. * The Val Bedretto terminates about 2 miles below Airolo, at the mouth of the picturesque glen of Stalvedro, which is guarded on the rt. by another of the Lombard towers of King Desiderius, and by a third at its * Any personal information respecting these three passes will be acceptable to the Editor. Route 34. - Faido St. Gothard Road. 109 The revolt was, perhaps, not to be justified; but one thing at least is certain, that the freedom which had been the boast of the Swiss republicans was, down to the end of the last century, denied by them to the states dependent on them, who groaned under a bondage more intolerable than that of any monarchical despotism! A footpath runs from Faido over the Lukmanier (R. 78) to Dissentis. Through a wilderness of stones and fallen rocks the road reaches lower extremity, near Quinto. This pass was defended in September, 1799, by a body of 600 French against 3000 grenadiers of Suwarrow's army for 12 hours, after which they effected their retreat over the Nufanen into the Vallais. The part of the valley of the Ticino traversed by the road from this to Biasca is called Val Levantina - Livinen Thal in Germ. A few miles lower down the river threads another defile, named after a toll-house within it Dazio Grande. It is one of the most picturesque scenes on the whole route. It is a rent in the Monte Piottino (Platifer), nearly a mile long, and so narrow that in ancient times the path down the valley found no access to it, but was carried over the mountains, high above the river on either side. The new carriage-road threads the depths of the gorge, supported for a great part of the way on arches and terraces, and crossing the river thrice on bridges. During the storms of 1834 and of 1839, the swollen Ticino swept away nearly the whole of these costly constructions; the defile was rendered totally impassable, and travellers were compelled to find their way by the long-abandoned foot-esque style, and the E. end offers, path over the heights. Chestnut trees first appear soon after quitting the defile of Dazio, and vines are cultivated at 2 Faido-(Inns: Angelo; - Sole) -the principal place in the valley, a village of 615 inhabitants. A revolt of the people of the Val Levantine, in 1755, against their tyrannical lords and masters the cowherds of Uri, to whom they had been subject since the 15th century, was terminated on this spot by the execution of the ringleaders, whose heads were fastened to the trunks of the vast chestnut trees, in the presence of 3000 men of the valley. The troops of the Confederation had previously surrounded and disarmed this ill-starred band of rebels, and afterwards compelled them, on bended knees, to sue for mercy. : Giornico (Germ. Irnis), a village of 700 inhabitants, containing the following objects of antiquity: A high tower; the Church of Santa Maria di Castello, whose substructure is said to exhibit traces of a fort, attributed to the Gauls (?), and the Church of San Nicholas da Mira, regarded by the vulgar as originally a heathen temple. Both these churches are certainly examples of the earliest form of Christian buildings, and highly deserve the attention of the architect and antiquary. "Service is not performed in St. Nicholas, though it is kept in repair. The architecture is of the rudest Roman perhaps, the most unaltered specimen of the choir raised upon substructions that can hardly be called a crypt, found in the ancient Lombard churches of Italy, distinguished by staircases, whereas it here subsists in its primitive form. The whole neighbourhood is exceedingly picturesque, and deserving at least of quite as much attention as many places which enjoy much more extended reputation." - P. 110 Route 35.-Pass of the Nüfanen. some trees belonging to canton Uri. The winter had set in with severity, and the main body of the Swiss had returned across the pass with their plunder, leaving behind only about 600 men under Captains Stranga of Giornico, and Troger of Uri. The Milanese, 15,000 strong, pressed forward to expel the highland invaders, who, resorting to stratagem to counteract the preponderance of numbers, laid the flat land in this part of the valley under water, and placing themselves behind it, awaited their enemies at the foot of some rocks. In the course of the night the water froze hard, and next morning, while the advance of the Italians across the ice was naturally slow and faltering, the Swiss, provided with crampons to cross their native glaciers, rushed down upon them in a furious charge, and at once put them to the rout. Their confusion was increased by vast masses of rock hurled from the cliffs above by parties stationed for the purpose, and the slaughter was enormous. According to some accounts 1400, according to others 4000, of the Milanese fell on this occasion. The Val Levantine terminates a little beyond Pollegio, at the junction of the Blegno. After crossing that river the traveller reaches Biasca, which also contains a very ancient church, situated on the slope of the hill. A chain of chapels, or Via Crucis, leads from it up to the Chapel of St. Petronilla, whence there is a pleasing view. In 1512, an earthquake shook down from the mountain of Val Crenone, near the entrance of the Val Blegno, so vast a mass of earth and rock that it arrested the course of the river, and extended high up on the opposite side of the valley. For nearly two years, so great was the strength of this dam that the waters accumulated behind it into a lake many miles in extent, inundating numerous villages, and driving out the inhabitants by the rising flood. At length, in 1514, it began to flow over the barrier, which, being thus loosened and weakened, suddenly gave way about Easter. The deluge thus occasioned swept off everything before it towns, villages, houses, and trees, as far as Bellinzona (a part of which was destroyed), and the Lago Maggiore. The accumulated debris of rocks and mud which it carried down with it covered the cultivated land. with desolation, and traces of the ruin thus caused may be still traced along the valley. Various causes, conformable with the superstitious notions of the times, were assigned for this catastrophe. Some attributed it to the vengeance of God against the sins of the inhabitants of Biasca, called forth by the power of a Papal Brief; others traced it to the influence of "certain magicians from Armenia." It is satisfactorily accounted for by the supposition of an earthquake, since at the same time a similar fall took place from the opposite side of the mountain, which buried the village of Campo Bagnino, in the Val Calanka. About 8 miles below Biasca the Moesa is crossed, and our road falls into that from the pass of the Bernardin (Route 90), near the battle-field of Arbedo, which was as fatal to the Swiss as that of Giornico was to their opponents. An account of it, as well as a full description of 21 Bellinzona, is given in Route 90. |