Until his very steps have left a trace By Bonnivard! May none those marks For they appeal from tyranny to God." At length, in 1536, the Swiss wrested the Pays de Vaud from the hands of Charles V. of Savoy. Chillon was the last place which held out for him; but an army of 7000 Bernese besieging it by land, while the gallies of the Genevese assaulted it by water, soon compelled it to surrender, and Bonnivard, with other captives, was set free. The changes which had occurred during the years of his imprisonment almost realised the legend of the Seven Sleepers. He had left Geneva a Roman Catholic state, and dependent on the Duke of Savoy; he found her free, and a republic, openly professing the reformed faith. A cu The castle is now converted into a magazine for military stores. rious old chapel serves as a powdermagazine, and is not shown. Strangers are readily conducted over other parts of it, and (independent of the associations connected with the building) may find something to interest them in its "potence et cachots.' The former is a beam, black with age, extended across one of the vaults, to which the condemned were formerly hung. The cachot is an oubliette, whose only entrance was by a trapdoor in the floor above. The dungeon of Bonnivard is airy and spacious, consisting of two aisles, almost like a church; its floor and one side are formed by the living rock, and it is lighted by several windows, through which the sun's light passes by reflection from the surface of the lake up to the roof, transmitting partly also the blue colour of the waters. Byron inscribed his name on one of the pillars, but it is far more lastingly associated with the spot. "Lake Leman lies by Chillon's walls; From Chillon's snow-white battlement (??) Villeneuve-Rhone Valley. 161 Which round about the wave enthrals: A double dungeon wall and wave Have made and like a living grave. Below the surface of the lake The dark vault lies wherein we lay, We heard it ripple night and day. In Chillon's dungeons deep and old There are seven columns massy and grey, Dim with a dull, imprison'd ray, I A sunbeam which hath lost its way, And through the crevice and the cleft Of the thick wall is fallen and left, Creeping o'er the floor so damp, Like a marsh's meteor lamp." Byron has exaggerated the depth of the lake, which near the castle does not exceed 280 ft. "It is by this castle that Rousseau has fixed the catastrophe of his Héloïse, in the rescue of one of her children by Julie from the water; the shock of which, and the illness produced by the immersion, is the cause of her death." Between Chillon and Villeneuve a splendid "Hotel Byron" has been lately erected, commanding a beautiful view. It is a single house, quiet, spacious, enjoyable; well-served, clean, and not dear. -F. L. Villeneuve-(Inns: Croix Blanche; Lion d'Or, both indifferent) — is a small and ancient walled town of 1480 inhabitants (Pennilucus of the Romans), situated at the E. extremity of the lake, where the road quits its borders to enter the valley of the Rhone. A diligence awaits the arrival of the steamers to convey passengers on to Bex, where there are good sleeping quarters. About a mile from Villeneuve lies a small island, the only one in the lake it is thus mentioned by Byron in the Prisoner of Chillon: "And then there was a little isle, Which in my very face did smile, The only one in view; : A small green isle, it seem'd no more, Of gentle breath and hue." teresting. The low ground is a flat burg named Zobel, but they are now property of the government of the canton. Down to 1823 the brinesprings alone furnished the salt, and they were gradually failing, when M. Charpentier suggested the plan of driving shafts and galleries into the mountain in search of rock-salt. The result was the discovery of a large and rich vein of the mineral, which has been traced for a distance of 4000 ft. and for a height of 600 ft., varying in thickness from 2 ft. to 50 ft.; and the annual produce of salt is now augmented to 20,000 or 30,000 quintals. Strangers arriving at Bex commonly pay a visit to the mines, which are situated about 2 miles off, in the valley of La Gryonne. A steep road, but practicable for chars-à-banc, leads through most beautiful scenery to the entrance of the mines. The salt is obtained either from the brinesprings, six or seven of which, of various degrees of strength, burst forth in different parts of the interior of the mountain, or from the rocksalt, which, after being extracted by the help of gunpowder, is broken into pieces, thrown into large reservoirs, called dessaloirs, cut in the anhydrite rock (sulphate of lime without water) in the interior of the mountain, and there dissolved in water. Each reservoir is usually filled with water 3 times. The 2 first solutions (lessivages) furnish a liquor with 25 or 26 per cent. of salt; the 3rd is much weaker, having only 5 or 6 per cent. The brine, either from the sources or from these reservoirs, containing above 20 per cent. of salt, is conveyed in pipes made of fir-wood at once to the boiling-house (maison de cuite); that which is less strong Bex, a village of 3000 inhabitants, must be subjected to the process of situated on the high road to the graduation in the long buildings or Simplon, is chiefly remarkable for its sheds, open at the sides, which are Salt-Mines and Salt- Works. Salt has passed at Bexvieux and Devins, bebeen obtained from brine-springs tween Bex and the mines. These here since the middle of the 16th evaporating-houses, or maisons de gracentury. For a long time they be-duation, are filled up to the roof with longed to a merchant family of Augs- stacks of fagots of thorn-wood, over The top of the mountain above Yvorne was thrown down by an earthquake, 1584. A good wine now grows on the slope. 2 Roche. The post house is removed hither from L'Aigle La (Inn: Croix Blanche) -a village of 1650 inhabitants (Aquileia). Black marble is quarried near this. 12 Bex - (Inns: L'Union, good.) It comprises a boarding-house and an establishment of baths, supplied from a sulphurous spring rising in the vicinity, which causes Bex to be resorted to as a watering-place in summer. Guides, horses, and charsà-banc for excursions among the mountains may be hired here. Route 56. Lavey — Bridge of St. Maurice. which the salt water, after being raised to the roof by pumps, allowed to trickle drop by drop. The separation of the water in passing through colanders, and its exposure to the atmosphere as it falls, produce rapid and considerable evaporation of the watery particles, while the gypsum dissolved in it adheres, in passing, to the twigs, and crystalizes around them. The water is thus made to ascend and descend several times; it becomes stronger each time, and at length is brought to the condition of saturated brine, fit for boiling in the salt-pans. It will easily be perceived how much fuel is thus spared by not subjecting the weak solution to the fire at first. This short explanation may enable the visitor to understand the process pursued in the mines. The principal mines are those called Du Fondement and Du Bouillet; the latter contains a gallery driven horizontally into the bowels of the mountain for a distance of 6636 ft. 7 ft. high and 5 ft. wide. At 400 ft. from its entrance is the round reservoir, 80 ft. in diameter and 10 ft. deep, excavated in the rock, without any support to its roof. In it the weak water is collected, which requires to undergo the process of graduation. A little farther on is another irregular reservoir, 7933 ft. in extent, supported by pillars, and destined to hold the stronger brine fit for the salt-pans without undergoing any intermediate process. Many beautiful minerals are obtained from the salt-mines of Bexsuch as very clear crystals of selenite, muriacite, anhydrite, &c. There is a short but difficult path (Route 58) from Bex to Sion by the Bergfall of Les Diablerets. A guide would be required for this journey. At Lavey, a little way above Bex a discovery was made, 1831, of a warm sulphureous spring in the very bed of the Rhone. It has been enclosed, and a Bath house has been built on the spot at the expense of 163 canton Vaud. The water employed in supplying medicinal baths, the healing properties of which are attributed to the quantity of azote gas contained in the water. "Journeying upward by the Rhone, That there came down a torrent from the Alps, I enter'd where a key unlocks a kingdom: The mountains closing, and the road, the river ROGERS. Filling the narrow space." Such is the scene presented to the traveller at the Bridge of St. Maurice, which spans the rapid river with one bold arch, 70 ft. wide, leaning for support on the rt. side upon the Dent de Morcles, and on the 1. upon the Dent de Midi, whose bases are pushed so far forward as barely to leave room for the river. The bridge, erroneously attributed to the Romans, is not older than the 15th century, but may possibly rest on Roman foundations. It unites the canton Vaud with the canton Vallais; and a gate at one end, now removed, formerly served to close the passage up and down: a circumstance alluded to in the lines of Rogers. A small fort was erected by the Swiss in 1832, above the road, to defend the pass. Here our route is joined by the road from Geneva along the S. shore of the lake, through St. Gingough. (Route 57.) No one can cross the bridge of St. Maurice without being struck with the change in the condition of the inhabitants of the two cantons. The neatness and industry of the Vaudois are exchanged within the space of a few hundred yards for filth and beggary, equally apparent in the persons and habitations of the Vallaisans. Their physical condition is lamentable; no part of Switzerland is afflicted to a greater extent with the maladies of goître and cretinism (§ 19), and the victims of them shock the traveller's sight at every step. Immediately beyond the bridge, squeezed in between the mountain and the 1. bank of the Rhone, stands 164 Route 56.-St. Maurice-Fall of the Sallenche. 1 St. Maurice (Inn: L'Union, tolerably good)-a town of 1050 inhabitants, occupying the site of the Roman Agaunum. It owes its present name to the tradition that the Theban Legion, under the command of St. Maurice, suffered martyrdom here by order of Maximian, A.D. S02, because they refused to abjure Christianity. The Abbey, founded in honour of St. Maurice by Sigismond King of Burgundy, contains in its Treasury a museum of ancient art. Here are preserved a vase of Saracenic workmanship, presented by Charlemagne ; a crozier of gold, in the shape of a spire, the niches of it filled with figures an inch high, most elaborately worked; a chalice of agate, presented by Charlemagne; another, given by Bertha Queen of Burgundy, and several besides, of a very early date. "The Church was much damaged by fire in the 17th century, but the tower is unaltered, and several Roman inscriptions are built into its walls."-P. On quitting the town we perceive on the right, upon a projecting platform of rock considerably above the road, the Hermitage of Nôtre Dame de Sex. Lower down on the road is the chapel of Veriolez, raised on the precise spot of the Theban massacre (!), and covered with rude frescoes. In the autumn of 1835 a torrent of mud descended from the summit of the Dent de Midi into the Vallais near Evionaz. It cut a passage for itself through the forest, which clothes the side of the mountain, snapping the stoutest trees short off like twigs. It covered the high road for a length of 900 ft., interrupting for some time the communication, and overwhelmed many fields, and orchards, and some few houses; but no lives were lost, as the slow progress of the current allowed every one time to remove out of its way. On the 25th of August a vio lent storm of rain had burst upon the Dent de Midi, accompanied by thunder; and it is said that the lightning struck the peak several times. It is supposed that a mass of the mountain was loosened by the rain, and, in falling broke through and carried down with it a considerable part of a glacier. The rain and melting ice mixing with the fragments and with the debris of moraines, converted the whole mass into a thick mud, which swept slowly downwards like a lava current. Blocks of limestone of many tons weight, and some of them 12 ft. high, were carried along with it, or floated on its surface like corks. It is a remarkable fact that the stream of mud contained scarcely one tenth part of water, the fluidity of the mass was no doubt promoted by the character of the rocks and soil which covered the mountain, and which consisted of a black splintery limestone, shale, and loam. This part of the valley has a dreary and barren aspect from the quantity of bare gravel and broken rock strewed over it. About 6 miles from St. Maurice, 4 from Martigny, is the famous Waterfall of the Sallenche, which here descends into the valley of the Rhone out of a narrow ravine, apparently excavated by its waters. The perpendicular descent of the stream is about 280 feet, but the final leap of the cascade not more than 120 feet. It is a fine object, both from its volume and height, visible from a considerable distance up and down. It is best seen in a sunny morning before 12 o'clock, when the iris, formed in the cloud of spray, hovers over it. The neighbouring village of Mieville sends forth an importunate crowd of beggars and selfappointed guides to conduct travellers from the road to the fall, a distance of a few hundred yards. Before reaching Martigny we cross another stream, the Trient, descending from the celebrated pass of the Tête Noire, Route 57.-Geneva to Martigny, by Thonon, &c. 165 and issuing out of a singular rent in the side of the valley. On the outskirts of Martigny, upon a commanding rock, rises the castle of La Batie, formerly a stronghold of the archbishops of Sion. The deep dungeon beneath its tall tower is only accessible by a trap-door in the floor of the chamber above. The river Dranse passes out into the Rhone, between La Batie and 21 Martigny (Route 59). ROUTE 57. GENEVA TO MARTIGNY, BY THONON AND MEILLERIE, ALONG THE SOUTH SHORE OF THE LAKE OF GENEVA. = 14 posts 70 English miles. The greater part of this road lies through the Sardinian territory, but for the convenience of reference it is placed here. After quitting Geneva by the Porte de Rive, a fine view opens out on the right; beyond the Saléve rises the Môle, and the vista of the valley of the Arve is terminated by the Buet, by Mont Blanc and its glaciers. The shore of the lake is dotted over with villas of the Genevese. these, near the village of Cologny, the Campagna Diodati, is interesting as having been the residence of Lord Byron in 1816. He wrote here the 3rd canto of Childe Harold and the tragedy of Manfred. One of the left, between the road and the lake, Ripaille, anciently an Augustine convent, founded by Amadeus VIII. of Savoy, in which he passed the latter portion of his life, having assumed the cowl of an Augustine monk. He abdicated, in succession, the dukedom of Savoy, the Papacy (into which he had been installed with the title of Felix V.) and the bishop's see of Geneva. He resided here after his second abdication, passing his time, not in the austere penance of an anchorite, but according to the popular belief in ease, feasting, and dissipation. Hence the French proverb · "Faire Ripaille." Recent historical investigations however make it probable that, even to the last, he had not abandoned the path of ambition, and that far from being inactive and exclusively devoted to luxury, he was still weaving political intrigues. The castle, with 7 towers, built by Amadeus for himself and the six knights whom he chose as companions, has nearly disappeared. The relic of the convent is converted into a farmhouse. A long bridge of 24 arches carries the road over the Dranse, a torrent descending from the mountains of the Chablais, and augmented to a large volume, by the melting snows during a small part of the year. Through groves of most magnificent chesnut trees we pass Amphion, where are baths supplied by a chalybeate spring, and reach 1 Evian (Inn H. du Nord; Poste) - a town of 1670 inhabitants, at the water-side. The Rocks of Meillerie, celebrated by Rousseau and Byron, were, under the orders of Napoleon, and with the help of gunpowder, blasted to form a passage for the magnificent road of the Simplon, which is here carried partly through them, partly on a terrace 30 or 40 feet above the lake. The little village of Meillerie was, previous to its construction, barely accessible, except by boats. About a |