the Oberland to behold, they are to be found on this elevated route, which is one of the grandest of accessible passes. The way may be about 14 measured miles, but it occupies seven hours' walking, and may be travelled with perfect safety. The traveller, starting from the Staubbach, crosses the torrent and enters upon a wooded hill almost as steep as a cliff. The path is one of the most zigzagged in all the Oberland. After ascending for about an hour, the traveller reaches a green upland slope, diversified with timber, and laid out in pasturages, with châlets. The holdings are so small, and the buildings so numerous, that the whole slope seems to form one wide-spread village. Here the national wrestling match takes place on the first Sunday of August in each year. The retrospective view from this elevation shows the valley of Lauterbrunnen, and the Staubbach seems to be like a snowy wreath on its black rocky background. Beyond this plateau the path leads to the right of a lofty, perpendicular cliffy range, which forms the eastern barrier of the upper valley of Lauterbrunnen, and courses the base of the Wengern Alp in a southern direction. About a mile and a half below the top of the pass, on the slope of the Wengern Alp, and on the edge of the cliff which separates the Trümeleten-thal from the Scheideck, is the inn called Hotel de la Jungfrau. The accommodations are of a superior character, but the view of the Jungfrau constitutes the staple attraction of the house, which stands directly opposite to the Queen of the Oberland. The height of the Jungfrau is 13,700 ft. above the sea level; thus this is the fourth among Swiss, and the eighth among European moun tains. About an hour's walking brings the traveller to the top of the Lesser Sheideck Pass (Hotel: Bellevue). From this point the path descends, and a beautiful valley is seen spreading out to a vast extent, lying along the base of the great mountain-chain of the Bernese Alps. The mountains which enclose it present here a most imposing aspect. The path lies through a number of plashy pastures, and reaches GRINDELWALD (Hotels: Adler, Baer). It has a population of 2,871. In its valley immense rocks and colossal mountains rise, at the foot of which extend the two celebrated glaciers. They are within easy distance of the hotels and may be observed without risk or fatigue. The upper glacier, situated between the Wetterhorn and the Mettenberg, is one and a half league in length, full of rifts and crevices, and has very pure ice pyramids of all kinds. The lower glacier, situated between the Mettenberg and the Eigher, is the more interesting. It is a sea of ice, three leagues in length, terribly torn and cleft, and scattered with pyramids of a grotesque form. "Scarcely three hundred years ago an open pass several leagues in length, led over the chain into the Valais, from which people came to the church of Grindelwald to celebrate baptisms and weddings. To-day all is covered with a wild and impassable sea of ice." In the seventeenth century the glacier increased in an extraordinary manner, and was no longer to be contained by its valley. Bursting its barriers, it carried away the dwellings which lay in its course, and destroyed the church of St. Petronilla, the bell of which, cast in 1044, is yet in the church of Grindelwald. Tradition relates that at one time the Met ᎪᎪ tenberg and Eighers formed but one mass, behind which was a lake of considerable size. ROUTE 84. GRINDELWALD TO MEYRINGEN, BY THE GREAT SCHEIDECK. HIS route is about 18 miles in length. Three miles up the valley, a little to the right of the path, is the Upper Glacier of Grindelwald. From Grindelwald to the top of the Scheideck is a third of the journey to Meyringen. On the right, at every point of the way, the Wetterhorn ("Storm-peak") rises in a bare wall, apparently close to the path; from which however, its base is distant a quarter of an hour's walk. The ground is by no means difficult. From the height of the Great Scheideck the view back upon Grindelwald is very fine. From the Great Scheideck, down into the valley of Hasli, at Meyringen, the trip is one of exceeding magnificence. Before reaching the baths of Rosenlaui, a footpath to the right leads to the glacier of Rosenlaui, so denominated from the extreme beauty of its roseate and azure colours. It lies between the great masses of the Wellborn and Engelhörner ("Angels' peaks"), its fir-clad base, and its gigantic craggy frame, forming a most remarkable scene. In summer a torrent comes roaring down an almost fathomless rent in the mountain. We descend beside the torrent, which is impetuously plunging and foaming to take the leap of the Reichen bach, when suddenly the vale of Meyringen is disclosed far beneath us, with its villages and meadows, church-steeples, and clumps of trees, and the Alpbach cascade pouring over the crags on the other side. From this point the descent into the valley is nearly 2,000 feet, rugged and precipitous; and from nearly this level, the Reichenbach torrent takes its great leap down a gorge to the left of the path making the celebrated Reichenbach Falls. Afterwards, by a succession of leaps, it falls down into the valley, where it joins the Aar. About a mile and a half from the last fall, and on the right bank of the Aar, is the village of MEYRINGEN, containing 2,525 inhabitants. (Hotels: Sauvage, Couronne). The view of the Reichenbach Falls, the Engelhörner, the snow-clad Wetterhorn, and the Rosenlaui glacier, from the village, is very charming. The Hasli vale, of which Meyringen is the capital, is reckoned a model of an Alpine valley. The climate is soft; the view includes numberless hamlets, waterfalls, and hills covered with verdure, glaciers, and snow-clad mountains. The inhabitants of the Hasli valley once had a finer organi zation, more personal beauty, and a more melodious dialect than those of most other parts of Switzerland. From Meyringen, Brienz may be reached twice daily by diligence, distance, 9 miles. See Route 82. ROUTE 85. MEYRINGEN TO HOSPENTHAL, BY THE GRIMSEL HOSPICE AND THE FURCA PASS. (To Grimsel, 7 hours; horse, 20 francs.) CARRIAGE-ROAD has been completed from Meyringen over the Kirchet, to Im-Hof; passing Reichenbach Baths, it ascends the steep sides of Kirchet in zigzags. Descending the hill it traverses the meadows at the bottom of the valley, and crosses the Aar near Im-Hof (Hotel: Im Hof), just beyond which the carriage-road terminates. Pursuing the well-kept bridle-path, we reach in 2 hours GUTTANEN (Hotel: Bür), which lies in a wild and narrow valley, surrounded with crags and cliffs. A walk of two hours brings us to the path which, leading out of the main path to the left, conducts us to the FALL OF THE HANDEk. The view from the chalet lower down is finer, as the cataract is then seen from below. This fall is considered the finest in Switzerland, and in point of impetuosity and quantity of water resembles Schaffhausen; its height is about two hundred feet. The body of the water is very great during the summer, when the snow from the mountains and the glaciers has been melted. At the same spot is seen the stream of the Erlenbach, running nearly at a right angle with the Aar: it falls as if in humble rivalry with its more noble associate, and throws its sheet of water into that of the Aar, long before the latter reaches the ground, thus producing a beautiful effect. A walk of 24 hours brings us to the Hospice of the Grimsel, which stands about 800 ft. below the summit of the Pass. It is a rough, strong rock building, and is now used as an inn. It is much thronged with tourists in summer. Its entourage is the most dreary in all Switzerland. On all sides and above, it is frowned upon by shapeless mountains, covered with ice and snow. Its elevation above the sea is more than 7,000 ft., and the peaks rise nearly to the height of another thousand. The distance from Grimsel to Hospenthal is about 19 miles. The distance from the Hospice to the Rhone glacier is about six miles. Three-quarters of an hour's walking up a tolerable path brings us to the top of the pass, where, at a height of 8,400 ft. above the sea-level, the way skirts the left margin of a little, dark, still lake, into which the bodies of French and Austrian soldiers, killed in the skirmish which took place here in 1799, were thrown. It therefore goes by the name of the "Lake of the Dead." Beyond the lake the road leads down a steep declivity. At a little distance we come suddenly upon the view of the glacier of the Rhone, very far below; a grand object, with the furious Rhone issuing from the ice, and then leaping and dashing through the valley. The glacier is a stupendous mass of ice, extending clear across the valley, propped against an overhanging mountain (the Gallenstock), with snowy peaks towering to the right and left. From the Rhone glacier to the Furca is about 24 hours. The traveller, keeping the east side of the valley, has the glacier on his left for some distance. The path then turns to the right, and enters a wild-looking, treeless defile, where the only traces of human habitations to be met with are a few goatherds' huts. On the Furca Pass is the boundary between the Cantons Valais and Uri, and within a circle of little more than 10 miles around are the sources of five prominent rivers, some of them among the largest in Europe: the Rhine, the Rhone, the Reuss, the Ticino, and the Aar. The Furca is about 8,200 ft. above the sea-level, and in clear weather commands a fine view of the Oberland range, which is seen on the side exactly opposite that discerned from the Minster platform at Berne. A carriage road from Ober Gesteln and the Rhone Glacier, over the Furca was finished in 1866. A diligence crosses daily from Brieg, on the Simplon Pass, to Andermatt, on the St. Gothard Pass. The descent from the inn at the Furca to Hospenthal is made in 13 hours. Descending the Furca, on the other side, the road leads frequently along the verges of dangerous banks; the country is devoid of trees, the grass is stunted and short, and no human abode is met with until the traveller comes to the little hamlet of Realp, which is about four miles from Hospenthal, and consists of four or five houses and a convent. HOSPENTHAL (see Route 81). ROUTE 86. GENEVA TO LAUSANNE ENEVA (Hotels: de la Metropole, de la Paix, Ecu, des Bergues, Couronne, de Russie, d'Angleterre et Beau Rivage, Victoria, de la Poste), population, 48,000, is situated at the southern extremity of the Lake, at the point where the Rhone emerges. The two halves into which the city is. divided by the river are connected by six bridges, the finest of which is the Pont du Mont Blanc, leading from the Rue du Mont Blanc to the English garden. Next below it is the Pont des Bergues, and from it a suspension bridge extends to the little island called Rousseau's Island, in the centre of which is Pradier's statue of Rousseau, erected by the citizens of Geneva in 1834. Fine quays, upon which are the best shops, extend along both banks of the Rhone in the vicinity of these bridges. On the left bank is the Grand Quai, and on the right the Quai des Bergues. The Quai du Mont Blanc extends along the right bank of the lake, commencing at the Pont du Mont Blanc. Beyond, and in a line with it, is the Quai des Pâquis, which is handsomely planted with trees. extends to the Pier. From both the last-named quays fine views of the Mont Blanc group may be enjoyed. On the south bank of the lake, at the end of the Pont du Mont Blanc, is a pretty garden called the Jardin Anglais. In a pavilion in the garden is a plan in relief of Mont Blanc, which is It |