Routes 56, 57.-The Sallenche-Geneva to Thonon. 153 sacre (!), 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 covered the high road for a length of 900 ft., 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. It is conjectured to have been caused by a glacier bursting and sweeping along with it the debris of the Moraine, which it converted into mud. Blocks of stone, many tons in weight, were carried down with it, and floated like corks on the surface. 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 self-appointed 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. 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 68 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 Mole, 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. One of these, near the village of Cologny, the Campagna Diodati, is interesting as having been the residence of Lord Byron in 1816. He wrote here a great part of the 3rd canto of Childe Harold and the tragedy of Manfred. Beyond the village of Corsier the Genevan territory is left, and we enter the kingdom of Sardinia and the ancient province of Chablais, which extends along the lake as far as St. Gingough. A monotonous plain is traversed in order to reach 2 Douvaine, the first Sardinian post-station, where passports and baggage are examined. 2 Thonon-(Inn: Les Balances, improved of late)-an ancient town of 3740 inhabitants, originally capital of the Chablais. On quitting Thonon we pass on the left, between the road and the lake, Ripaille, anciently an Augustine convent, founded by Amadeus VIII. of Savoy, in which he ended his days, 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.) 154 Routes 57, 58.-Meillerie-Les Diablerets. 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 in weaving political intrigues and laying schemes for futnre aggrandisement. Hence the French proverb Aller à Ripaille." 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 Buet. Through groves of most magnificent chesnut-trees we pass Amphion, where are baths supplied by a chaly beate 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 mile off the shore, at Meillerie, the lake attains its greatest depth, 920 Fr. ft. Here Byron was nearly lost in a storm. Rousseau, in the N. Héloïse, has conducted St. Preux and Mad. Wolmar also to this port for shelter from a tempest. On the opposite shore is seen Clarens, and the white wall of the castle of Chillon (p. 149). 2 St. Gingough-(Inn: Poste, comfortable). A deep ravine here divides Savoy from the Swiss territory of the Vallais; travellers entering from the Vallais are subjected to custom-house regulations here. Bovaret, the next village, lies within the valley of the Rhone, here a broad, flat, and unwholesome swamp. Port Vallais, in the days of the Romans, stood on the water-side; all the ground between it and the lake has been produced since the records of history, by the deposits of the river. At Port du Sex the rocks on the rt. encroach so far upon the Rhone as barely to leave a passage for the road at their base. This defile was originally guarded by an old castle; and, by raising a drawbridge, the passage up or down was cut off. There is a ferry over the Rhone near this, but the cross-roads leading to the opposite side of the valley among the morasses are very bad. The canal of Stockalper, running nearly parallel with the road, was cut about a century ago, to drain this portion of the valley. 2 Vionnaz. 2 St. Maurice, (Route 56). 2 Martigny (Route 59). ROUTE 58. BEX TO SION, BY LES DIABLERETS AND COL DE CHEVILLE. = 11 stunden 37 English miles. Bex is described in Route 56. A difficult, and in parts dangerous, path; at times painfully steep and hardly to be followed without a guide. It is a very long day's journey, and there is no inn (worthy the name) by the way. After snow it is almost impracticable. It ascends the valley of the Avençon, running in a direction nearly due E. from Bex, passing Bexvieux to the Chalets of Charnemey (2 hours), and the Chalets of Anzeinde (2 hours). Here the path begins rapidly to ascend in a tortuous course (43) to the summit of the Col de Chéville. The valley into which it descends on the E. side of the pass is nearly occupied by the wreck of the fall of the Mont Diablerets, a name given to the spot by the peasantry, it is said, because they regard it as the vestibule of hell. This mountain is composed of limestone strata, much deranged and Routes 58, 59.-Diablerets-The Simplon-Martigny. 155 steeply inclined. The lower beds, being soft and shaley, are disintegrated by the infiltration of water from the vast glaciers on the N.E.; and, after the supports and foundation are thus removed, large masses are detached from the mountain into the valley below, forming éboulemens of the most tremendous kind. During the last century two catastrophes of this kind occurred, in 1714 and 1749. By the former many persons and cattle were buried alive. One man succeeded in working his way out, after 3 months had elapsed. He had been overwhelmed in his cottage, but escaped being crushed to death, and managed to support life upon a store of cheese laid up for the winter, and with water from a brook which found its way through the fallen rocks. The fall of 1749 arrested the course of the Liserue, forming two small lakes, called Derborenze, which still exist. Along the W. side of these the path runs, crossing, for the space of two leagues, heaps of rubbish and fallen rocks. The scene is one of the utmost desolation; overhead towers the ridge of the Diablerets, 9862 ft. above the sea-level. Three of its five peaks have already fallen, and the two which remain threaten, sooner or later, to follow. The accumulated debris of the mountain is said to cover a space of 8 miles. At one point, on reaching the borders of the Liserne, a narrow and dangerous path has been formed across the talus, at the edge of a precipice overhanging the stream: it is called Le Saut du Chien. Thenceforth the path follows the 1. bank of the Liserne as far as the chapel of St. Bernard, where it bears away to the E., descending upon St. Severin and Haut Couthey, and thence enters the valley of the Rhone and the high road of the Simplon, within 2 miles of 63 Sion (Route 59). ROUTE 59. THE PASSAGE OF THE SIMPLON; MARTIGNY TO MILAN, BY SION, BRIEG, AND DOMO D'OSSOLA. 36 posts 176 English miles. This grand and excellent road is tolerably well supplied with posthorses, but travellers who require more than two to their carriage must bespeak them by avant-courier, if they wish to avoid delays. With post-horses the journey may barely be accomplished in 3, or easily in 3 days, resting 1st night at Brieg, 2d at Baveno, 3rd at Milan; or, 1st at Turtman, 2nd at Domo d'Ossola, 3rd at Arona. There is a tolerably comfortable inn at Simplon, near the summit of the pass. Diligences go 4 times a-week from Milan, making numerous halts, and performing the distance to Milan in not less than 3 days and nights. The picturesque round tower of the castle of La Batie, rising on a rock, with a village at its foot, is seen some time before the town of Martigny is reached. It was destroyed by George Superax in 1518. Martigny (German Martinach).Inns: Post, good, the best; Cygne, tolerably good and moderate; daily table d'hôte, 3 fr., wine included.La Tour. Martigny (Octodurus of the Romans) consists of two parts-the one situated on the Simplon road, the other, Bourg de Martigny, more than a mile distant up the valley of the Dranse. Its position on the high road of the Simplon, at the termination of the char-road from the St. Bernard, and the mule-path from Chamouni, renders it the constant resort of travellers. It is a small town of no prepossessing appearance, 1480 Fr. ft. above the sea, placed near the spot where the Rhone receives the Dranse, a torrent by which Martigny itself and the village of Bourg de Martigny have been twice nearly destroyed, in 1545 and in 1818. Marks 156 Route 59.-Pass of the Simplon-Sion. of the last inundation (described in Route 109) are still visible on the walls of many of the houses, and the massive construction of the lower walls of the post-house is designed to protect it from the effects of similar catastrophes. The monks of St. Bernard have their head-quarters in a Convent within the town, from which the members stationed on the Great St. Bernard are relieved at intervals. The Monastery of the Great St. Bernard is a journey of 10 hours from hence. (See Route 108.) The valley of Chamouni may be reached in 5 hours by the passes of the Tête Noire (R 116), or Col de Balme (Route 117). The Waterfall of the Sallenche is 4 miles from Martigny, lower down the valley. (See p. 153.) At Martigny the Rhone makes an abrupt bend, forming nearly a right angle. For many miles above the town the bottom of the valley through which it flows is a flat swamp, rendered desolate and unwholesome by the overflowings of the Rhine and its tributaries, which, not being carried off by a sufficient declivity in their beds, stagnate, and exhale a most injurious malaria under the rays of a burning sun. From this cause and the absence of pure drinking-water, the valley is a hotbed of disease; its inhabitants are dreadfully afflicted with goître (§ 19), cretinism, and agues; and the appearance of decrepitude, deformity, and misery, arrests the traveller's attention at every step. A tolerable wine, called Coquempin, is grown upon the hills; the low flats produce little except rushes, rank grass, and alders. The mountains which here bound the valley have a bare and desolate aspect. 21 Riddes. After crossing the Rhone the road passes the foot-path leading to the Diablerets (Route 58), and soon after the twin castles of Sion appear in sight. 24 Sion (German Sitten).-Inns : Poste; Croix Blanche, dirty. This town, anciently the capital of the Seduni, is the see of a bishop, whose predecessors were at one time among the most powerful and wealthy seigneurs in Switzerland, and who still convoke and preside over the General Assemblies of this democratic canton. It is the chief town of the Vallais, and has 2450 inhabitants. It has no less than 3 extensive castles, which give the town a picturesque and feudal aspect from a distance. Tourbillon, the castle seen on the 1. in advancing from Martigny, built 1492, and long the bishop's residence, is now a complete ruin. That on the left, or S. peak, called Valeria, contains a very ancient church; and serves now as a Catholic seminary. Beneath there is a third castle, called Majoria, from the majors, or ancient governors of the Vallais, its first occupants; it was burnt in 1788 by a conflagration which destroyed the greater part of the town. The Jesuits have a Convent in the town; they have formed a collection of the natural history of the Valais. The Hospital, under the care of the Soeurs de la Charité, contains many victims of goître and cretinism, the prevailing maladies of the district. There is a mule-path from this over the mountains to Bex, passing the Diablerets (Route 58). Above Sion German is the prevailing language of the Vallais. 21 Serre (Germ. Siders)—Inn : Soleil, a humble one. Mules may be hired here for the ascent of the remarkable Pass of the Gemmi (Route 38). The path leading to it by the Baths of Loèche turns out of the post-road a little way beyond the town, before reaching the bridge. It is steep but highly ro mantic. The post-road, after crossing the Rhone, and winding for some distance among irregular hillocks, passes, on the rt. bank of the river, at the mouth of the gorge of the Dala, the picturesque village of Loèche. The Baths are situated about 9 miles above Route 59.-Tourtemagne-Pass of the Simplon-Brieg. 157 the village; a char-road leads to them. Travellers coming from the Simplon turn aside here to visit them, and ascend the Gemmi. (Route 38.) 24 Tourtemagne (Germ. Turtman) -(Inn: Poste, Lion or Sun (?) tolerably good, but dear). 20 minutes' walk behind the inn is a Cascade of some repute among tourists. The volume of water is considerable. It is on the whole inferior to the fall of the Sallenche near Martigny, but the scene is interesting on account of its entire seclusion. The neighbourhood is overspread with marshes and stagnant pools. 21 Visp (Viège), a miserable village, with no good inn, but finely situated at the junction of the Visp with the Rhone. The valley divides at some distance above Visp into two branches; the 1. leads to the foot of Monte Rosa by the pass of the Moro, one of the finest in Switzerland (Route 105); that on the rt. ascends the vale of St. Nicholas to the Mont Cervin (Route 106). The Gamsen and other torrents which fall into the upper end of the Vallais are most dangerous neighbours to the villages and cottages on their banks. The bed of the torrent Visp is 4 metres above a part of the village, and the Saltine is 3 metres higher than Brieg. The miserable and poverty-stricken inhabitants are in consequence obliged to construct very considerable dykes to restrain them, but even these defences are liable to destruction every 2 or 3 years. The desolation which the torrents spread over the fields, by their debris, will attract the remark of every traveller; and the evil is constantly increasing, as the beds of the torrents rise as fast as the dykes are raised to restrain them, till they flow along the top of a colossal aqueduct or wall of loose rocks, which the road ascends and descends like a hill. The ascent of the Simplon properly begins at Glys, a village distinguished by its large church; but, as the post-house aud inn are both situated at Brieg, a detour of about 2 miles is made to pass through it. 1 Brieg. (The Inn, Hôtel d'Angleterre (post), is the usual haltingplace of travellers before or after crossing the Simplon : it contains 50 beds, but is not very comfortable.) Brieg is a small town of 650 inha bitants, situated on a sunny slope by the side of the Saltine, and overlooking the course of the Rhone, which here makes a sharp bend. The most conspicuous building is the Jesuits' College. The number of brothers at present (1837) does not exceed 10, and their pupils amount to only 30. There is also an Ursuline Convent. The upper valley of the Rhone above Brieg, and the route to the Grimsel and Gries, are described in Routes 28 and 29. At Brieg the Simplon road quits the vale of the Rhone, beginning to ascend immediately from the posthouse. The distance from Brieg to Domo d'Ossola is 15 leagues = about 40 English miles; and the journey usually occupies 10 hours-7 to reach Simplon, and 3 thence to Domo d'Ossola. On foot it will take full 10 hours' good walking to go from Brieg to Domo d'Ossola. The construction of a route over the Simplon was decided upon by Napoleon immediately after the battle of Marengo, while the recollection of his own difficult passage of the Alps by the Great St. Bernard (at that time one of the easiest Alpine passes) was fresh in his memory. The plans and surveys by which the direction of the road was determined, were made by M. Céard, and a large portion of the works was executed under the superintendence of that able engineer. It was commenced on the Italian side in 1800 and on the Swiss in 1801. It took 6 years to complete, though it was barely passable in 1805, and more than 30,000 men were employed on it at one time. To give a notion of the colossal nature of the undertaking, it may be men |
