once to the eye, extends for more than 120 miles, from the Mont Blanc to the Titlis, and comprises between 200 and 300 distinct summits, capped with snow, or bristling with bare rocks, having their interstices filled with towering glaciers :

"Who first beholds those everlasting clouds -
Those mighty hills, so shadowy, so sublime,
As rather to belong to heaven than earth
But instantly receives into his soul

A sense, a feeling, that he loses not

A something that informs him 'tis an hour

Whence he may date henceforward and for ever."-Rogers. It was such a prospect that inspired those remarkable lines of Byron :

"Above me are the Alps,

The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps,
And throned Eternity in icy halls

Of cold sublimity, where forms and falls
The Avalanche-the thunderbolt of snow!
All that expands the spirit, yet appals,
Gather around these summits, as to show

How earth may soar to heaven, yet leave vain man below." The points from which such an Alpine panorama may be enjoyed to the greatest advantage

The Dôle, above St. Cergues, on the road from Dijon to Geneva;

The Chaumont, above Neuchâtel;

The Weissenstein, above Soleure ;

The Upper and Lower Hauenstein, on the road from Basle to Soleure and Lucerne;

The Albis, between Zurich and Zug;

Monte Salvadore, rising amid the intricacies of the Lago Lugano;

The Kamor, near Gais, in St. Gall;

The Righi, between the Lakes of Zug and Lucerne ;

The Faulhorn, adjoining the Bernese Alps.

Of these the Righi is probably the finest, as it is certainly one of the most accessible; some give the preference to the Faulhorn, from its proximity to the great chain. The passion for climbing mountains so ardent in a young traveller, soon cools; and they who have surmounted the Righi, the Faulhorn, and the Dôle, may fairly consider any further ascents a waste of time and labour. For a near view of alpine scenery, amidst the recesses of the mountains, the spots which afford a concentration of the most grand and sublime objects are the valleys of the Bernese Oberland, and those around the base of Mont Blanc, including of course, Chamouny. It is in these two districts that the combination of fine forms, and great elevation in the mountains; of vast extent of glaciers and snow fields, with the accompaniments of the roar of the avalanche and the rush of the falling torrent-are most remar¬ kable. Here, in particular, the glaciers, the most characteristic feature of this country, are seen to greatest advantage-not only those fantastically fractured masses of iceberg which descend into the low grounds, but those vast fields of ice, called Mers de Glace. To Chamouny, and the neighbourhood of Mont Blanc, of the two, must be given the preference, in point of sublimity; and the traveller will, for this reason, do well in reserving, for the termination of his tour, and the crowning act of his journey-Mont Blanc, with its attendant aiguilles and circumambient leagues of ice.

The glaciers of the Aar, near the Grimsel (which may be comprised in the Bernese Oberland); that of the Rhone, near the Furca; those of the Rhine, above Splügen; and of the Bernina, in the Enga

dine are likewise deserving of mention from their extent. That of Rosenlaui is celebrated for its extreme purity, and the dark blue colour of its chasms.

Lakes. Madame de Staël has somewhere remarked, on the proximity of lakes to mountains, that nature seems to have placed them in the midst of her grandest scenes, at the foot of the Alps, in order to serve as mirrors, and multiply their enchanting forms. The lakes of Switzerland are very numerous, and they certainly add a principal charm to its scenery. It is difficult to classify them according to their respective merits, as almost every one has some peculiarity which characterises it and renders it worthy of attention. The most remarkable are, the Lake of Lucerne, which exhibits, in perfection, savage grandeur and sublimity; Wallenstadt, Thun, and Brienz, all thoroughly Swiss; the Lake of Geneva, or Lac Leman, distinguished for its great extent, and for the diversified character it presents, being, at one end, rugged and sublime, at the other, soft and smiling it occupies an intermediate rank between the Swiss and Italian lakes. These last, that is to say, Maggiore, Lugano, and Como, may be included in the tour of Switzerland, either from portions of them being actually situated within its territory, or from their vicinity to it. Their character is rather smiling than frowning; they are blessed with a southern climate, in addition to their own attractions; their thickets are groves of orange, olive, myrtle, and pomegranate; and their habitations are villas and palaces. Along with the lakes named above must be mentioned the little Lake of Orta, which, though situated in Piedmont, lies so close to the Simplon, and possesses such high claims to notice from its surpassing

beauty, that no traveller, approaching that corner of Switzerland to which it is a neighbour, should omit to visit it.

The attempt to fix an order of precedence for the Swiss Waterfalls is not likely to meet with general approval, because so much depends on the seasons and the weather, as well as on the taste and temper of the spectator. A fine waterfall is, indeed, a magnificent spectacle; but it will be appreciated, not merely by its own merits, but, to use a mercantile phrase, according to the abundance of the supply. Now, in Switzerland, waterfalls are as numerous as black-berries. The traveller, after a week or fortnight's journey, is pestered by them, and will hardly turn his head aside to look at a fall which, if it were in Great Britain, would make the fortune of an English watering-place, and attract visitors half-way across our island to behold it. The fact seems to be that there is a certain monotony and similarity in all falls of water, and, after the curiosity has once been satiated by the sight of three or four, it is tiresome to go out of one's way to visit another, unless it be much finer, and have a distinctive character from any seen before. Thus, then, there is utility even in an attempt to classify these natural jects.

1. The Fall of the Rhine, at Schaffhausen, deserves the first rank, from the volume of water; but it is rather a cataract than a cascade- it wants height.

2. Fall of the Aar, at Handek, combines a graceful shoot with great elevation; an abounding river and a grand situation. It may be said to attain almost to perfection-(Terni being a perfect waterfall).

3. Fall of the Tosa, in the Val Formazza: rémarkable less for its form than for the vast volume of water, but in this respect very fine.

4. The Staubbach, or Dust Fall: a thread or scarf of water, so thin that it is dispersed into spray before it reaches the ground; beautiful, however, from its height and graceful wavings.

5. The Giesbach.

6. The Fall of the Sallenche, near Martigny, sometimes called Pissevache.

7. Reichenbach fall.

8. The Fall of Pianazzo, or of the Medessimo, on the Splügen.

9. Turtmagne Fall, near the Simplon road.

Other falls, too numerous to mention, are not placed (to use the language of the race-course); though, in any other country but Switzerland or Norway, they would deserve especial notice.

The design of this enumeration is to spare the traveller a long walk, or a day's journey, to see a fall, probably inferior to others which he has already seen.

The principal and most interesting of the Swiss Alpine Passes (see § 15) are the Simplon, the St. Gotthard, the Splügen,and the Bernardin, regarding at once their scenery, and the magnificent and skilfully constructed carriage-roads which have been madeover them. Of passes not traversed by carrage-roads, the most striking, in point of scenery, are those of the Monte Moro and Cervin, between the Vallais and Piedmont; the Tête Noire and Col de Balme, leading to Chamouny; the Grimsel, Furca, and the Gries, branching off at the head of the valley of the Rhone; the Gemmi, one of the most singular of all the passes; and the Great St. Bernard, chiefly visited on account of its celebrated Hospice.

Alpine Gorges. - Especially deserving of no