It
of the river and tlie occasional deep roarings
of the numerous waterfalls, greatly
heighten the effect. The poet might most
truly say —
“ Here Melancholy sits, and round her throws
A deathlike silence and a dread repose ;
Deepens the murmur of the falling floods,
And spreads a hrowner horror o’er the woods.”
The genius of Salvator could not imagine
finer subjects for the pencil than the wild
and awful scenery which presents itself on
each side as you advance, sometimes rendered
more interesting by a lofty castle
in ruins, or by mountain villages and
churches.
Of the castles — now in ruins, but which
once defended the passes on each side the
river—no history remains. The wider parts
of the valley are well cultivated; and the
numerous country-houses we passed, surrounded
by vineyards and corn-fields, indicate
the prosperity and fertility of this
part of Savoy. The houses are the summer
abodes of the landed proprietors, who
come here during the vintage and harvest,
to receive their rents in produce.
In many parts of the valley there is
scarcely sufficient width for the road, but
having cleared these passes, the valley
opens again, and presents a cultivated country
on each side, surrounded by impending
mountains, with here and there the remains
of vast eboulements, scattered at their feet.
There are also four extraordinary gorges,
which seem almost impassable with an army,
if any determined resistance were made.
These gorges are formed by the rocks advancing
on each side, and compelling the
river to pass between them, through a narrow
chasm several hundred feet in length, dhe
road is either cut out of the rock by the side
ofthe precipice, or is carried over it at a distance
from the river. One of these gorges
occurs on this side of Moutiers, and the
others are between Moutiers and the foot
of the Little St. Bernard. The longest is
called the Virgin’s-leap {la Saute de Pucelle).
The rocks near and beyond Moutiers aie
calcareous ; and these calcareous rocks form
the narrow gorges which thus close up the
valley.
In the work which my friend, Mr. Andrew
de Luc, of Geneva, has published on
the route of the Carthaginian general, he
has made it appear highly probable, that
V O L . I . P
J