T H E C E N T R O N E S .
A YM E . 241
1 did not observe any gypsum near the
road between Moutiers and Bourg St. Maurice
; but we were shown a mountain on
the left, where it is intermixed with rock
salt. At no great distance from Moutiers
is the village of Centron, which has been
partly destroyed by eboulements and inundations.
This place is supposed to occupy
the site of the ancient city of Darentasia,
the capital of the Centrones, who inhabited
this part of the Alps in the time of Julius
Csesar. The Centrones were intimately allied
with the people called the Salassii, who
were only separated from them by the L ittle
St. Bernard. Veteius the Roman general
subjected the latter people, by cutting off
the supply of salt they received from the
Tarentaise. On the retreat of this general
they asserted their independence, and were
again conquered by Messala Corvinus in
the year of Rome 728. Terentius Varrò,
one of the lieutenants of C^sar, made
a great carnage among the inhabitants
of the valleys of the Grecian Alps, and
granted their lives to the remainder, according
to Strabo, on condition of their
delivering to him 30,000 young persons,
whom he sold at Ivrea. Advancing up the
valley, we passed a church, situated on
an almost inaccessible rock, which overhangs
the Isere. Before we came to the
great gorge, called La Saute de Pucelle,
or the Virgin’s Leap, the road passes at
some distance above the river, on the side of
a mountain, from whence there is a view of
the upper part of La Saute de Pucelle, and
the long deep chasm through which the
Isere rushes. Were it practicable to pass
along this chasm, the O ^ scene must be astonishingly
grand. I was informed, on my
return, that near the foot of the rock,
there is a spring of very hot water, which I
should have examined, had I known of it.
About half way between Moutiers and
Bourg St. Vlaurice, the road passes through
the market town of Ay me or Aime. It
was an ancient city of the Centrones, called
by Ptolemy, Oxima. Several inscriptions
found here prove that the Romans established
a forum at Ayme, and gave it the
name of Forum Claudii Centron um. Ayme
is situated on the side of a steep hill, and
has often been much injured by the inundations
of a small rivulet which passes by it.
It contains about eight hundred inhabitants.
At Ayme we first saw the Maurienne female
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