ñ
m N
f
gains, had bought an ornara ent for the parish
church; they presented themselves and their
offering, first to the curé, who received
it with the most lively gratitude, and on
the following Sunday it was displayed upon
the altar, and became an object of emulation
to the children who were yet too young
to mio;rate. In this manner the churches
in the mountains are supplied with ornaments
and sacred vessels for their altars.”
Before our arrival at Ugine, we came in
front of the escarpment of a high mountain
called the Charvin; the back of this
mountain we had seen all the way from
Faverge, sloping down to the north, at an
angle of about 45°, apparently as smooth
and flat as if it had been one enormous
slate. It was thinly covered with vegetation
and pine trees. The escarpment was
a bare, precipitous, pyramidal rock, rising
at least six thousand feet above the road,
unvaried by any patches of cultivation or
groups of forest trees. There is something
appalling in the near aspect of such an immense
mass of bare stone, but when seen
from a distance, over richly wooded hills,
from the valley of the Isere, it forms a magnificent
back-ground to the picture.
Ugine, though a town of considerable traffic,
does not contain one tolerable inn where
travellers could dine or sleep ; but it will be
absolutely necessary that inns should be
established, both here and at Faverge, when
the new road is completed.
After resting the horses at Ugine, we
continued our route. The road descended
rapidly to the river Arley, and then
turning suddenly to the west, brought
us under the shade of a range of mountains,
that form the northern boundary
of the vale. Here we alighted to dine
upon the grass, our friends at Duing having
kindly supplied us with provisions. The
day was intensely hot, and the refreshing
coolness of the shade was indescribably delightful.
Never before had I felt the full
force of that comparison of the Hebrew
poet, where he speaks of the shadow of
a great rock in a weary land.” We had a
brawling rivulet at our fe e t; the vale before
us was rich in woodland and pastoral
scenery, and resembled the most picturesque
valleys in Cumberland and Westmorland,
but on a grander scale.
We were now in the upper part of what
is called the Great Valley of Savoy. It
extends fifty miles in a south-westerly dir'
t
i t