r 24+ t
private intereft, and they would willingly enough undertake the-
work themfelves. That frugal and robuft people, too often diverted
from labouring their .own lands by the appearance
o f publick fervice, would be very glad to be employed to the
real advantage o f their Prince whom they love and venerate, i f
the malice and avidity o f a few. did not find means, in this. work,
alfo, to render, their labours of little benefit to them-
O f the courfe o f the G,e t t iU a , its, precipices, and Ccfcades.
From & ig ‘/'t(»D»«w-tbe. 'Gesttioa- precipitates, from.rock to
rock, on a bed cut aimed: perpendicularly through'the bowels;
o f the niountain. Below .Novafella,-i$ , runs' over, a trad; o f
ground that Would be lefs horrid than the reft, i f the waters,,
left to their own force, did not.keep it almoft conftantly overflowed.
A fliort mile diftant from the fort of Duare, a very,
important poft,and the only defence of the 'whole country on the
fea coaft from AlmilTa to Narcnta, the Cettina forms a magnificent
cafcade, called by the inhabitants V-elika Gubaviza, to dif-
tinguifh it from a lefler fall a little below. I went to fee it early
in the morning, defcending from Duare, where I had been received
with cordial hofpitality by Signor F.uriof, a gentleman
o f Almifla, and governor of the Fort, whofe brave anceftors
contributed greatly to the conqueft of it from the Turfcs.
I was obliged fometimes to creep, and fometimes to leap-
from one rock to another, in order to arrive at a place from
whence I could have a good’ view of the cafcade. Let them tell
you what they will o f the. precipices o f Mount Pilate in Switzerland,
they cannot poffibly be more impracticable. Notwith-
lianding this,, the Ihepherds, with their leather flafks full of
water, climb, with furprifing dexterity, from the bottom of
thefe
thefe abylles, to the plain tops o f the hills where their thirfty
flocks feed'. I f any o f them mifs a ftep, they mu ft inevitably be
precipitated, and become food for the vultures ; but fuch accidents
rarely happen, T^he vultures of thofe parts, neat the
mo,uth o f the. Cettina, are dreadful animals, meafuring above,
twelve feet from the tip o f one wing to the other, and are able
to lift up in their claws, and carry away to their nefts, lambs,
nay, fometimes iheep, and even the children o f the' ihepherds-
J. faw one. o f them,, and meafured it myfelf, *
The right hand bank of the river, which rofe perpendicularly,
to the clouds above my head, when I was within reach o f h a v ing
.a full view of the fall, is about five hundred feet high;,
and the left fide, on which I flood, is foi fteep, that without
the inequalities o f prominent rocks to lay hold on, it would be
abfolutely impoflible to defcend.
In that place, the bed of the river is; fcarcely eight feet broad;
this profound narrownefs, added to the horrour o f the many
hanging rocks, is fufheient to deprafs the higheft fpirits. The
water o f the river does not, however, precipitate from fo enormous
a height.. Its fall may be compared to that o f Velino near
Terni m Umbria. But the wild craggy precipice below Duare
has
* Th e extraordinary bulk of the vultures of thofe parts is not to be wondered at,
nor the truth of this fait called in queftion; the vultures of the Swifs-roountains
are of the fame race, and not only carry off kids, lambs, wild goats and children,
but will alfo attack grown up men. Th e fpecies is called, It Vautor'des Alpa,
and it is particularly defcribed by old Conrad- Gcfner, though unaccountably
neglected by moft other ornithelogifts. A wejl.preferved fluffed fpecirr.en of this
noble bird may be feen in the curious collection of the ftcvd. Mr. Sprungli, near'
Berne in Switzerland.