T l » mil is alfo one of the belt on thai road, being tolerably dean, with good attendance.
At Ibis village, the high road takes a difFeront direalon, and leaves the valley of Roia.
For, as I have before noticed, fince from Geflbla it tends from north to fouth, to purfuo
the whole length of the valley, wonld lead, after a fatiguing days jonrney, to Vcntiraiglia,
a port on the confines of the Genoefe territory, confcciuently it would be impoffiblc to
reach Nice without previoully eroffing a part of that ftate. When therefore the eonnty
of Nice became attadicd to the honfe of Savoy, government, in order to obviate that difficulty,
eanfed the roads to pafs aerofs the Cols of Broi.s, or Brovis, and Btaus, which
almotl immediately fucceed each other.
Thefc mountains, which arc of the feconda.y order, as likewife others of the fame kind
in this chain of the Alps, have this fingnlarity in tlieir diredtlon, tint, inflead of bdng
p a r a l l d t o t l i e primitive chain, as they are in general in Switzerland, Savoy, and Tyrol,
they, on the contrary, form feveral tangents to the portion of circles deferibed by the ¡Maritime
Alps, diverging in that direction to the fea, where they exhibit wide and abrupt perpendicular
ildes of prodigious height.
TtavcUeis who have been templed to go from Nice to Genoa by fea and land, will have
eerlainly obferved that thofe monntains are moffly calcareous, though now and then I have
difcovered different fpecics of the lapis ollaris extend to a eonfiderable length. The calcateou.
ones on the coaft are in general Hied with marine foffils, of a kind fimilar to what
are Hill found in the fea, which wathes their bafis, except in the vicinity of Bordigherj,
where they are formed of a kind of lenticular ilone. But as I purpofe making more particular
mention of thofe mountains, I ihall at prefent retnm to La Giandola.
The mountains which fcreen that part of the valley of Roia contraa fo confiderably,
and arc fo fcipendous, that at Bteglio, a town fitnated at about two miles fouthward of
La Giandola, for more than a month previous to the winter folltice, tlie inhabitants arc
entirdy deprived of the cheering rays of the fun.
The high road formerly ran through this town, which gave it a bufy and commercial
appearance, but as the Col of Bruin (which flands to the fouth of Brom) Is not only very
abrupt, but particolarly dangerous in winter, the road from Tende to Nice now ccoffes
the Col of Brous or Brovis. The afccnt of thefc mountains begins almoft immediatdy on
quitting La Giandola, leaving Breglio on the left.
I muft not, however, prior to my entering on a defcription of that Pafs, omit to add
ir
the names of the plants which drew my attention, and of which I colleited fomc fpccimcns
in the valley of Roia. Near the -village of Dalmas I found Haller's ' Ai-temiiia tanaciti
foiia," as alfo the ' Sifyrabrium itriftiffimum,' the ' Myagrum Caule Simplici or Saxatilc'of
ProfeiTor Aliioni, with the ' Molucilla frutefcens;' which latter I deem particularly
fcarce, it being the only part of the Alps where I met with it. From Fontan to
Saorgio my collcdiion increafed rapidly; for there I gathered ihe ' Pedicularis Comofa,'
ihc 'Betonica Alopecuros, or Fox-tail Betony,' the 'Teucrium lucidum' of a beautiful red.
The two lall iimilar to thofe which grow in the neighbourhood of St. Jean de Mauriennc
in Savoy. The ' Ononis frudlicofa,' the 'Afperula Taurina,' of tlie fame fpecies as that
found in the hills of Turinj the charming 'Campanula barbata,' and the ' Epimedium
Alpinum,' which is fcarcely to be met with in the Alps. From Qience to Breglio I found
the ' Onicera Alpigena,' the 'Gentiana lutea,' the 'Alchemilla pentaphyllea,' the 'Phaca
Alpina,' and the 'Valeriana faxatilis;' alfo the 'rufcus Hypogloffum/ which forms a flirub
refembling the Portugal laurel in the form of its leaves; bcfides feveral others, which would
be too tedious to enumerate.
From La Giandola we began to afcend the Col de Brous by a moil excellent road, the
flope or declivity of which has been fo well managed, confidering the ilupendoxzs and
abrupt height of the moimtain, that I may witli truth aflert, that I imperceptibly gained
the fummit, and that without being fenfible of any extraordinary afcent, had not the
landfcape under my eye, by infenfibly enlatging its extent at every ftep I took, :nade me
confcious of my progreffive elevation. This paflagc acrofs the Col de Brous has in faA
been rendered fo eafy, that even heavy carriages can with great fecility travel the whole
year dirough.
The firft fieps of the road arc cut in a hill formed of a coarfe yellowifh fand ftone, of
the fpecics of arenarius fiavefcens, compoxinded of particles which have little coherence
with each other. This liill entirely fcreens the bafis of the mountain, and is covered with
trees of various forts. But it does not appear to be everywhere compofed of the fame
fpecics of ftone; for in many places the grain is fo coarfe, that it refembles a kind of
pudding-ilone. Befides the ilrata do not appear to be of any eonfiderable depth, which
may however in fome degree be accounted for, having obfen'ed towards the north of La
Giandola a rock of dark grey apyrous, or lapis ollaris, mollior, pinguis, niger, &c. filled
with fliining dots or fpots formed by particles of mica contained in it, mtcrmixed with a
poi-tion of fmall irregular globules containing iron. This rock appeared to lower faddenly
f f i . 'I
iir-r-.'u;