by the Roman miners. This spot, being exactly where a torrent of the same name throws
itself into the Doria, the site is extremely picturesque ; and Bie valley, being less contracted,
the environs are fertile and pleasant i but it again soon after contracts, and,
five or six miles further, forms a direct defile, commanded by the fortress of Bord, or
Borde, seated on the summit of an abrupt rock, which may be considered as the first
key of the valley of Aosta on the Piedmontese side.
The road is here strikingly curious, and the rock, in which it is hewn, abrupt, and
fifty feet at least above its surface. In the interior of the rock, which is still quartzose,
with vertical strata, stands, in a natural niche, a Roman column, bearing the number
XXX." Near the column is a door, likewise cut through the rock, by which I
quitted this defile, and soon entered another, if possible more contracted than the one
I had just quitted, which leads to the village of St. Martin, seated between two lofty
mountains and the last village belonging to the dnchy of Aosta,—for, immediately on
leaving it, the road passes through a noble gate of free-stone, on which the arms of
Savoy and Piedmont are richly carved. Two miles further I began to discern the beautiful
plains of Piedmont i and at Borgo Franco, five miles from St. Martin, one of the
first places in that principality, I found myself surrounded by fruitful well-cultivated
hills, wooded to their summit, of which the most common trees, as in the environs of
Coni, are in general walnut, chesnut, and mulberry,-the latter being much.cultivated,
on account of its being the indispensable food of the silk-worms, the produce of which
little animals is the staple commodity of Piedmont. The inhabitants also cultivate a
great quantity of maize, or Indian wheat, for their own consumption.
From Borgo to Ivrea, or Eporedia, the distance does not exceed three English
miles, through a most beautiful well-cultivated country. This last-mentioned city is
built at the foot of a small hill, apparently composed of a species of greenish serpentine :
it is eleven hundred and ten feet above the level of the sea ; and, from being considered
the first key of Piedmont, is well fortified, and commanded by three châteaux or forts.
This city is likewise the capital of a marquisate of the same name, belonging to the
crown, as also a bishop's see, suffragan to the archbishop of Turin. The only object
in it that merits attention, and may in some degree compensate for the tedious journey
from Aosta to Ivrea, is the château of the late Count Perron, many years his Sardinian
majesty's secretary for foreign affairs. This nobJe and extensive mansion contains a
most valuable cabinet of mineralogy, a large and complete collection of the most
1 6 7
curious plants found in the Lepontine and Pennine Alps, including those of Piedmont,
besides bas-reliefs, antiques, medals, ancient armoury, &c. From hence to Turin
may be computed at five-and-twenty miles only, across one of the finest and most
luxuriant countries in Europe, but which I shall not at present take upon me to
describe, from its not containing any thing particularly interesting with regard to lithology,
the prominent feature of the present work. I shall therefore return to Martignie,
at the basis of the Great St. Bernard, in order to resume the route which leads
to St. Gothard, a description of which will hereafter be attempted.