once beautiful edifice, or else by slow and melancholy notes of litanies and Stabatmaters,"
sung in unison by pilgrims, whom curiosity or devotion continually attract to
that capital ; whereas, the murmuring noise of the Rhone (which, from having here a
vast declivity, forms a number of natural cascades) is the only interruption in this
sequestered spot, and renders the landscape as worthy of the artist's pencil as of the pen
of the most contemplative genius.
But what again augmented the effect of this singular and uncommon scene, in my
way to the hermitage, to which there is no access except through bye-ways, which lead,
in an intricate manner, up a few straggling steps hewn in the rock, I perceived three
women and an old man proceeding towards the chapel with great apparent marks of
devotion, chanting, in low and solemn accents, prayers to the Virgin, each carrying
a lighted wax-taper, which at raid-day had a strange appearance.
Quitting this solitary but pleasing spot, I soon crossed the Vispa, a torrent which
falls from the lofty mountains that surround Mont Rose, and in whose channel I could
easily discern (there being then but little water) a quantity of fragments with their
angles rounded, apparently of similar species to the calcareous phosphoric marble described
in the Rhoetian Alps, and the same that have since been named dolomie by the
son of monsieur de Saussure, from the commander Dolomien, who was the first that
made known the property of this species of stone.
Young Saussure, who follows his father's steps in his scientific pursuits, has, in
consequence of having analysed this sort of calcareous stone, found that one hundred
grains contain as follow viz.
Cf..
Calcareous earth 44-,29
Argil 5,86
Manganese 1,40
Iron -
Carbonic acid 4.6,10
Total - - - 98,39
Loss in the chymical operation 1,61
100,00
See monsieur de la Methérie's Journal de Physique for March, 1792, page 160.
Soon after crossing this torrent, I reached the village, which takes its name from, and
is the capital of, the Dizains of Visp, which is about thirty English miles from north to
south. This commonalty, though far in the mountains, is extremely fertile and rich in
pastures, besides containing in the same valley, above the village of Stalden, some
beautiful transparent rock-crystal, and amianthus, with parallel filaments or fibres. The
latter is found, as it were, lying in veins within a species of a greyish lapis ollaris,
soft to the touch, resembling the lapis colubrinus mollior of Wallerius, spec. 137, of
which the people of the country make much use for various purposes, as it in time
becomes extremely coherent. From Visp to Brieg, about six English miles, the road is
good, the valley again gradually widens, and the lateral rocks singularly vary as to
structure and form, though the most predominant appear to be a kind of schistus, containing
yellow, brown, and white mica. Nearly contiguous to Brieg are the ruins of a
wall, which seems to have formerly been flanked with towers.
These ruins, which descend from an abrupt rock, and stretch to the very banks of
the Rhône, make it reasonable to suppose that the wall may have been of Roman
construction,—an idea generally credited in the country, and by no means improbable,
from the town of Brieg lying on the direct road to Simplón, a passage even at that
distant period, in all probability, known to the Romans.
The ascent of this mountain being one of the chief objects I had in view on
quitting Leuk, I lay that night at Brieg, reckoned one of the best towns in the Valíais.
Its population is great, the streets of tolerable width, and many of the houses built of
stone, though the major part are of wood j yet, upon the whole, this town may be considered
as much improved within these few years. The Dizains itself is assuredly one
of the most fertile in the republic, although its situation be so elevated, as clearly
appears from the height of the Rhone, which flows close by the town, and which is
two thousand one hundred and sixty feet above the lake of Geneva. Its inhabitants
breed much cattle, which they dispose of to the Milanese and Piedmontese, with
whom they carry on a great traffic, not only in that particular article, but also in cheese,
thus turning to profit the convenient situation of their town. Brieg is much resorted to,
from being seated, as before noticed, on one of the most frequented passes of the Lepontine
Alps, and being of easy access on the side of Switzerland, with an excellent
foot road both ways, kept in repair by the neighbouring states. I shall now
enter on a slight description only of this mountain, particularly including the part
i r r