before noticed, which is occupied by two Italian capuchins onlyi and a certain number
of domestics, who indiscriminately receive every traveler gratis, and treat them with
the greatest hospitality, though not with so much comfort as on the Great St. Bernard ;
yet are beds, and every article of the first necessity, easily obtained;
There are likewise chapels placed in different parts of the mountain, close to the
road, provided, during the winter months, with bread, cheese, and wine, as in those
previously described. About a mile from the koipice, which may be said to be seated
in a swamp, considering the number of lakes that are contiguous to itj is the Luzendro,
the most considerable of them (Vide drawing N°XXVI.), being from three to four
miles long, and two wide; but in which, from thé circumstance of its being frozen ten
months out of the twelve, no fish can be preserved alive, though many attempts have
hitherto been made io succeed.
This lake, which communicates with the others, forms the source of the Rheuss, a
river that flows towards the north, and then throws itself into the Lake of the 2.uatres
Cantons, as also that of the Tesino, which takes a southern direction, and mingles its
waters with those of the Lake Majore.
The stupendous height of this passage, supposed by Cassini to be twelve hundred
and eighty-two toises above the level of the sea, and eleven hundred and twenty
ditto, or seven thousand one hundred and sixty-two feet only, according to my own
barometrical measurements^ varies, in the following respectsj from that of the Great
St. Bernard, —t h e latter being more elevated, having a smaller jo/a/eau or flat surface on
its summit, and containing no granite whatever; whereas the St. Gothard may be considered
as huge rocks of granite, heaped one on another, which by their junction form
an extensive irregular plain, which seems to derive its present existence from fragments
belonging to the surrounding spiry needles. Its longitude east is 9" 2', and latitude
4.6° 28'.
These spiry tops, which appear as if ready to dispute the elevation of the test of the
chains that compose this part of the Alps, have each a particular appellation, though
the one supposed to be the true St. Gothard is not yet ascertained;
Their bases are totally covered by their own fragments, and blocks of rock are even
found that contain curious particles of green mica and feldspath. Those blocks are so
considerable and numerous, that the road is absolutely forced round them, and con^
sequently rendered rugged and irregular.