Alpine flowers, that often bloom on the borders of eternal winter, and that, springing on the chasms of the baldest rocks, lend, at times, the charm of gentleness and beauty to the most savage scene. But here desolation had reared his throne, and ruin lay around it. The whole extent of the defile was one mass of enormous stones that lay piled upon each other; it was as if two mountains of rock had here waged war, and been shivered in the conflict. Do not suppose, in figuring these scenes to yourself, that rocks and stones lie scattered over the extent of this defile. This would be but a very imperfect description of what it is. In many places the stones are piled upon each other to the height of some hundred feet; and to what depth they may lie even on the track by which you pass, no one can tell. This, however, I know-in ascending higher than this defile, the river is seen to enter it in several concentrated streams, and, below the defile, it is again seen to enter the lake I have mentioned; and, in passing through the defile, at some deep openings and gaps, you may hear the distant rush of waters far below, indicating, by the faintness of the sound, the great depth at which they find a channel.

"I have never been more strongly impressed by any scene than by this. It realised, more than any scene I had ever beheld, the conception of chaos, 'treeless, herbless, lifeless.' Not even the fowl of the desert could have here found one fruit of the wilderness, nor one gushing stream whereat to slake his thirst. This curse of utter sterility I myself experienced. The breakfast I had made at Bergun was not well calculated for a journey in a hot dry day across the mountains; and in this defile, where not a breath of air could enter, and where the sun shone down with great power, a well of the desert would have been welcome. I found, however, a shelter from the sun's rays; and it is only amid scenes like these that we are able to understand the force of the expression, the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'

"When I had traversed this defile by a gradual ascent, I entered upon the third and last division of the pass. Here I found the stream, which, in a succession of rapids and cataracts, comes from the highest interior valley, where the snow is accumulated to a great depth. The ascent here is extremely rapid; and the scenery, although it has lost that character of utter desolation which presides lower down, yet retains much grandeur, mingled with a few of those graces that are found in Alpine scenery. Here and there I found a scanty herbage, and innumerable beautiful mosses. The ranunculus and the mountain anemone bloomed at my feet; and the rocks, ashamed of their nakedness, were covered with the crimson blossoms of the rhododendron.

“About an hour and a half after leaving the defile, the highest part of the pass is attained. Here one is still in a valley, though its sides do not rise more than a thousand feet above it. I found a good deal of snow, and occasionally some difficulty in passing; but, after an hour's walk, I began to descend, and a scene soon opened below very different from that which I have attempted to describe. The southern interior valleys of Mount Albula are among the most esteemed in all Switzerland for the pasture of cattle, which are brought there even from some of the remoter cantons. In the country of the Grisons, every village has its mountain, or its part of a mountain, to which the inhabitants have free access for the grazing of their cattle; and when herds arrive from places beyond its liberty, they are permitted to graze, upon payment of a certain small portion of the produce of the dairy, to the village enjoying the liberty of the mountain.

"It was a beautiful sight to look down on the southern side of Mount Albula; the most charming verdure covered the slopes and the valleys, and the flocks of a hundred hills seemed there to be congregated. The distant, and not unmusical, chime of their thousand bells, mingled with the faint lowing, came sweetly up the mountain; and the beauty and interest of the scene was greatly increased by the recollection of the lifeless, desolate wilderness that I had newly quitted.

"Scenes of grandeur and sublimity are indeed glorious, and by them we are called from the littleness of life to a contemplation of the majesty of that which is more enduring. Unutterable, indeed, is the charm that holds us in the depth of the silent valley, and among the dark and mighty mountains; but still there is, in pictures of life and happiness,

in scenes of a more tranquil and gentler kind, a language that speaks more universally to the human heart; and this I found in the contrast between the desolate grandeur of the defile and the green and life-like aspect of the mountain slopes.

"Less than an hour brought me among the cattle, and another hour led me to their habitations. For the double purpose of quenching my thirst, and of seeing the interior of

PILLARS ON MONT JULIER.

these mountain-dairies, I left the track to visit one of them. One or two large and fierce-looking dogs opposed my entrance; but a shepherd, who had doubtless his own interest in view, smoothed the way, and conducted me into the interior. In the outer part of the châlet there was room for upwards of three hundred cattle, and the inner part consisted of two rooms, one where the milk is kept, and the other where the cheese is made. There is besides a kind of loft, where the men employed in the dairy sleep. For every fifty cows there is generally one man. They are each allowed about 16 florins per month, which, at the value of a florin in that country, is about twenty-nine shillings. They are, of course, allowed nourishment besides, which consists of bread, salted meat, and as much cheese, butter, and milk as they please. The term of their employment is generally about four months. It is evident, therefore, that the occupation of a shepherd of the Alps requires some knowledge. It is not merely looking after the cattle, and leaning upon his crook: he must know all the mysteries of the dairy, which are neither

few nor simple; and judging from the excellence of its productions throughout the greater part of Switzerland, these shepherds must be well versed in their trade. I found those of Mount Albula civil, communicative, and tolerably intelligent. They seemed to feel considerable pride in showing me their utensils, which, indeed, they well might, for nothing could be cleaner, or in more excellent order, than the utensils which contained the produce of the dairy, in all its varieties of milk, cream, butter, and cheese. Every traveller has spoken of the excellence of the milk he has drank among the Alps, and I must needs add my testimony to that of others; though I must acknowledge that I thought it inferior to the milk I have drank in Norway, and I may perhaps add, in the Highlands of Scotland. It is certainly no recommendation to the thirsty traveller-at least, it ought to be none-that milk is rich. It is indeed a delicious, but scarcely a refreshing beverage; and if the traveller will take my advice, he will follow my example, and drink the milk which has been already deprived of the cream.

"After leaving the dairy, I went rapidly down the mountain, and, passing through

the region of fir, I found myself, in about two hours, in the lowest defile, from which I occasionally caught glimpses of the valley below; and, about five in the afternoon, I reached the village of Pont, in the Ober, or Upper Engadine. I need scarcely add, that the descent into the Engadine is less, by at least 2,000 feet, than the ascent from Bergun -the village of Pont lying at an elevation of no less than 4,800 feet above the level of the Mediterranean.",

"The Inn, during its progress in this part," says Coxe, "is very unlike most of the rivers which I traced in my former route. The Rhone, the Reuss, and the Aar, for instance, fall, near their sources, in a continual cataract, over fragments of rock, and through the most wild and uninhabited tracts of country; while this river directs its course through a cultivated and populous district, in an equable, unbroken stream. The country is picturesque, and its beauties are of a milder cast than are usual in these Alpine regions. The burghs, or villages, are pleasantly dotted about the plain, at the distance of about a mile from each other. Each village contains about fifty or a hundred houses, standing contiguous; these habitations are of stone, plastered and whitewashed, and are in such excellent repair, that they appear as if they had been newly constructed. The spirit of neatness, indeed, is so general in Upper Engadine, that I scarcely observed one bad house through the whole district; and even the barns are as good as the cottages in many countries.

"Mr. Planta received me with great politeness and cordiality, and invited me to supper; and as the evening was not set in, he accompanied me to what is called the camp of Drusus, which I was desirous of examining.

"You recollect the campaigns which Drusus, the adopted son of Augustus, and brother of Tiberius, carried on against the fierce inhabitants of these mountainous countries; and which Horace, in compliment to his patron, has alluded to in the following passages :—

and afterwards

Videre Rhæti bello sub Alpibus
Drusum gerentem et Vindelici ;'

arces

Alpibus impositas tremendas
Dejecit acer plus vice simplici.'

"This campaign of Drusus against the Rhætians was attended with great success, and he defeated the barbarous inhabitants, before deemed unconquerable (indomitosque Rhætos), with great slaughter. The supposed remains of his camp consist of several deep pits, and a mound of earth about thirty feet high and sixty paces in circumference. These works did not appear to me to be of Roman construction; probably they are nothing more than a rude fortification thrown up during the turbulent times, when the barons of the country were engaged in perpetual acts of hostility; a desire to render them venerable by the remoteness of their origin and the splendour of the Roman name, seems the only cause of their being attributed to Drusus."

Upper Engadine, the Valley of the Upper Inn, is divided into two communities, called Setto and Sopra Fontana Merla, from their situation above or below that spring. They have both the same court of criminal justice, which is held at Lutz, and consists of the landamman of Setto, who is president, and sixteen jurymen, called Trouadors, taken equally from each district. Justice is more equitably administered in this court than in any other throughout the Grisons, excepting at Coire; a circumstance which arises from the following causes. The code of criminal laws was composed in 1563 by one Juvalta, who had been envoy from the Republic of the Grisons to Venice, and had there imbibed more enlarged conceptions of jurispru dence than at that time prevailed among his rude countrymen. This code was

drawn up in Latin, and in 1644 was translated into Romansh. The fines enjoined for criminal offences do not belong to the judges but to the community. The expenses of the process are defrayed, and a salary is allowed to the judges, from the public fund; the judges by these means, being not so much interested to convict the prisoner, are not so ready, as some of their predecessors in office, to employ the horrid expedient of torture for the purpose of enforcing confession.

Another cause of the equity observable in this court is the mode of electing the judges. They are not, as in many of the other communities, chosen by the people collectively assembled, but by sixteen deputies who represent the several districts. By these means the election is carried on with more prudence, and with a greater attention to the qualifications of the judges, than can be expected amidst the confusion of a popular meeting.

The same deputies choose all the civil magistrates by a majority of voices; and finally decide all legislative and political questions, which have before been separately proposed to the several districts which they represent. Their constituents have the power (which they frequently exercise) of peremptorily directing their vote. It is, however, no inconsiderable alleviation of the mischiefs frequently attendant on governments purely democratical, that the whole body of the populace on no occasion assemble on one spot, but discuss matters in detached parties, and send the result of their deliberation by their representatives.

Upper Engadine is a very beautiful valley, yet, on account of its elevation, it produces nothing but pasture, and a small quantity of rye and barley. The winter sets in early and ends late, during which time sledges are the ordinary vehicles. The air, even in the month of August, is sometimes cold and piercing, and the corn in the midst of summer is occasionally much damaged by the hoar frosts. Hence the Italian proverb—

As the district does not always yield sufficient productions for the maintenance of the inhabitants, many of them migrate into foreign countries; the gentry in the military line, as is common through Switzerland; others in the capacity of mechanics, tradesmen, and merchants; their favourite occupation is to keep coffee-houses or pastry-cooks' shops in different parts of Italy and France. Generally two persons enter into partnership to carry on the same trade: one stays in his own country, and the other attends the business for a year, when he is relieved by his partner, and returns to his family for the same These partners are commonly as faithful as they are industrious; they annually bring considerable sums of money into this district, which is esteemed the richest among the Grisons.

term.

Many of the inhabitants feed numerous herds of cattle in the summer months upon the Upper Alps, and export large quantities of cheese and butter. In the autumn, when pasture begins to be scarce, they send a great part of the cattle for sale into the Tyrol. The inhabitants live very much upon salted meat, particularly in winter, on account of the dearness of fodder. The bread of the country is mostly brownish; it is baked in little round cakes, only two or three times in the year, and becomes so hard that it is sometimes broken with a hatchet; it is not an unpleasant food with cheese or butter, which are very common. The greatest part of the butter is made on the Alps; it is afterwards melted, put into bottles, and frequently continues good during the whole year. The wine of the Valteline is much esteemed, and is by no means scarce in this country; it bears keeping to a very considerable age. Some wine has been tasted from the cask, of a very fine flavour, and more than fifty years old, although it grows sour in the space of three years in the warm climate of the Valteline.

Engadine would be a fine country, if there were no frosts.