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bly clear. We stood near the foot of the great cross, and gazed with new delight on the panoramick view, of about three hundred miles in circumference, displayed before us. It is at this time, when the vapours of the night have not begun to arise, that the details of this great geographical map are the most clearly discerned. The Alpine horn was now blown by one of its usual minstrels, to inform us of what we all knew, that the sun was just peeping above the horizon; and when the full broad eye of day poured his level beams upon us, we paid the piper, and retired to breakfast. At the door of the inn, we found a cripple with a variety of curious toys, made from a red kind of cedar, or larch, which grows on these mountains-they were beautifully carved, and for a few batz, the current coin of this district, we obtained a few speci

mens.

About an hour and a half after sunrise, we prepared to descend the mountain, by the path which passes over the ruins of Goldau, and terminates at the village of Art, on the opposite side of the Rigi to Weggis, where we commenced our ascent yesterday. Just before we set off, I hastened to the verge of the mountain, in order to throw a last look into the vast abyss-but what was my surprise, and delight, and awe. The magnificent landscape which I had but a short time ago been admiring, was now completely obscured by the rising dews of the morning and the immense concave below, was filled with heaps and wreaths of soft and glittering mist.

I am giddy-clouds

Sometimes an opening would occur in the mist, occasioned by the passing breeze, and then the eye might catch a glance of little verdant spots, or shining lakes, or pigmy villages, lying far beneath. These vapours of the night, which now hang on the hills far below the eye of the spectator, and which appear like a wavy ocean of mist, often rise, when the air is perfectly calm, in a smooth, broad, dense column, from the surface of which, as from a polished mirror, is reflected the large cross on the top of the Rigi, the figures of the visiters, and every other object which happens to pass before it. A bright arch, tinted with all the colours of the rainbow, commonly encircles this beautiful aerial picture. The Fata Morgana painted on the clouds in the harbour of Messina-the Phantom Ship floating in the air near the Cape of Good Hope-and the looming of objects at sea, are all produced by the same concurrence of circumstances. May not the famous cross, seen by the Emperor Constantine, be accounted for in a similar manner?

As we descended the mountain on foot, with a guide to carry our baggage, we passed a remarkable opening in the ground, into which we threw heavy stones; and then upon looking over the sides of a precipice, we saw them issue from a crevice a thousand feet below. Farther down, we passed the chapel of "Our Lady of the Snows," a favourite resort of pilgrims, and full of ex votos. At the Hospice, near this place, we stopped to rest, and obtained, with other refreshments, some Kersh water, a kind

Rise curling fast beneath me, white and of spirit distilled from the cherries

sparkling,

Like foam from the roused ocean.

This spectacle was far more interesting than the rays of the morning, or the shadows of evening, stealing over the cloud-capped summits of the surrounding peaks. VOL. IX.-Ch. Adv.

which grow in abundance throughout Europe. Near the Hospice, a stream, called the Aa, rises; and after dashing and foaming for some distance near our path, descends through a ravine of the mountain to the lake of Zug, at Art. On Ꮓ

this route to the Culm of the Rigi, there are a number of stations visited by Roman Catholick pilgrims -in one of the little chapels we saw an image of the Saviour, stained with blood, as large as life, prostrate on the ground, with an immense cross pressing him to the earth.

After a fatiguing descent of about four hours, we arrived in the valley, between the Rossberg and the Rigi, and paused for awhile on the ruins of the village of Goldau. In 1806, after many premonitions of some mighty catastrophe, the whole upper surface of the Rossberg began to move, slowly at first, but afterwards with such rapidity, that in a few moments five villages in the valley of Goldau, and all their inhabitants, were suddenly buried deep beneath the ruins. It is said, that at the moment of the fall of the Rossberg, a party of ladies and gentlemen from Berne, eleven in number, were walking from Art towards Goldau, in order to ascend the Rigi; seven were about two hundred yards in advance of the others, and just entering the village-All at once the party behind were alarmed by a flight of stones passing swiftly through the air over their heads; thick clouds of dust obscured the valley, and loud and frightful noises were heard. As soon as objects could be discerned, they sought anxiously for their friends, but all in vain-the town of Goldau itself had disappeared, beneath heaps of rubbish one hundred feet in depth, and the whole valley presented one wide scene of desolation and chaos.

The slides which have taken place in the northern parts of the United States, particularly those which happened in August, 1826, on the White mountains of New Hampshire, are of a very different character. There the rocky face of the mountain was left bare; the earth and the trees, by which it was covered, being stripped from it by

torrents of rain and storms of wind; but here, a portion of the mountain itself has been uprooted from its foundation. These terrible catastrophes enable us to form some feeble conception of the effects of that awful deluge, which once swept over the highest hills, and overwhelmed in desolation and death the fair frame of nature. Steele, in one of his papers in the Spectator, has a fine passage on this subject, which has been called a funeral oration over the globe. "Let us now (says he) reflect on the transient nature of the earth; how by the force of one element breaking loose on the rest, all the beauties of nature, each work of art and every labour of man, are reduced to nothing; all that once seemed admirable is now obliterated; all that was great and magnificent has vanished, and another form and face of things overspread the earth. Where are now the empires of the world-where the imperial cities, the pillars, trophies and monuments of glory?what remains, what impressions, or distinctions do you now behold? But not the cities only and the works of men's hands, but the hills and mountains and rocks, are melted as wax before the sun, and their place is no where to be found; all have vanished and dropped away, like the snow that once rested upon their summits.

"What does not fade? The tower, that stood

The crash of thunder and the warring winds,

Shook by the slow but sure destroyer,

Time,

This huge rotundity we tread, grows old, Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base; And all these worlds that roll around the

sun

The sun himself shall die, and ancient Again involve the desolate abyss.” night

Nothing is left of Goldau but the bell which hung in its steeple, and which was found about a mile off. This avalanche of rocks from

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The elevation on the right, surmounted by a cross, is intended for the Rigi; that on the left is the Rossberg the valley of Goldau lies between. The lines running in the direction B, C, show the inclination of the strata, all dipping at the same angle. Near D was situated the unfortunate village of Goldau, overwhelmed by the slide from the mountain above. At A commenced the irruption of mud down the Rigi into the lake Lucerne, and which swallowed up the district of Weggis. The Rigi rises between five and six thousand feet above the valley, and the Rossberg nearly four. As these mountains are composed of alternate strata of rocks and argillaceous earth, which incline at an angle of twenty-five or thirty degrees, the introduction of water from the melting snows and heavy rains, through crevices or by infiltration, softens the argillaceous earth, till it becomes a viscous mud, over which the superincumbent rocks slide into the valleys below, sweeping with resistless impetuosity every thing before them.

We now left this scene of desolation, and walked on to the village of Art, situated at the southern extremity of the lake of Zug. With some difficulty we obtained a boat to convey us to Zug, where our

carriages were in waiting, to take us to Zurich. Our excursion on the water was very agreeable, after our long and fatiguing walk from the top of the Rigi. The town of Zug has a very antiquated appearance. It was destroyed by the Helvetians when they attempted to emigrate into the Roman provinces, in the time of Cæsar. Its Roman name was Tugium. It also suffered from a slide-In 1435 two streets, and a part of the wall of the town, suddenly slipped into the lake. The chief magistrate of the canton was then drowned, but his infant son was found floating in his cradle, and lived to succeed to the honours of his father. While dinner was preparing, I visited two or three very old churches, and enjoyed some fine views of the lake and its environs. In the ossuary of one of the chapels, a number of skulls are prepared, with the names of the individuals annexed. We sat down to an excellent dinner, in company with a newly married couple, and were quite amused with the tender and polite attentions of the young pair. "Love rules the court, the camp, the grove."

The distance from Zug to Zurich is about fifteen miles, and the road possesses but little interest, though the farms around seemed well tilled. It passes also over the field of battle, where the reformer, Ulrick Zuingle, lost his life, fighting in the ranks of the Zurichese Protestants, against a numerous Catholick army.

The sun was but a few degrees above the horizon as we approached

Zurich. From an eminence, we enjoyed a fine view of the magnificent scenery of the lake of Zurich, wholly different in its features from that to which we had been accustomed for some days past. The whole of the banks of the lake opposite to us, as far as the eye could reach, seemed studded with little white villages, sur

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rounded by green pastures, and with innumerable farm houses amidst groves of trees. Zimmerman, you know, was a native of this town. He was a favourite author with me in my younger years, and I now had an opportunity of estimating the correctness of his beautiful description of this spot. The sunset effect on the glassy lake, and the surrounding scenery of Zurich, I had often admired, at a period when there was but a very faint probability of ever witnessing it for myself. At a distance, the town seems surrounded by verdant slopes, descending gradually to the river Limmat, which issues from the lake, and divides the city into two unequal parts. Our coachman drove us to the Sword tavern, close by a wide bridge which crosses the blue waves of the river, where a dish of good tea, and some other refreshments, more substantial, soon made us forget our past fatigues.

Saturday, August 29th. Since I left England, I have seen no place where I should better like to reside, than in the neighbourhood of Zurich, if ever I should become an exile from home. There seems to me to be more domestick comfort here, than in any other part of Switzerland. This city is interesting to the tourist, from a number of circumstances, exclusive of its delightful locality. Besides being the residence of many eminent theologians, here, in 1523, the glorious reformation was introduced by Zuingle; and here the celebrated Lavater received his death wound, a few steps from his own door, by one of the French soldiers under Massena. Its high literary reputation, in former times, obtained for it the appellation of the learned Zurich; and at present the multitude of its publick institutions demonstrate the benevolence, the science, and the enterprise of its inhabitants. Among the remarkable edifices shown to the stranger,

we have, of course, those inhabited by Zuingle, Lavater, and Zimmerman, that of the tyrant Gessler, and the one Charlemagne occupied during his visits here. Many of the publick buildings are handsome, but the architecture of the houses, generally, is tasteless and mean, and the streets are narrow and very crooked. The bridge over the blue and rustling waters of the river Limmat, which is close to the door of our hotel, is very wide, and is used as a market place. To-day being one of the principal market days, we had an opportunity of seeing a large number of the town and country folk collected together. The dresses of the females, and the trappings of the horses, displayed more neatness, taste, and skill, than we witnessed in any other part of Switzerland-perhaps this may be owing to the number of English families who reside here. Another peculiarity is, that not a beggar is to be found in all the Canton, though its population is very nu

merous.

Our three South American friends bade us farewell-they proposing to make an excursion to the baths of Baden, and we, in a few hours, to set off for the Falls of the Rhine. I cannot part with these gentlemen, without remarking, that I never met with three brothers more affable, intelligent, and harmonious. There are a number of open spaces before many of the publick buildings, furnished with seats, and planted with groves of linden trees. While Dr. G. and myself were walking in one of these promenades, called the Lindenhof, a fine terrace elevated an hundred and twenty-five feet above the Limmat, the three brothers passed in their carriage along the bank of the river. We waved our handkerchiefs to each other, and saw them no more. In old times, on this terrace, once stood the palaces of some of the Roman functiona

ries, when ancient Thuricum occupied the site where Zurich now stands.

The road between Zurich and Schaffhausen, not far from which town the Falls of the Rhine are situated, possesses but little interest to the traveller, after the views of the lake and its immediate neighbourhood are lost sight of. The bold, peculiar, and romantick features of the scenery of Switzerland, which we have been admiring for many days past, are gradually fading from the view, as the road approaches the mighty river Rhine. We passed several extensive forests of firs; indeed, the whole of this country is, I think, more thickly covered with trees, than any of our middle States. As we rode along, the country people familiarly nodded to us, as they do to the traveller in New England-we were, therefore, obliged to look askance at the rich red stockings of the females, displayed, according to the fashion of the Canton, almost from top to toe. A short distance before reaching Schaffhausen, the road passes not far from the banks of the Rhine, so that we perceived the spray of the cataract, and heard the dull and heavy roar, peculiar to the precipitous rush "of many waters." I was desirous to leave our carriage, and visit the falls immediately; but my motion to that effect, was overruled by the majority of the party.

Schaffhausen, the capital of the Canton of the same name, appears to be a dull, uninteresting town, though its situation, on the banks of the Rhine, gives it many advantages. It was founded at a very early period, being originally a few storehouses to receive goods conveyed along the river, and from thence to be transported, by land, to boats below the falls. Hence its name in English, skiff-house. There are some mills and manufactories in the vicinity. The Protestant religion is established here,

and I hope to visit some of their churches to-morrow.

The Crown hotel, at which we stopped, was all in confusion-the best rooms being secured for the Russian Archduchess Michael, and suite, who are expected here to-morrow. The Grand Duke is now fighting the Turks at Shumla, and his good lady takes this opportunity to visit her friends in Germany. We sat down pretty late in the evening, to a very profuse and dainty supper, which we all welcomed with keen appetites. The wine was from Neufchatel, and we all thought it remarkably good-the cheese was from the Canton of Glaris, and was of the celebrated green kind, called chapsigre, or, as we say at home, sapsago. The herb which gives it its strong and peculiar odour, is here called trifolium odoratum. Pennsylvania, an imitation of this cheese is prepared, by using a number of odoriferous plants to give it a perfume and flavour.

In

This evening we were obliged to resign our carriage and horses, which we hired a week since at Lausanne-no persuasion or inducement could prevail with our honest coachman to accompany us any

farther-This we regretted exceedingly, not only on account of his faithfulness and care, but because our landlord informed us that all the post horses in Schaffhausen, and its neighbourhood, were engaged as relays, for the Archduchess and her suite. How long, therefore, we may be obliged to remain here, I cannot tell. After leaving this place, the next town we expect to stop at, is Friburg, in Germany. It will be our first step towards home-would that it were the last.

Sunday, August 30th.-I rose this morning with the expectation of passing a quiet and retired day. The streets of this Protestant town were remarkably still; scarcely a passenger was to be seen, until the

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