The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Alps ; or, Shetchee of Life and Nature in the
Mountains. By H. Berlepsch. Translated by
the Rev. Leslie Stephen, M.A., Fellow and Tutor
• of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. With 17 Plates
from designs by Emil Rittmeyer. Longman.
The numerous excellent works that have recently
appeared on the Alps have familiarised the English
public with all details of that magnificent land of
which they are the pride and ornament. This
work before us is a very admirable one, and is the
production of a superior mind. It brings before us
very important statements relative to the fabric of
the Alps, and hence beyond the charm of adventu-
rous narrative, and the interest which attaches to
eloquent descriptions of glorious scenery, there re-
mains for the studious and scientific reader a sub-
ject for conjecture and reflection in these learned
dissertations. We meet with the following striking
description at the commencement of the book :
There are but few men who know the real and fell
majesty of the fabric of the Alps. It unveils itself least of
all where the broad military roads stretch over passes and
mountain "saddles," or where the trivial employments of
daily life are swarming round the footstools of this wonder
of creation. You must penetrate into the secrets of the
hidden world of the mountains, into the solitude of the
closed gorges and valleys, where man's power of cultivation
sinks powerless as he comprehends the weakness of his
efforts against the majesty of Nature in the Alps. You
must climb above the ruins of a primeval world, and press
through labyrinths of glacier and wastes of ice irto the
temple sanctuary where it strikes, up freely and boldly
into the skies betore your wearied eyes. Then you will
encounter the indescribable splendour of the Alpine world
in all its vastness till you are ready to sink under the
thought of its awfulness ; and when you have recovered
from your first impression, when in sight of the gigantic
masses, you have opened your heart, and prepared
it to receive still nobler revelations, then question boldly
those mausoleums of immemorial time ; ask them what
hand raised them from the depths of eternal darkness into
the kingdom of light ; consult the rocky leaves of this stone
chronicle for the history of their creation and the end of
their existence. The vast dead masses will become alive
for you, and a view will open to you into the endless cycle
of eternity. The Alps stretch in a vast semicircle through
Southern Europe, a limb of that colossal skeleton of the earth
which under the name of the Pyrenees, Appennine, Tschar
Dagh, and Haenius, gives internal support to the Spanish
Italian, and Grecian peninsulas, as they stretch out into the
Mediterranean Sea. There in different epochs followed
elevations and depressions, repeated floods and even deposits,
till at last the fiery products of the great melting furnaces
of the earth's interior burst through these manifold super-
imposed layers.

' One very striking chapter is that which relates to
the Landslip at Golddau, and the d wellers at home
will find it difficult to realise the possibility of such
occurrences. It is thus forcibly depicted : "A storm
in the ocean, a mountain spitting fire, the blaze of
primeval forests in America, the simoom in the
desert, may all chill a man's blood in his veins ; but
no storm in the open sea when the sailor sees de-
struction in a thousand watery graves, no breaking
forth of a volcano towards Heaven, no burning of
the American forest, can create greater hor-
ror than that fearful moment when the moun-
taineer calls to his wife, children, and neigh-
bours to run, for the mountain is coming."
Among the anecdotes recorded of the miraculous
escapes of various persons during this fearful
calamity there is a very exciting one mentioned
of the preservation of a child five years old, and
Ler attendant, a young girl: They were buried
a day and a night in ,the fallen house. After
some time each becomes aware of the presence of
the other. They compare their positions. Fran-
cisca, the girl, is in total darkness and fancied
the end of the werld had come. Marianne, the
child, is lying on her back, and cannot move, but
sees through a strip of darkness something green.
Francisca thinks it is a look into Paradise. S.ird-
denly they hear the sound of the curfew, which
rings at eight from the Steinberg. They had
many more weary hours to wait before deliver-
iesce came, but both were recovered to life and
liberty. Not so the mother and two younger
children, who were in the same dwelling and
sweated by the failing ruins. There is a plate of
The Ban Forest," and an account of its nature.
The primeval forest of the Alps comes down to
our day, AS a fragment of past times, and many of
the trees centuries old were once witnesses of great
deeds ennobled in legend." It is stated that one
naturally associates the term primeval forest with
America, But the Alpine forests only bear affinity
with those of the New World inasmuch as they are
untouched by the band of man. The tropical
forest is rich in plants of various colours, the
Alpine is monotonous and dark-hued. The one is
called "an uninterrupted jubilee of resurrection, the
everlasting Easter in the kingdom of plants, every-
where the process of dissolution is concealed under
the rich luxurious foliage of the young shining
after-growth and the happiness of eternal youth
seems to prevail, the Alpine forest is a quiet field
of the dead ; one of those melancholy dark
places of natural corruption, where life and destruc-
tion come into immediate contact and reciproca-
tion." " Alpine Roses" is a pleasing passage, and
to suit the lovers of legendary lore there is a story
connected with their brilliancy and bloom of a
faithful lover and a cruel rcaidei The Alps, it is
said, have given a new poetic beauty to the rose,
for it is amongst them that:the rose blooms without
a thorn. This unbelieving age will rejoice to find
another proverb contradicted in the charming Rosa
Alpina. Our interest is increased in this lovely
plant by the knowledge that it only blooms in its in-
digenous sphere, It seems like the fabled amaranth
that it will not bear removal. " A freo child of the
hills, it will only bloom in its own home, where it
is nearer to heaven than to man, and can breathe
full draughts of the pure air of heaven. It is the
most charming symbol of maidenly purity and inno-
cence. Weather and storm, heat and frost, rain
and snow, all the attacks of nature it can bear with
good cheer and courage, only too happy when it
gets a friendly ray of light. Only at the touch of
man's hand it trembles and loses its colour, for that
brings it death. With surprising speed it changes
its clear transparent purple-gold. into a bluish tinge,
and no one has seen Alpine roses in their full splen-
dour who has not seen them blooming on the slopes
of rocks. "The Chesnut Woods " is a beautiful des-
cription of these grand creations of the forest, " the
noblest foliage-trees of the southern Alpine land." It
is curious to note how valuable is the timber of the
chestnut. "Venice, the sea-ruling town of thu
Doges, rich, smiling Genoa, the mighty docks of
England built their peat ships of war; and com-
merce of chestnut wood, because it is not liable to
the attacks of worms and the destructive boring
pholads, the mighty framework of beams at West-
minster-hall, in London, the roof-beams of many of
the noblest cathedrals of France and Spain are
made from the timber of our noble tree, and are
still as strong and uninjured as they were five hun-
dred years ago." After perusing the account of
thunderstorms, waterfalls, &c., we come upon a
curious relation regarding red snow, of which there
are extensive regions found by travellers in the
high Alps. Another danger of this perilous clime
is the " avalanche," which is treated of here ; and
also there is a plate that represents its full horror
in having buried a victim in the grand and glorious
winding-sheet of everlasting snow. "Chalet Life
in the Alps" is most interesting to peruse, and one
loves to linger over the accounts of the dwellers
in those still places. There is a plate of the " Forest
Chapel," which is very suggestive, and worship
seems peculiarly appropriate in a spot where—

"Noturoitself it seems would raise
A minstor to her Maker's praise."
" The Goat Boy " is a very amusing sketch, also the
"Wild Haycutter," the "Wildheuer." Then we find
an account of an Alpine feast, " Alpstuckete." " Tim-
ber Fellers and Floaters" describe an amusing re-
presentation of the destruction of the forests.
" Chamois Hunters" again attract notice, and there
is an illustration of the feats performed by those
daring men. " Village Life in the Mountains" is
the last subject mentioned, and it is a most appro-
priate one to conclude a work like the present, being
" The life itself of the villagers in these great her-
mitages of central Europe.' Amid the extreme of
still-life and solitude, few spots surpass Rofner
Hoff, in the Tyrol. Four brothers live together ;
they are shut out like Robinson Crusoes, and ",Win-
ter, at this height of over 6,000 feet above the sea,
divides them for near half a year from
their
neighbours." This book is well calculated.nextt
attract and interest all who desire a really mstru e•
tive work that brings before us, in a descriptive
form and in eloquent language, details of one of the
m
oft all allthe countries of Europe. The
marvels in undying verse, and
tilhooeesttphshauisglogssueosnptgeirvoeflaoias discoursed of its mysteries in
elaborate treatises. It is there the traveller de-
lights to wander to gain fresh ideas of the Creator's
might in the study and contemplation of its
sublimity and beauty. It is to be considered certain
that this admirable work will meet with the
reception that it merits, and in many a circle
of delighted listeners' inform and instruct
regarding the Alpine land of song and story, of
injesty and magnificence.. Those, whose happy
live emable them to see for themselves its wonders
enjoy renewing their aceriaintanee with its
see.nery, and those who can never go there may
rejoice at finding it pictured for them in these
glowing descriptions, animated accounts, and
ioquent delineations. We commend this bril-
liant volume to the earnest attention of all
lovers of the picturesque, admirers of nature's
grandeur and seekers after desirable information,
ably told and agreeably furnished. Subjoined
aro some illustrations of interest. Here is a
picture of