Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-11-17
CONFEDERATION
Correspondence Of the xeoweo Courier.
HErDErnrno. Sent Ok 1SG0

llEIDELBER0, Sept. %, 1860.
-Hr. E,i;tor: In my last letter had gone
as far MS Geneva, which though not one of
the greatest, is certainly ono of the most in
teresting and important cities in Europe
Seen from the lake it has the appearance of
great and splendid city. The houses on both
sides OF the river arc large AMI new, having
been built on land formed w filing up the
lake. The mountains close iu below The citv
having only narrow winding channel through
which the blue waters of the arrowy Rhone"
rush ont a., If impatient of tie arbitrary re-
straint Of mountain barriers. The grandeur
OF the natural scenery is greatly enhanced by
the historic associ ,tions that cluster around
this birth place Of civil and religious liberty
the cradle of those great principles which have
made America and England the freccst and
most prosperous nations Of the world. Here
church and pulpit from which he proclaimed
that wonderful system OF doctrines which still
goes by his name. In the cemetery his grave
is marked by simple stone with the letters
y. c., it being his request that no monument
be erected to him Near by are the graves of
l'ictet, Sir Humphrey Davy, Napier the in.
ventor of logmythms, and other scarcely less
notable pcrsonagcs. Geneva was the home of
j. j. Rousseau and Madame dc Stacl of the
great botanists, de Candolle and Boissier,
the political economist say, the historian Sis
mond and many other persons of great celeb,
rtv. The historian of the reformation, j. II.
Merle ID. Aubigne, lives in beautiful coun-
try seat mile or two up the lake On Sab
bith we herrd French sermon from Calvin s
pulpit, and then attended the English church
which was very much crowded At night we
hld AnGrican service ut tac room Of DR.. Ad-
ans of New York, conducted by DR. Thorn
we'll, of Columbia. There were some 25 or
81 American travellers present, and it was
very pleasant meeting.
Early on Monday morning we tool; the
steamer up the lake of Geneva, tho beauties
of which have been said and sung" in near
ly every language of Europe 1t was n calm,
bright mornlng,and the steamer moved slowly
enough for us to drink in the scenery The
waters OF the lake are not green as are the
other lakes in Switzerland, but oc deep blue
color, which is attributed by Sir Humphrey
Davy to the iodine confined in it. North
ward lay the Juri mount,ua, whose sloping
sides were covered with yincyards and grain.
while to the South lay the snow capped sum
mlts of the Alps, with Mount Blanc glittcrimg
In the Sunshine far above them ALL We
touched - Lausanne, Navay, Monbreux and
FHlcncuvc before reaching Bouyerct, the ter
minus of railroad up the Rhono. But the
most interesting object TO me was the castle of
Chillon rendered immortal by Byrons poem
describing the imprisonment of Downward i'm
1T. The first town above the lake is Port
Valais, interesting from the fact that in the
time OF the Roman cOnquosts it was sea port
CPortus Valle5iae) and the seem of a battle
in which the Helvetian General, Dvco, OBJ
tanned a victory over the Romans under Lu
cius Cassus. 1t is now % or B miles from
the lake, which has been filled up SO far by
soil woshed down by the river a little far
ther on is st. Maurice, (Agaunum of the Ro-
mans) celebrated for It's hot springs which rise
in the middle of the ed cf the river, strongly
impregnated with sulphate and chloride of
soda Hero, perchcd away up on the sido of
a precip,ce, and apparently clingiug to the
rocks like q swallow s-nest, ia little house.
Che Hermitage, said to be inhabited Jy one
lone old man. One cannot but wonder how
he manages to get there without wings A
little further on we came to the beautiful wa
terfall called the t;Nsevache, where the river
Sllenche spoutsO ont from gorge In the noun
tains and falls l20 feet into tho Rhone -
@g At AotIgny we loft the car and set ont on
foot up the bridle.path in the. direction of
Mount Blanc, After two or three hours
climbing, We learned on, inquiry, that it was
still two hours walk to the next, ,hotel, which
was to us not very comforting news, as it was
already growing dark, and the black clouds
were whirling angrily around the tops of the
mountains Pretty soon it commenced rain
ing, and it was with great difficulty we could
find the path, but eftSr cropping along for some
time, we como to a neat log,cabin,s with a
bright light shining out across the path. y, /
,weat up 70 tbadoor, and asked in the politest
French Iicoald think o., if we might sleep
there a tall man, in military dress, came
forward, invited us ii, and after a close survey
of our littlo party, aud q. short consultation
with his wifen told us. he. wotld do, the best he
could to make US comfortable, The good lady
soon spread y table with nice food which VIC
csmpiimohtcd very handsomely powiand then