The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1862-02-28
Mistellalleous.
Alpine Scenery.

In Switzerland there are thousands ot Pla
ces and objects Of interest at every turn and
yet how few Of them are seen or even heard
of by that vast army Of crusaders who, alpen-
stock in hand, hunt after the magnificent
] will take one place, for example. Lying
high back from the Lake of Thun, is the
Justis-Thal, narrow valley Of singular
grandeur and wildness. On either side walls
of rock tower perpendicularly two or three
thousand feet; gushing stream pours with
giddy roar through its very heart; strag-
Cling ehd.et may be met with here and there
at long intervals; whilst huge bouldsrs, torn
by the action of time from the mountain
ridges, strew the few grassy spots in what 1t
seem paradoxical to call plain, and which
afford scanty pasture to jrowsy flock Of
goats and COWS.
But the most remarkable phenomenon Of
this SCARED valley is tho Sehgioeh, huge
ice-cavern, bored, as it were, in the solid
nine hundred feet above the level Of the val
ley, apparently inaccessible to human ap.
proach. Neither the peasants Of the vii.
lage, nor the mountaineers, could give any
account of the interior. The Oldest inhab-
itants did believe that some bold adventurer
in his younger days had reached it, but it
was dangerous enterprise, forsooth, and
even that exploit had faded into Tradition
Fortunately, on the outskirts Of the town of
Thun--it might have been at Eiilterfngen,
whose pretty church, on beechen knoll,
overlooks the bright waters Of the lake
there dwclt, heard, middlc-ascd man who
had really once visited the cavern, but that
was many summers ago, and who boasted
even that his memory Of the track still served
him well enough to reach it once more. He
would venture to act as guide, he said,
should or my friends like to explore that
isolated region. al will leave my wife and
children in pledge with the syndick." he ad-
ded, "if don't bring you back safc."
We wound slowly up out of the village by
zigzag pathway, at first broad enough for
horse to traverse. At last, after q four
hours ascent, we wended our way through
what seemed to be natural gateway of the
mountain, and suddenly confronted the val
ley Of the Justis-Thal. A new scene now
opened before us. A small plateau lay at
our feet, which presented a scene OF desola-
ton it would be us difficult to forget Us 1t
would be to describe. In addition to the
mighty boulders which seemed scattered about
by the hands of giants, or the sons Of Anak,
struggling in an angry mood, 1t was evident
that the spot had once been forest. Some
pines, towering q hundred feet, still stood
erect; Others had been snapped of midway,
and their lofty heads dropped downward
to the earth; others, again, lay prone on the
ground, singly, or huddled together like
corpscs on battlefield. But the most ex-
traordinary phenomenon was their trunks
and branches, which had been literally
stripped Of their bark. Some were black ,as
though SCARED by lightning; Others were
already converted into the softest touchwood,
which crumbled into dust on the least hand
ling. Every where the melancholy signs OF
decay and desolation presented themselves ;
and it required no stretch Of the fancy to
make us imagine we had reached the out
skirts Of nature.
At this point, the Sehqt7oeh was in full
view, mile or moro in front of us but how
was it to be reached? There was no beaten
track; the rock was almost perpendicular ;
the surface crumbled beneath our feet at ey-
cry step, and the slightest mishap would pre-
cipitate us thousand feet into tho valley
beneath. We embarked upon the crumbling
debris, the dust Of ages, and sank at once
deeper than our ankle, in the stony detritus.
At every step, mass Of this uncomfortable
and unstable terrain was set in motion, and
it was scarcely possible to prevent ourselves
moving downward with it. Occasionally
the force Of this aiding mass would CON-
municate locomotive impetus to huge
boulder, when might be heard sound Of
something leaping and dashing from point to
point, crashing through brakes and BRAN.
ble, or the branches of trees, and at length
plunging, with voice Of thunder, into
some cryptic chasm, there to rest till doo,ns-
day. had, however, learned to walk the
mountain side; and Notwithstanding tho al
most insurmountable difficulties Of the track
We had to traverse, I contrived, by the usc Of
the alpen-stock, which served Us kind Of
Blondin's balancing-pole, as well as the eI-
ercise Of nervous caution, to reach the en-
trance Of the cavern.
It might be thirty feet high by forty wide,
the roof rising internally, like domed vault,
until another twenty feet was added to tho
height. The threshold for fifty feet or 50
was strcwn with the rough pavement OF
splintered rock, the sharp edges Of which
cut like the blade Of a knife; or hugo bould.
ers, so smooth and slippery with perennial
damp. that it was almost impossible to
scramble over them; or, perhaps, n huge
quadrangular slab, polished rs aglass mirror.
on gradient Of fifteen or twenty degrees.
invited the foot only to betray. Not many
feet beyond us, blazed innumerable stars,