Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1868-04-16
Tbe 6a3ette an0 Comet,

UBf Oa3ftte all0 Comet.
SCENERY IN SwITzERLAND.--A
sprightly correspondent of the Bos
ton Post speaks of scenes which ex
cite wonder and admiration. First
is the glacier of the Rhone:
Luckily the first glimpse of this
imposing miracle of nature is to be
had within fifteen minutes from the
inn, aud it is not remarkable that
most travellers are impressed with il
as Luther was at the first view oil
the dome of st. Peters, and are al.
most ready to kneel and worship at
a shrine so glorious From broad
gorge at the foot Of the Galenstock
$4,000 feet bigb) whose summit
overbangs it, and supplies the vast
masses of ice that form it, this
glacier flows forth like a gigantic
cataract, Niagara of ice, q swelling
Gauges suddenly CONCEALED in it's
heavenly descent. Leaving the white
and glitteripg snow beds Of the
mountains behind it it halts for a
moment on the edge Of a rocky abyss,
and then plunges forward. AT the
crest OF the fall the fractured ice is
splintered into thousand pictur-
, esque and eccentric forms, and offers
the varied semblance of tower and
battlement, pinnacle and spire, min
aret and obelisk. Soon again con-
densing, its mass spreads broadly,
as it. advances toward the valley,
and finally, fan shaped, dispenses
itself in the myriad rivulets that unite
to give birth to the infant Rhone.
OF the grandeur and splendor Of
this spectacle it would be impossible
to speak in fitting terms. An Ossa
of words piled upon Pelion Of ideas
would fail to impress it upon the
mind. 1t is as il Nature, who ever
pours her bounties forth with such a
full and notwithstanding hand, had
chosen this majestic solitude for the
display Of all that her lavish powers
could do to adorn her reign. Grace
ful must be the lips and eloquent the
tongue that can transmute her labors
into becoming language or give them
a worthy voice. And it is not merely
the barren magniGceuce of the icy
torrent, its stupendous size, its vast
expanse, the gigantic ribs like the
outcropping framework, the skeleton
CT the earth itself, that fascinate and
overpower the mind Every feature
around it seems in harmony with it,
aud as if rejoiced to do its utmost to
lend it an additional charm. Rocky
precipices look down upon it with
meditative admiration; dark green
pines, the monarchs Of the forests,
cluster around and fringe it's snowy
crests; verdant heritage and many
colored flowers approach confdingIy
to its very edge; the hearts ease and
the violet, the cyclamen, and the
fragile blue bell look down fearlessly |
into the depths, and Ariel might
swing safely over its proioundest
crevasse; sparkling rivulets gurgle
here and there upon its surface, and
play at hide and seek in thousand |
burrows that their industry has hol
lowed out of its cold blue mass the
beauty which hourly blossoms in the
sky there finds an abiding place, and
in changeful days the clouds gather
around its crest and unfold the whole
panorama of elemental beauty, from
dark rolling storm clouds, with hearts
Of thunder, to those white ethereal
shadows that fit to and fro like the
friars of the air; the moon at night
illumines its white breast-the star
''that crowns the smiling moon with
its bright circlet," glitters at inter
walls among the pinnacles that form
its tiara-and the sun at evening
casts its last rays upon it, and drapes
it in colored spleudors from the
western hills. In this colossal and
temple of nature, the
'chief things of the ancient noun
talns and the precious things of the
last hills" find q fitting home. In
It's silent majesty it seems the abode
IF peace and purity like that Of
heaven. With the snow covered
mountains behind it, it typifes the
New Jerusalem at the foot Of the
great white throne, while from it
flows the river Of the water Of life.