The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1870-03-09
Peril. ofthe Great St. Bernard.


PeriIs ofthe Great Sd. Bernard.
Three travellers il is stated have Just lost their
lives on the Great St. Bernard Mountain. They
had been travelling from Martigny towards the
Italian frontier, with the intention of resting for
the night in the famous Hospce that stands al.
most on the boundary line between Switzerland
and Italy. By o'clock in the evening, they had
reached little inn on their way to the Monas-
terry; they had still TO journey for seven toisOme
miles before reaching the monkish place of wei
come and. since the night was dark and stormy,
the innkeeper besought them to wait until the
morning. Being poor. they refused. They be-
longed to that class of poverty-stricken pilgrims
who are constantly passing between Switzerland
and Italy, and who carry all their worldly goods
in a knapsack of untanned deer hide. few
pence will suffice to take such travellers from
any part Of the great Canton Vaois to Aosta.
They shun inns with horror as places of I'M
scrupulous extortion; and their aim is to break
the journey at the Hospice. where they get food
and lodging for the night free of charge and in
the morning are provided with the necessaries of
travel on the same benevolent terms. Hence.
although the night was pitcby dark. and the
wind was coming down with hurricane-like gusts
from the great mountains that shut in the valley,
the three travellers resolved that they would push
Oh 10 Tue nOcplCe. soon dller leaving the cam
teen, they began to ascend a winding. rocky and
steep path, which overhaDgs bowling torrent,
and leads to the Monastery. The road is per
haps, one of the toughest in Europe. So many
rocks jut out so sharp are the turns round the
course of the brook, and SO steep are some of the
accents, that even mule might be pardoned for
slipping. When the night is dark, and the mists
come down, the path could scarcely be kept even
by man who had daily traversed it for years ;
and the only safe guide would be the roaring of
the torrent. The ascent is so steep that, after
couple of hours climbing, the traveller finds him
self 1000 feet above the level of the sea and at
that elevation, even after the hottest day of Au-
gust, the cold is, at nightfall often intense. On
the night of the fatal occurrence all those perils
were combined. So black was the sky that the
wayfarers had slowly to grope along by means of
the precpce which hens in the side Of the path
farthest from the torrent. Had the moon
been up, they might have been guided by the
poles which the monks have planted in a direct
line from the Hospice to the valley. to Indicate
the direction when the path is buried under the
snow, and the torrent is frozen. But in the
pitchy darkness, the friendly beacous we're obscur-
ed hence, the travellers seem to have again and
again been brought to standst before reaching
that ford of the brook at which the road dips,
and then goes up with one swift spring to the
spot WDeTe tue great OdTTdck-lke guides
and cheers the benighted traveller by its beacon
light. The Door pilgrims were so near to the
blaze, that. had they been able to exert them
selves for few minutes longer, they would have
been safe But the toll and the cold had so par
alyzed their faculties that they could not proceed
one step further; they were overcome by that
craving for sleep, for rest, which is the effect of
intense cold; and within sight of the friendly
CLEAN that beckoned to them overhead, all three
travellers laid down and died.
On the Great st. Bernard the winter season
begins early and ends late. Already it is winter
beside the mountain dwelling, and during the
long months when the snow covers the ground,
or the cold makes travelling perilous, it is the
daily custom of the good monks to journey as
far as the bottom of the pass, in order that they
may lend assistance to any traveller who may have
dropped by the way. Clad in their long, black
serge gowns and broad-brimmed hats, accompa-
MED by attendants who carry wine and provision
for the restoration of the wearied or fainting
traveller. and guided by the famous St. Bernard
dogs. which do the work of pointers, two or three
monks daily make the seven-mile journey to the
valley below. Until the occurrence of the late
accident, they bad not, for some years, found any
traveller dead, or beyond the aid of restoratives.
Gradually, indeed. the peris of the terrible pass
have become so fully appreciated. tina: even the
poorest traveller shrinks from attempting the as
cent to the Monastery after nightfall. if the
ground is covered by snow. or if the great storm
gusts blow down from the hill.
The three who have last fallen victims, how
ever, we're less discreet; and the next morning
when the searching party of monks had proceeded
to a short distance from the Hospice, they found
the bodies stiff aud cold. They were taken into
the little morgue which is situated at a short
distance from the principal building Of the Mon
astery and in that naked mausoleum the remains
will abide, with other relics of mortality unless
claimed by the kinsfolk of the lost 1t isa grim
resting place. In that small hut, perched among
the wintry mountains. dwell the skeletons of men
and women and children who. in the course of
many generations have persisted in the fatal pass.
So intense is the cold, that the unembamed
bodies resist for long years the hand of decay.
Uueofiined, and dressed in the clothes which |
they wore when found dead in the snow. they |
stand perched against the wall. and while the |
visitor looks through the iron grating Of their |
tomb they peer grizzly forth. as II soliciting re- |
cognition and an undesecrated place of rest. An |
old man leans against the wall, bis head bare, his
staff in bis hand, and his attitude stiffened for |
ever by the death that smote him years ago. A |
woman clutches in her arms the babe that perish |
ed with her in the snow. From the other grim |
figures, the clothes have rotted away by frsg- |
ments, leaving bleacned. pr0truulng bones. Ihe |
floor of the dungeon-like tomb is strewn- with /
memorials Of the dead and, going from the |
blazing FIRE of the Monastery to the naorgue, the
traveller pass in a single instant from the hum
of mirthful conversation, or the Joyous sound of
music. to what might seem place of the living
dead Europe contains no more weird or gloomy
sight than that prison-house of clothed skeletons
perehed in, the Alpine wilderness. and seen
through the misty and wintry gloom opid'on
Telegraph
PRENIERs OF GREAT BKTTTAEN.-It is interesting
10 recall the premiers who have held Office for the
last ia years. The Duke Of Newcastle came into
power April 5th. l754. and held Office for years
ind 80 days. The Earl of Butte took Office May
81. 1862. and held it for 322 days. The admin
stration Of Mr. G. GrenviIe commenced April
Is. 1863. add lasted for years and 81 days
The Marquis of Rockingham took Office July IL,
I765 and held it for year and q days. The
Of the Duke Of Grafton which COM
nenced August 2. l766 lasted years aud l79
lays. The administration of Lord North was
,ne Of unusual duration, commencing January 26,