St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-10-03

~ StosSiHS the HelSnG, our carriage
wheels Craze (this Aug. 2s) the remains
OF snow drift, and at our left we see
nock of goats crossing an ice field of
several acres in extent. The beauty of
all the lower part of this valley is
marred by work now being done in the
construction of the st. Gotthard Rail-
way. This ascends the Ticino from
Blasca to Airolo, whence. to Goeshenen
on the north side, tunnel over nine
miles long is being bored through the
solld rock. Thousands of laborers were
ousy all along the line, every few min
uGes we heard the crash of dynamite,
or giant powder, rending the rocks, and
sometimes saw the pieces fly high in
the air. The scenery as we wind up
the 40 zigzags towards the Hospice is in
describably rugged, barren, and grand.
We attain an elevation of nearly 1000
feet, but on every side of us are peaks,
some of pinnacled granite, some snow
Cciad, 5000 to 1000 feet higher, and we
are ready to exclaim: "Wonderful are
thy works, o God )" "Great is our Lord
and great his power" Here at the top
are two hotels, a hospice where are fif-
teen beds gratis for poor travellers, and
on either side tiny lakes from one of
which the waters flow to the Po and
the Adriatic sea, and from another, a
few yards away, to the Rhine and the
Northern ocean. Here we can purchase
st. Bernard dogs, of which we saw a
fine specimen, at from 800 to $50 each,
or Indifferent minerals for about their
weight in silver.
The ten miles downward on the north
side to Andermatt was made in about
an hour. The diligence fairly few, and
at every sharp turn the driver was sure
to crack his long whip and spur on his
horses. We could not help thinking
what might become of us on top, if the
brake gave out or the horses stumbled,
when the bank wall of one side of the
road was often a hundred or two feet
high, and the mountain side hundreds
of feet below almost or quite precipi-
tous.
The next day friday by carriage
from Andermatt we visited the Furca
Pass and the Rhone Glacier. This pass
is 5000 feet high, or over thousand
feet higher than either the Splugen, St.
Gotthard, or Simplon passes, and is the
highest in Switzerland traversable by
carriage though the Stelvio in the Aus
trian Tyrol is 1000 feet higher still. AS
we near the top, eastward we have a
grand prospect of the st. Gotthard
group, the OberalpstOck farther east
and all the high peaks surrounding the
Andermatt, or Unseren valley, includ-
ing several glaciers while on the path
to the Rhone Glacier, a half hours
walk from the hotel at the summit,
there rises before us a most magnificent
mountain panorama. On the right were
the highest points of the Bernese Ober-
land, dozen SUBMITS crowned by the
Finsteraarhorn, Q4025 ft.) and in front
the Matterhorn Q4705 ft. where DR..
Bigelow of Boston met his terrible fate
few days ago,--the WeisshOrn, and
many other peaks glittering with the
ice of ages. Beside us was the glacier,
IS miles long, and below at our feet
issued the infant Rhone whose turbu-
lent coursings for many miles towards
Brieg were plainly visible. The day
was perfect for sightseeing, not cloud
fiecked the sky except to the southwest
beyond the Matterhorn where cluster
of tumuli, like the ascending spray of
a fountain, marked the place of Mont
Blanc. We took nearly three hours for
the half hours walk and return. We
trod the ice of the Rhone Glacier, gazed
into it's crevasses, listened to the roar
of the waters beneath, heard the sharp
thunder crack of the ice-stream as it
broke over the crest of the precipice
which it covers, and could only say
with another,
WHO first beholds these
But instantly receives into his soul
A sense, feeling that he loses not
A something that informs him tits hour
Whence he may date henceforward and forever"
On all the southern and eastern slopes
of these passes we have found the great
est variety and profusion of wild
Iois
orchids, violets, forget-me-nots, and
what not-but one spot was with its
surroundings, particularly lovely. At
the very top almost of the Furca, a
sunny bank was brilliant with flowers
of blue, yellow and red of many shades,
while the opposite slope was covered
with glacier and its terminal debris.
Just then upon the green grass below
the flowers, was driven herd of 200
COWS bearing as many tinkling bells.
Was not that Bid, as the Germans
say, Ia picture, cOmbination) of bust
ness, barrenness, and beauty ?
Our six hours of travel, partly by
carriage, partly by steamer, from An
dermatt to Lucerne, through region
immortalized by Schiller in his Wilhelm
Tell, and wonderfully interesting in
itself, ends the work of the week and
of the summer. Here we gratefully
spend the Sabbath and wait for the
beyond of the early autumn. a