New-York tribune., 1882-03-06

IL would have pleased me more. of course II lad
seen IL before driving over the route to Nice Tor
after criticism has exhausted Itself 1t must be au
mtted that nearly all parts of tho Cormce are beau
tiful, and there are recesses of the coast beyond
Mentone which possess wonderful charm III the
combination of wild grandeur with sylvan prettl-
ness. Immediately after quitting Mentone by the
road along the beach, we begin to ascend tho bare
face of perpendicular rock and cross bridge
deep romantic chasm, which marks the
boundary between Italy and France. There is n
cutom-house on each side of the bridge-one
for each country but tourists without
baggage are not detained. The examination
of railway travellers takes place at Ventimiglia-
the first station on Italian soil, and a fortress
formerly of considerable importance-and this
operation though not vexatiOus, involves q tedious
delay. The carriage road traverses part OF the
defences passing by iron gates between redoubt
on the front Of the cliff and the principal fortress
on the higher slopes and then turning around
point of rock 1t descends by one OF the steep and
narrow lanes of the town into the pebble-strewn
valley of the ROya The hills open here toward the
north; a cheerful and sunny prospect is displayed
between the ridges, with snOw-felds in the re-
mote background; the ROya, though, like the neigh
boring torrents, 1t is more stone than water,
has almost volume enough TO be called river; and
an aluval plain begins TO spread at It's mouth, e1
tending all along the coast of Bordighera, with
breadth of about half a mile, and sometimes more
This sandy and gravely stretch, three or four miles
in length, is the only fat land between Nice and
San Reno if we except the very much shorter and
narrower bit upon which Mentone has been built
The hotels and few ,lreary villas which constitute
the foreign quarter of Bordighera stand upon the
plain, cut off from the sea by a railway embank-
ment I,y IN the groves of date-palms. for which
the town has celebrity do not tempt us to tarry
in so dismal place. The palms, moreover
are not in reality very attractive. They are
luxuriant in growth and many of them venerable
in age, but being cultivated for profit rather than
beauty they are not effectively disposed The truit
does not ripen. Three hundred years ago. however
pope granted to a family of this region the per-
petua monopoly of furnishing palm-branches for
the services at Rome Palm Sunday, and tho
privilege has been source of revenue to the little
town since. The trees are planted so close TO-
gether that grove. with the old and young palms
side by side, looks very much like jungle; but
worse than the overcrowdlng is the mutilabon
Topped of all the fronds that can safely be cut Off
the hoary monarchs of the desert have SCARED and
pitiful appearance, enhanced by straw bandages
with which the leaves tied up in order to banch
them Few trees are majestic than fine palm
in its proper place. standing alone in a small
cluster; but the palms of Bordighera seem TO me
grotesque.
There is hideous little coast town called
Ospedaetti just beyond Bordighera, and after
passing through Its one dirty street the carriage
road quits the plain, and mounts again to the
characteristic position the face of the Hill from
which it took its name of La Cornice, "the oOrnce"
We have barely time TO notice the extensive works
by which company is laying out new winter
resort here--building terraces grading roads and
raising the walls of a hotel-when find
ourselves on the outskirts OF San Reno. dis
tingushed above all the other towns of the Genoese
Riviera by the elegance of its approaches. The
principal hotels are situated on high ledge near
enough to the to have an uninterrupted outlook
over it, and far enough above it to avoid the bad
odors of the shore. After passing them, the Conice
descends to the level of the port and the railway
and the foot of the crooked break-neck lanes by
which the people of the old town, up aloft on the
rocks after the fashion of the country, get them
selves down from their rookeries to their dolly
work The old quarters of all these coast towns are
substantially alike. The tourist quarter of san
Reno is of small extent, but it is more beau
tiful even than Nice. The shrubbery and shade are
more allurng the promenades are bOrdered with
abundant verlure the various hotel grounds and
the public gardens next them form delightful
little region of trees and flowers, fresher neater
and more exquisite in finish than any similar resort
have seen, except at Monte Carlo. And here. in
the warm glow of perfect afternoon, with the
bright blue expanse at our feet almost still and
as bril- liant the bright blue expanse overhead,
may ftly take leave for the present of the wonder
full coast to which Italy has given the poetic name
of the Riviera di Ponente. the shore of Sunset.
J. X. g. IL.