The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1884-08-30

IN FOREIGN LANDS.

/ IN FOREIGN LANDS.
4 Leman-chi1lon and its Castle-From
Geneva to Italy-Genoa, Turin, Pisa and
their sights-on to the Eternal City.
/ From our own Correspondent.
The result of our deliberations at Lau-
same was q slight change programme
me, we deciding to go to Rome at once, by
way of Genera, Genoa and Pisa, and to
leave Mt. Blanc, Milan, Venice and Flor
ence until our return from the Eternal City.
The city of Lausanne has little to detain
ths tourist, but the attractions of the lake
near which it is located are too great to be
passed by without notice. Lake Leman
woos me with its crystal face, . wrote Byron,
and from the time of Cesar until now, it
has charmed all who have visited its shores.
| 1t is about SO miles in length with an ex-
trene width of only nine miles and depth
of 1900 feet. It's waters are most lovely
| blue color, differing from the other Swiss
lakes, which have greenish tinge. The
cultivation of the vine is the principal
agricultural interest of the people along its
shores and its grapes and wines are famous
and some of the vineyards along It's north
ern boundaries are valued at not less than
| $1,000 per aero. At the eastern end Of the
lake is the Castle of Chillon, whose stern
walls, rising from the waters, were i'm
| mortaized by the genius of Byron. The
steamer FROM Lausanne lands us at GhiIlon
and a walk of about d mile bring us to the
castle which is built upon 4 rock II the lake
and II reached by 4 llraWbrid ge After 4
fog moaaents delay Tie a1ttendant conducts
us to the large dimIy lighted dungeon,
whose outer walls rise from below tile wa
ter and whose inner wall Is composed Of
Of the native rock. It is here ws find
And III sach pillar thers III II nj
And in sach ring there is Y
The colnmn 10 which Bon nivard Is Haid to'
have been chained has, ike tie reas deep
indentations worn ii the rock a.ound Il
and the InaasiYo 20 which bis was
attached IS still seen It is 3 gloomy
Among the rooms exhibited ID tors as
one with hugo rock upon which Ilae bud
demned prisoners passed their last nig
Adjoining this Is The execution room which;
formerly had an opening into tbs Lake. isv
which the bodies OF the victims could Be-.
easily disposed 81. ii one of the upper
rooms is a wooden pillar % which priaonerss
were suspended and tortured by applying
fire to the solss of their feet Anofher
contains q deep well 81 open leading
down to the depths Of tho LAX, through
which prisoners were somstimes fnduced to
try to escape, only to drown themselves Id
the blue waters below. Larger rooms are
fitted up for receipt halls, council cl,sa
bers, etc, and The entire building which
is now used as af arsenal lis an excellent
specimen Of the castles Of the early times
IN which il was built, # having been orgi-
naliy erected more than 1000 years ago, but
strongly fortified by Peter of Savoy in the
thirteenth century. It arouses no pleasant
memories, however, and we were not un-
willing to leave its damp, noisome dun
geons and its forbidding council chambers,
with their foul and bloody history, and go
out again iato the broad light of the
summer sun and the civilization of the
nineteenth century. 1t is not true that
Byron's "Prisoner was the Downward
who was so long imprisoned here and in
fact We believe Byron himself speaks of his
poem as "a fable: " but in spite of this, as
we so out over the drawbridge we find our
self repeating, almost involuntarily, those
familiar lines:
Chillon thy prison is holy place.
And thy sad floor an altar-for twas trod
Until his very steps have left trace,
Worn, as II thy cold pavement were sod.
By Downward. Let none those marks efface
For they appeal from tyranny to God.
Geneva, at the opposite end of the lake,
is fourishing city of over 60,000 inhabi-
tants and is reached by rail from Lausanen
in about two hours. It is the largest and
most prosperous city of Switzerland and
although possessing little of interest in
itself, is associated with many distinguished
names in history. Calvin, Rousseau, Mad
anne de Stael, Sismondi, d'Aubigne and
many others resided here. On Champel
Hill, Michel Servetus, Spanish physician,
was burned at the stake by Calvin's order,
for having dared to write a treatise ON the
Trinity. in which he differed from the big
oted reformer. The city is favorite re-
sort for Americans and in fact is quite
cosmopolitan in its character, almost all
nations being represented on its streets.
Early one morning we take train from
We pass through a mountainous region,
abounding in lovely views and wild scenery
and after riding 125 miles reach Modane,
on the Italian frontier. Just beyond
Modane we enter the Mt. Cents tunnel,
which was completed fourteen years ago
after thirteen years of work, at a cost of
$4,000, 900. It is eight miles in length, 19
feet high, 26 feet wide and about 1000 feet
above the sea and $500 feet below the sum-
NIT of the mountain. Our train occupied
just twenty-seven minutes III passing
through its gloomy depths. Beyond the
great tunnel, the wild, barren mountains
tower high above the narrow valley down
which we speed, and numerous spurs of the
range necessitate dozens of smaller tunnels.
We reach Turin late in the afternoon and
after few hours spent in this modern
Italian city, which was the capital of Italy
from 1859 to 1866, we go on to Genoa,
where we pass the night. Genoa, "La
Superba," is familiar to every American
school boy as the home of Columbus. It
was an important city under the Romans,
a strong commercial republic in the middle