Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1889-05-02

III n. 4.
Leaving Milan Ct 4 -, ws
prepared to bid farewell M fou
the train was 1soon bsari1 rapidly
ncrthward through : d. e. The
country on either side a prensnt.
ed no unusual features kooks Be-
ing almost entirely of snelomsr.
ate nature. An occ6aio1 xinoyard
or group Of mulberry r. 1fd little
to relieve monotopx II s>ene
w1ils xide llssds: sa0,- llska.lsp 5sd
constalks. gave melancholy same
ness to the appearances Of the Lom.
bard plain.
To my great delight the weather
cleared as we approached the shores
of Lake Como. so that when we at
length reached the town Of Como the
sun was shining brightly and The sky
was blue.
Como. the Comum Of the Romano,
beautifully situated at the head of the
famous lake Of the same name. is a
frontier Italian town with $1,000 in
habitants. At the sidss of the main
entrance Of its fine marble cathedral
are statues of the two Tlinies who
were born here in the old Imperial
days of Rome.
Passing through a long tunnel we
arrived at Chiasso. the first town in
Switzerland. Much to my satisfac-
tion found that the Swiss Govern
ment allows the traveller to cross its
frontier without undergoing the
wretched farce of having his baggage
examined by an official who causes
considerable annoyance but Who does
very little examining.
AT Capologo we reached the Lake
Of Lugano whose shores we followed
for half an hour. Tnis lake, while it
is smaller than its more celebrated
neighbors Como and Maggiore, is in
my opinion equally as beautiful. It
is surrounded by fine hills, while snow-
capped mountains rise in the back
ground.
Crossing the lake on stone dyke
and penetrating a spur Of Mont s.
Salvatore, we crossed the valley OF
the river Ticino on q viaduct and
found ourselves in the pretty little
town Of Lugano. A small temple at
the Villa Nathan near this town con-
tains bust of Washington with the
inscription "Magnsena sGculorum de.
cas-, the great ornament Of the ages.
At Lugano begins The celebrated
s. Gothard railway. one of the great
est engineering enterprises ever under
taken. Less than $50 miles in length
it has 56 tunnels with an aggregated
length of more than 25 miles, 80
bridges and 10 visducts. The highest
point is reached in the middle of the
great tunnel, 3.7S6 feet above the sea
level. The maximum gradient is one
to forty and the shortest curve radius
is $50 yards.
laundering out of black hole in
perpendicular cliff followed by a
whirlwind of smoke, for q moment
we would rumble over . ligat bridge
spanning an awful chasm aud then,
with a shrek, plunge once more into
the bowels of the grey hills.
Far below is the little Ticino river
winding in pretty SIS through wide
plain. Rushing along on the edge oI
a presipice 500 feet deep. 40 enchant-
ing view was presented to rs. Pens-
srsting Monte Cenere by.msaas Of .
curved tunnel one mile in length. we
gradually descended to the pretty vii
lige Of Bellingzona. the capital OF the
canton Of Ticino. Between Ticino
and Giornico q number Of beautiful
waterfalls attracted our attention. the
most beautiful being the Boggera and
st. Petronnilla falls. The whole hill
side in many places bubbles with
springs, and huadreds of streams often
not more than a yard apart. come
racing and pouring down from the
mountain heights.
At Airolo we entered the ST. Got
hard (or st. Gotthard) tunnel. the
longest railway tunnel IN The world.
It is 81 miles in length, thus exceed.
ing the Mont Gents tunnel BY II
miles. It took rs seventeen minutes
to reach the other end. the scenery
along the way being exactly the same
as in any other tslnssi. had heard
so much about the s.. Gothard that
somehow expected it to Be different
from all others. but ! must confes.
chat ! found it to be a great bore.
Where We entered tho tunnel on
the south side Of the mountain tbs
snow Law about us q foot deep ON ths