Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-19

again crossing and recroesing the impetuous
Reuss. we at length reached the Urner Loeb, a
tunnel 20 yards in length cut through the solid
rock out OF which we burst into the broad.
valley lay the village Of Hospenthal where we
stopped to supply, by substantial meal, the
long-felt wants Of our inner man. Our road
now turned of to the left up valley more
barren and desolate, if possible, than that we
had passed through. Nothing was to be seen
but the omnipresent occasional native herding
goats and cattle. A number of old inns were
seen, deserted now, for since the completion
OF the st. Gotthard tunnel a few years ago the
road has fallen into comparative disuse, the
once considerable traffic Of goods and travel
ers now going by rail through the tunnel. We
had not seen anyone for some time, when
suddenly man appeared in sight from
behind some rocks and descended to the road,
by footpath as we afterward discovered. We
thought perhaps he was mountain pirate or
bandit swoopins down to purloin our mascot,
H. who led the van. So we closed up
the ranks and advanced with solid front to
swipe the bandit off the earth; but he proved
to be an innocent enough looking man when
we got near to him, and we laid aside our war
like preparations for the more peaceful
measure Of pumping him about the road and
other matters which our fertile minds sug-
gested We tried on him all the languages we
could muster, but in vain: neither could under
stand the other, and the conversation was
brought to an abrupt close by the .'bandit''
Struggling his shoulders and going about his
business
SLIDING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.
Aswe approached the summit of the pass
&c, 1856 feet above sea leveD we found scattered
patches of snow. Soon we reached the Hospice,
maintained by the cantonal government of
Ticino for the accommodation of poor travellers,
who are received gratuitously, and which, with
one or two inns, barns, &C., constitute a con-
siderable group OF buildings. We were now
literally precipitated into the valley beneath
by long series of steep terraces. The guide
book says there are twenty-eight. We did not
count them, but we know we thought we should
never reach the bottom. The very bad surface
Of the road, added to the sharp turns, made it
hands speedily became SO benumbed and stiff
with cold that we were obliged to dismount and
press spare stockings and handkerchiefs into
service as mittens.
A little beyond the foot of the mountain Law
the town of Airolo which. with the red-tiled
roofs and white walls of its buildings, looked
like toy village from the heights above.
Everything is now Italian, for we were in the
canton of TicinO, one of the two Swiss cantons
where Italian is spoken. Yet We generally
found some one who could speak French and
until we reached the Italian frontier at Chiasso
had little opportunity of exercising our knowl-
edge of Italian, which we had been storing up
with the aid of a pocket dictionary and phrase
book. Our road led down the picturesque val
ley of the Ticino river, then over Mt Cenere
to Lugano and along the shores of the lake of
that name; the surface good, and alto
gether made an exceedingly pleasant ending to
the most interesting portion of our tour, our
ride through Switzerland. Z. Z. S.