Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-08-25
JOURNEYlNGS ABROAD.
Zennalt and Lovely GrindelwOld
Pictured.
snow Capped Mountains and Cor
geOus Glaciers - Perlt0us Trips
Parts Reached and Something sand
OF IL.
,ciaI Corresrondence 10 the AReUs:

| PARIS, Aug. Ill left YOU at Zennait,
and had neglected to speak of lovely
Grindelwold, valley abo2e- lnterla chen
1000 feet. where snow. capped nouns
tains abound and TWO glaciers claim at
tention of all tourists. The greater
glacier is reached in two hours on foot
or by mule, and one goes directly to its
| very base, where an enterprising citizen
has cut long passage two hundred to
three hundred feet into its bowels, ends
ing in large cave where light is kept
burning. As you pass through water
drips on you from vast assures in the ice;
streams run down by your feet, and
the colors of green and blue are gorgeous
beyond description. Grindelwold is "a
small hamlet reached by t. steep noun
tain railway, but 1t has large hotels and
is II favorite place of resort for tourists
with its lovely views Of snow-cov-
cred peaks. But the visit TO Zenualt is
the browning point of Swiss travel Here
one goes up on foot or by mule from the
| valley 1000 feet to Cover Graf TO-
200 feet. The path is very steep in many
places, and for the last mile or so stony,
with great beds OF snow, even in August
| The Cover Graf is a small plateau on an
abrupt precipice, from which point in
| every direction you are surrounded by
snow peaks whose lofty SUBMITS rise fur
above you. while all around you at your
feet are vast valleys of snow with glas
ciers, which for age after age the sun has
| never subdued-a scene of most awful
sublimity and grandeur. Here in full
view OF the Matterhorn, the Weisshorn.
the Briohthorn, Monte Rosa and dozens
of other mountain peaks wrapped in
eternal snow, whose vast bases lie around
your feet in awful magnticence. no de-
scription can convey any adequate idea
OF the scene. There is nothing in the
world like it, and once seen il can never
be forgotten. Two good Notes.-The
Rifle Alp and the Riff. house-are
passed on the way down; Jolly run it is,
and carriage at once takes back 10 ST.
Nicholous for the night An early ride on
II mule the next morning over the eight
miles of rough mountain path brings us
10 the railway at Stolden. At l O'Clock
p. IN. we GO To bed at Mortiguey thor
oughly tagged out with two days over
the Geneive and Zennalt The next
morning early we take carriags for a
ten hours drive, over and up, ever up
and up TO Chamonix, charming drive
over fine mountain road. with two
hours incoming with cascades and rocks,
valleys and mOuntains-cnildren along
the road Offering cherries and currants,
peaches and plums. buck leberries and
apricots, with flowers for sale in
snug little home made baskets of
green twigs. and tourists or foot and in
carriages everywhere coming and going.
am surprised at the number of persons
who travel on foot, so many women and
girls. English and German. They climb
the longest and steepest mountains day
after day and week after week apparently
without fatigue, and come up To the hotel
as fresh as a mountain blossom The
luggage is sent on by mule or carriage
and they appear at the table d'hotel in
fresh muslin and laces, bright faces with
the bloom of peach. Some more deli>
cate women ride over the mo untsin passes
in chair carried by four men. The chair
is like bier with seat and rope foot rest
with the four projecting handles. How
the carriers can do it can't understand,
up and down these steep and stony noun
tain paths. | saw one chair come in at
Saint Nicholous 10 O'Clock At night and
after a supper of coffee, bread and cheese,
the carriers started back the same night
for Xalden, eight miles over the hardest
and toughest road we have ridden The
price of chair over this course is only
sixteen francs, four francs eighty cents)
to man. There was an Euglishman on
foot, his wife in chair and daughter on
a mule, and | saw this man give the four
carriers as gratuity, enc franc five
cents to a man. How's thati AT Cham
onix one goes up on foot or by mule
We go by mule 80 the great Mer de Glace,
the combined glaciers of Mt. Blanc and
other mountains. The path up is steep
and often very stony with lovely back
ward views of the valley o. Cnamouix
and mountains in every direction. Mt.
Blanc stares you in the face on the sum-
init of the plateau and good hotel offers
refreshment. We cross the bier de Glace
with guide, about a mile wide. with im>
mense assures in the ice fifty feet and
more in depth. One goes up and down
these little mountains of ice, around on
the ridge, in fact you twist and turn in
every direction to get across, sometimes
putting your feet into steps cut in the ice,
sometimes passing along the narrow
ridge OF ice; now ascending and again
descending till you land on the other side
vast rocks lie everywhere, or the glacier
and about its sides. The crushing and
grinding is ever going on today as for
ages past and the awful power of this vast
serpent of ice is overwhelming. The
mules can be sent around to the other
side for "tender. feet; ours are sent
around to meet us at the foot of
the glacier. so we walk along the
steep side of the opposite mountaln-a
rough path is is the toughest and most
dangerous of our jurney. The "Manvois
Pas" it is called, and we'll named, too,
it is, an awful precipice along which you
walk on the face of the noun tain
now ascending and again descending,
with just footing cut in the rock for one
foot at a time. while clinging to an iron
rail fastened to the rock. passing frequent
and beautiful waterfalls and mountains
looking down on the great glacier hum
hreds of feet below, with its tremendous
assure and enormous bOulders of stone
which it carries on its icy bosom to the
valley below. After such an experience
the mules bring us safely to the hotel
when the driver is ioyously welcomed and
enter with profound thanksgiving.
Chamonix Is small place in a lovely
valley with the finest views and excur~
sIons, great many big hotels all fur
nished in elegant style. electric bells. etc. !;
in fact all the hotels we have visited even
in the lonely valley at Kanderstegg were
furnished in the same way. The ride in
the Diligence, from Chamonix to Cluses
with five horses, is all down hill, finest
road and perfect scenery of ever changing
beauty, fields of grass and grain, fruit of
every kind. and happy looking, though
hard working people, with the Glacier
river even alongside the road singing its
peace OF release from icy bonds.
From Cluses to Geneva nv all ia with /.