Route 76.-Glarus to Coire, by the Sernft Thal. passing through Riedern the traveller soon reaches the high road, and turning to the rt. ascends the Lintthal about a mile to 4 Glarus, in Route 72. ROUTE 76. GLARUS TO COIRE, UP THE SERNFT THAL. 13 stunden 433 Eng. miles. A char-road as far as Elm; beyond that a footpath, difficult and fatiguing. About 3 miles above Glarus the valley of the Linth divides into two branches. Out of the 1. or E. branch issues the Sernft: it is sometimes called Kleinthal, to distinguish it from the larger W. branch, or Linththal. At Enghi, the first village, there is no inn. Matt, another village, stands on the rt. bank of the Sernft and at the mouth of the minor vale of the Krauchthal, up which runs a path to Sargans, over the Reiseten pass, 7 stunden. The quarries in the Plattenberg, a mountain of grauwacke and clayslate on the 1. side of the valley, opposite Matt, furnish excellent slates for roofing or for writing. Most of the schools in Switzerland are supplied from hence; and the slate was formerly exported down the Rhine to Holland and the Indies. This slate is well known to geologists for the beautiful and perfect casts of fossil fish in which it abounds. The lower portion of the valley is unhealthy, as may be learned from the occurrence of goître and cretinism (those afflicted with the latter are here called Tölpel, 19); but the inhabitants of the upper extremity are a fine and hardy race. 4 Elm (where the inn is better than lower down) is the highest village in the valley. There is a way from Elm to the Baths of Pfeffers-a fatiguing walk of 13 hours. The path ascends the Unter-thal, crosses the ridge of the Ramin into the Weistannen Thal. There is a tolerable path as far as a 193 chalet on the E. slope of the pass; beyond this there is scarcely any trace of one, and the passage is not prac ticable for mules. From this chalet you turn to the S. of E., and cross 2 ravines into the Kalfeuser Thal, a mile or two below the source of the Tamina, which rises at the head of that valley, in the glacier of Sardona. The scenery of the Gorge of the Tamina is magnificently grand. The Kalfeuser Thal terminates at Vättis, at the foot of the Calanda-berg, where the river suddenly alters its course, and bends to the N. There is no village where refreshment or accommodation can be obtained between Elm and Vättis. At Elm the valley of the Sernft divides again, and minor paths ramify hence-1. Up to the head of the valley and over the pass of Panix, called in the language of the Grisons al quolm de Pejnu. I.; 2. The pass of the Segnes, which we propose to follow. Near the Tschingel is the Martinsloch, a singular hole or gap in the precipice, through which the sun shines 2 or 3 times in the year upon the village of Elm. Suwarrow, after the almost incre dible march detailed in the preceding route, remained like a stag at bay for 3 or 4 days at Glarus for the purpose of resting his wearied troops, though not a day was passed without skir mishes more or less severe with the enemy. At length, finding it hopeless to attack a French force now so greatly superior in numbers to his own, he adopted the tremendous, but only remaining, alternative of again leading his exhausted and diminished followers over the highest crest of the Alps, in order to rescue them from annihilation and enable him to unite himself with the scattered fragments of the Russian army in the Grisons. He broke up from his quarters on the 5th of October. The lateness of the season, the difficulties of the passage, and the vastly superior force pressing on the heels of his dispirited soldiers, rendered this a far more hazardous K 194 Routes 76, 77.—The Sernft Thal-Coire to Andermatt. enterprise than that which he had previously accomplished. The miserable path up the valley would barely admit 2 men abreast: along this the army painfully wound its way in single file. The difficulty of the ascent was greatly increased by a fall of snow 2 ft. deep; but, as though the hardships of the way were not enough, the indefatigable French, ascending the opposite bank of the Sernft, allowed the Russians no respite from their harassing assaults. Numbers lay down, exhausted from fatigue, to perish on the snow; many, slipping down the insecure fragments of slate, and along the rocks, polished by the frost, were hurled over the precipices and crushed in the abyss below, while the enemy's bullets were not slow in further thinning their ranks. After 5 days of toil and 4 nights of little repose, since they were spent on the bare surface of the snow and the glaciers, where many men were frozen to death, Suwarrow crossed the ridge of Panix, between 7000 and 8000 ft. above the sea, and on the 10th of October reached the valley of the Rhine at Ilanz. Even on reaching the descent into the Grisons many perished in attempting to eross the fearful chasm of the Araschka Alp. For months and months the foul birds and beasts of prey were gorged with their bodies, and the bones of many a warrior are still blanching in the crevices and ravines of the Jätzer. Thus terminated a march of 18 days' duration, perhaps the most extraordinary ever performed by an army incessantly engaged, fighting a battle almost every day, and obliged to traverse a country totally unknown and completely destitute of resources. This remarkable retreat was accomplished with the loss of all his artillery, the greater part of the beasts of burden, and of his men. The Segnes pass, the best way from Glarus to Coire, ascends a minor valley running in a S.E. direction behind the village of Elm. The height of the pass above the sea is 7500 ft. It is about 15 miles from this to the first village in the Grisons valley of Segnes. 43 Flims described in Route 77. 23 COIRE, in Route 67. ROUTE 77. COIRE TO ANDERMATT ON THE ST. = 20 stunden 65 English miles. The great post-road from Coire (Route 67), up the valley of the Rhine, is followed as far as 12 Reichenau (described in Route 87), where the waters of the Vorder and Hinter-Rhein unite. Thenceforward a cart-road, of the very worst kind, is the only mode of communication up the valley of the Vorder-Rhein, and will be, most probably, for some time to come, though a new carriage-road to Dissentis is promised in 3 years. The want of roads and of inns, the pothouses which supply their place being of the most inferior kind, has hitherto prevented this beautiful district being visited by travellers as much as it deserves. Quitting the highway, our cart-track strikes up the side of the hills on the 1. bank of the Rhine, to the village of Tamins, directly over Reichenau. For some distance the traveller enjoys a beautiful view up both valleys of the Rhine. The entrance of that of Hinter-Rhein, up which runs the road to the Splügen, is guarded by the castle of Rhætzuns, backed by villages and church-towers without number. Beyond Trins the road turns aside from the Rhine, and bends round a little monticule rising in the midst of the valley into a small sequestered basin, in the midst of which lies 2 Flims, a village 3360 ft. above the sea, named from the number of sources around it ud Alumina. Here the path to Glarus, by the Segnes Route 77.-Coire to Andermatt-Trons. Pass (Route 76), strikes off. After continuing some time out of sight of the Rhine, we join it again, after a steep descent, about 3 miles beyond Lax. 32 Ilanz (in Romansch, Glion or Ilon).-(Inn: Löwe, near the bridge. Latrobe calls it the cleanest, prettiest, and most unassuming inn he had seen since he left England.)-Ilanz is the only place in the valley deserving the name of town, and is the capital of the Graue Bund, or Grey League, p. 176. Its 568 inhabitants speak the Romansch, tongue, and this dialect prevails in a large portion of the valley. This place, situated on the rt. bank of the river, exhibits marks of poverty, though the country around is fertile; its walls are in a state of dilapidation. Ober Saxen, a village on the same side of the Rhine as Ilanz, and about 4 miles higher up, is German, while all the villages around it are Romansch. In its vicinity stand 4 ancient castles, now picturesque ruins, about 1 mile apart from one another. Their names are Mooreck, Schwartzenstein, Riedburg, and Axenstein. Before reaching Über Sax the road crosses the river, but again crosses to the 1. bank before arriving at Trons (in Rhotian, Tron)-(Inn : Casa Nuova?)-a village in a singularly-beautiful situation, at a little distance from the Rhine. Its 800 inhabitants are Catholics and speak Romansch. There are iron-works in the vicinity. Trons is chiefly remarkable, however, as the cradle of liberty among the Rhotian Alps, the Grütli of Grison history. Beneath the shade of the neighbouring forest the peasants met at the beginning of the fifteenth century to concert the plans of liberating themselves and their children from the oppression and slavery of their feudal lords, 3 or 4 of whose castles, now in ruins, may still be seen frowning down from the neighbouring crags. Near the entrance of the village stands the decayed but venerated 195 trunk of a Sycamore (Acer Pseudoplatanus: German, ahorn), now probably 6 or 7 centuries old, a mere trunk, cloven and hollow, beneath whose once spreading branches the deputies of the peasants met the nobles who were favourable to their cause, in March, 1424, and took the oath of fidelity to one another, and to their free constitution then established. Such is the origin of the GREY LEAGUE, Graue Bund, so called from the grey beards, or the grey homespun garb of the venerable assembly. Close to the sycamore-tree stands the little Chapel of St. Anne, whose portico is adorned with the mottoes "In libertatem vocati estis "" Ubi Spiritus Domini, ibi Libertas"-"In te speraverunt Patres"-and with two fresco paintings. One represents the first formation of the League, the principal figures being the Abbot of Dissentis, in the robes of his order; the Count of Sax, with a white flowing beard; and the Lord of Rhotzuns. other picture shows the renewal of the oath in 1778: the deputies here appear with starched frills, and hair powdered and frizzled; in silk stockings and walking-sticks. It is recorded that the deputies on the former occasion brought their dinners in sacks on their backs, which they hung up by nails to the rocks, while they quenched their thirst in the brook which traverses the meadow of Tavanosa. The more courtier-like deputies of the second meeting were more sumptuously feasted in the mansion of the Abbot. The The inhabitants of the upper part of the valley, about Dissentis, are Catholics, as will become apparent from the increased number of churches and crosses. The mountains which bound it change from limestone to primitive rocks, and give a different character to its scenery. Opposite Sumvix the valley of that name opens out; it stretches many miles S., far into the Alps. Beyond it the eye is arrested by the view of the abbey and village of 196 Route 77.-Dissentis—Obera’p. 21 Dissentis-(Inn: Rathhaus, bad)-The Benedictine Abbey of Dissentis (in Romansch Mustär, er Monster, from Lat. Monasterium) is venerable as one of the oldest ecclesiastical establishments in Switzerland, founded, it is said, by the Scotch Monk Siegbert, a companion of St. Gall, and as the nucleus of early civilization in this wild and remote country. It stands on the slope of a hill, protected by a forest above it from falling avalanches, on the 1. bank of the Vorder-Rhine, at the junction of the two Alpine torrents which unite in forming that branch of the river. The word venerable will not apply to the actual building, for, though dilapidated, it is modern, having been built since 1799, when the ruthless French invaders burnt it, and along with it the library formed in the seventh and eighth -centuries. It must be allowed that provocation was given for this act of vengeance, by the barbarous and cruel murder of a party of French soldiers, who had been disarmed and taken prisoners by the Swiss Landsturm, and who were here set upon by the infuriated inhabitants of this part of the valley, and literally cut or torn to pieces. The abbey has, however, an imposing appearance from its size and position, towering above the humble hovels of the village below, as its rich and powerful abbots, in the middle ages, lorded it above their vassals. They were at one time firm allies of the House of Habsburg, and the abbot and his banner occupied the van at the battle of Morgarten. At a later period however, 1424, Abbot Peter of Pontaningen was one of the founders of Grison liberty who met under the sycamore at Trons. Dissentis is situated at a height of 3700 ft. above the sea-level. There is a steep and difficult footpath hence over the Lukmanier to Bellinzona (Route 78), another up the Medelser-Thal, and thence down the Val Piora to Airolo, 10 stunden; a third, difficult and dangerous, runs N. over the Dödi-Grat, by the Sandalp, to the Baths of Stachelberg, Route 72. The path from Dissentis up to the Oberalp leaves the Medelser-Thal on the 1. and ascends the vale of Tavetsch by the 1. bank of the Vorder-Rhein, now reduced in breadth and volume to a mountain-torrent. The path passes the villages Mompetavetsch, Sedrun, or Tavetsch, the chief place in the valley, and Ruaras. A narrow gorge now leads out of the lower into an upper valley. This part of it is dreadfully exposed to avalanches. In 1808 one fell from the Ruenatsch upon the village of Selva, and killed 42 human beings and 237 head of cattle. Here begins the last and most difficult part of the ascent; all regular track disappears, and the numerous furrows worn by the feet of the cattle perplex the traveller, who will hardly be able to find his way without a guide. 4 Ciamot is the last village in the valley deserving that name, and provided with a church; it is 5000 ft. above the sea. The valley of Tavetsch is the cradle of the VorderRhine; it is supplied from 3 branches, having their sources in the vast mountains which wall in its upper extremity. The 1.-hand branch flows from the foot of the Crispalt, on the S. side of the valley, the middle from the glaciers of the Sexmadan (Cima) de Badus), the third comes from the Val Cornära on the S. At Ciamot the 1.-hand branch is crossed and the middle branch followed for about a mile, after which adieu to the Rhine; a constant ascent leads the traveller to the summit of the pass of the Oberalp, 6174ft. above the sea, by the cross between the Calmot and the Neugallas. On reaching the opposite declivity, a small lake, famed for its trout, lies at the foot of the traveller. This is the Oberalp-See, one of the head. waters of the Reuss, it is beset with bogs, across which the traveller must pick his way cautiously. This spot Route 78.-Pass of the Lukmanier. was the scene of a hard struggle between the French and Austrians, in 1799. The path winds along the N. or rt. side of the lake. The vale of Urseren, with Hospital in the distance, now opens out to view, and a long and wearisome descent, through a naked valley of pastures, brings the traveller to 31 Andermatt, on the St. Gothard, Route 34, p. 97. ROUTE 78. PASS OF THE LUKMANIER-DISSENTIS TO OLIVONE IN THE VAL BLEGNO. 10 stunden = 323 English miles. A foot-path, much frequented in summer. The valley of Medels, up which it lies, runs in a direction nearly due S. from Dissentis, and is traversed through its whole length by the Middle Rhine. The entrance to it is by a rocky and wooded gorge, about 2 miles from Dissentis, in the midst of which the Rhine forms two cascades, and beyond which the valley opens out into a wide basin, lined with pastures and forests, in the remoter parts of which the bear is still found, while the chamois abounds on the granite peaks forming the highest summits of the surrounding Alps. The path runs through Curaglia, or Kuragla. Plutta is the principal place in the Medelser Thal. Perdatsch is situated at the opening of the Val Cristallina, which runs in a S.E. direction, and sends forth one branch of the Middle Rhine. Another branch comes from the W. out of the Lake Dim, at the end of the Val Cadelina; and a third, between these two, issues from the foot of the Monte Scuro. 5 Sta. Maria, a hospice, kept up for the benefit of poor travellers, nearly on the culminating point of the Pass of the Lukmanier (in Latin, Mons Lucumonius; in Romansch, Lukmajn, or Quolm Sta. Maria), 5740 it, above the sea. It is said that the 197 army of Pepin passed this way A.D. 754. Poles, stuck into the rocks, mark the direction of the path across the Col. Paths branch off from the hospice to Airolo, through the Val Termini, or Val Forno, the Val Piora, by Altanca, Brugnasco, and Madrano: 5 stunden. The path to Olivone and the Val Blegno descends the Alpine Val Casaccia, to 2 The Hospice of Casaccia; and, a few miles lower, to that of 2 Camperio, both founded, it is said, by St. Carlo Borromeo, for the reception of travellers. 1 Olivone is the highest village in the Val Blegno, and stands at the point where the lateral valley of Casaccia joins it; it has about 740 inhabitants. The Val Blegno (Germ. Polenzerthal) is traversed by the stream of the Brenno; and a tolerable charroad has recently been formed along the 1. bank of the stream, from Olivone to Biasca, on the route of the St. Gothard (Route 34, p. 102), a distance of 4 stunden. Many of the chocolate-sellers and chestnut-roasters, who swarm in the streets of the cities of Italy, come from the Val Blegno. ROUTE 81. THE PRETTIGAU.-MAYENFELD TO FIDERIS AND DAVOS. Mayenfeld is an ancient walled town of 1200 inhabitants, on the rt. bank of the Rhine, but at a little distance from the river. It stands on the high-road from Bregenz to Coire, about 12 miles N. of the latter place. It is the chief town of the League of the 10 Jurisdictions (Zehngerichten-Bund). There is a cross-road direct from Mayenfeld to Malans, but it is better to follow the high-road as far as the Zollbrücke, and there to turn off on the 1. to Malans, a village of 1054 inhabitants, |