Instead of following the high-road to Locle, the pedestrian may take a foot-path (a walk of six hours) across the hills to the Saut du Doubs, or waterfalls of the Doubs-the river which separates Switzerland from France. It here traverses one of those singular gaps or rents in the rock, between 300ft. and 400ft. deep, which are common in the Jura. Numerous mills are turned by the force of the stream. Some large fragments of rock, which have fallen into the bed of the river, dam it up partly, and form what is called the Lac des Brennets. The scene is wild, and has been compared to a Welsh landscape, but its beauty has been exaggerated. Brennets is about 3 miles from Locle.

There is a carriage-road direct from Chaux de Fonds to

1 Locle-(Inn: Trois Rois)another scattered village, occupied by an industrious population of 5886 souls-the men chiefly watch-makers, the women lace-makers.

The little stream of the Bied, which traverses the valley, loses itself, at a short distance from Locle, in a chasm in the rock. This outlet, however, proved insufficient to drain the valley; and the district around the town was, in consequence, inundated at the season of the melting of the snows-and not much better than a morass at any time. To remedy this evil, a tunnel, 950ft long, was pierced through the screen of solid limestone-rock which encompasses the valley, and this now effectually carries off into the Doubs the previously stagnant waters.

At

a short distance from this artificial drain or emissary, and about a mile from Locle, the river disappears in a natural opening, sinking into the heart of the mountain, through a vertical abyss, more than 100ft. deep. This water-power, or privilege, as an American would call it, is not lost; but, in order to render it available, 3 or 4 mills have been constructed, one below the other, in

the cavernous cleft-each receiving, in turn, the stream which puts its wheels in motion. "You go down flights of broken and slippery stairs, cut in the rock, to these mills, placed one under another, in very frightful situations undoubtedly, but rendered more so to the imagination of the beholder from the circumstances of darkness and ignorance of the means by which the works are secured, by the noise, the unfathomable depth below," &c.-Simond.

There is another road from Locle to Neuchâtel by Chaux de Milieu, Les Ponts, the heights of La Tourne, and Courcelle.

108 stunden A diligence daily. At Pontarlier

(Inns: La Poste, good Lion d'Or)-the last town in France: an arrangement may be made with the postmaster to convey a carriage as far as Motiers, more than half way to Neuchâtel. The road first ascends by the side of the river Doubs, and through the pass of La Cluse, which may be called a mountain-gateway between France and Switzerland, to St. Pierre de Joux. The defile is commanded by the Château de Joux, situated on the summit of a precipice, at the foot of which the roads from Pontarlier and Salins, and those from Neuchâtel and Geneva, by Jougne, unite. This frontier-fort was the prison of the unfortunate Toussaint l'Ouverture, when treacherously carried off from St. Domingo by command of Napoleon. He ended his days here, some say by violent means; but the sudden transition from the climate of the tropics to that of the Jura sufficiently explains the cause of his death, without the need of violence.

Between the villages of Verriéres de Joux and

31 Verriéres de Suisse, the French frontier is crossed. The Customhouse regulations on this part of the French frontier are more than usually rigorous. In some places, there is a treble line of douaniers, which makes it advisable to have the luggage plombè at the first station. In some places the douaniers attend only during certain hours of the day, and persons arriving in their absence must await their return. Travellers should ascertain by previous inquiry what these hours are.

The country now becomes exceedingly romantic-the hills clothed with forests, the valleys carpeted with the richest verdure, and sprinkled with neat cottages in the picturesque style of architecture peculiar to the chain of the Jura and Alps. Cheese, nearly as good as that of Gruyeres, and sold under that name, is made on the upland pastures of the Jura.

The descent from the summit of the ridge into the Val Travers is through another narrow gorge, called La Chaine, because the passage was at one time stopped by a massy chain drawn across the road, and fastened to staples in the rock. This primitive fortification is said to be a relic of the Burgundian wars, intended to arrest the artillery of Charles the Bold.

At the village of St. Sulpice the river Reuse, which waters the Val Travers, rises out of the rock. This abundant source is said to be the outlet of the Lac d'Etalieres, situated about 10 miles off, among the hills.

3 Motiers Travers-(Inn: Maison de Commune)-is a village inhabited by watch and lace-makers, on the rt. bank of the Reuse, which has obtained some notoriety as the place of residence of Jean Jacques Rousseau after his banishment from Geneva. In the house occupied by him, his desk is shown, at which he wrote his celebrated" Lettres de la Montagne;" and up-stairs, in a wooden gallery, two peeping-holes, through which he could observe people out of doors

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without being seen himself. He quitted the place under the pretence of having been persecuted, and because the boys threw stones at his windows. During his residence here, Voltaire vented his bile against him in a satire, of which the following verses are a sample:

"Dans un vallon fort bien nommé Travers S'élève un mont vrai séjour des hivers, Son front altier se perd dans les nuages, Ses fondemens sont au creux des enfers. Au pied du mont sont des antres sauvages,

Du Dieu du jour ignorés à jamais.
C'est de Rousseau le digne et noir pa
lais;

Là se tapit, ce sombre énergumène
Cet ennemi de la nature humaine;
Petri d'orgueil et dévoré de fiel

11 fuit le monde et craint de voir le ciel."

The Val Travers is highly pic turesque. A few miles lower down it is bounded on the rt. by a remarkable mountain, called Creux de Vent, 4800ft. above the sea. "Its summit is hollowed out into a vast and profound cavity, 500ft. deep, surrounded by an amphitheatre of limestone rock from the top to the bottom." It is more than 2 miles in diameter. "At times when a change of weather is impending, the crater of the mountain is seen to become suddenly filled with a cloud of white vapour, working, and rising and falling with an easy but perceptible motion, until the whole hollow presents the appearance of an immense caldron of boiling vapour, which seldom rises above the edge. If any escape, it is by the opening towards the defile; and I have seen it repeatedly issue in a thin white line, and float gradually down the centre of the valley till imperceptibly diminished and dissipated."-Latrobe.

The echo produced by firing a gun within the Creux de Vent, is like a scattered fire of musketry, or a succession of discharges from a battery; and the hollow may be called the very cradle of the winds, which appear to be perpetually blowing from it.

La Clusette, near Brod, is a very

picturesque defile-the road hanging over the precipice. A steep ascent carries the road out of the Val Travers; and at the top of the ridge, nearly under the castle of

23 Rochefort, a beautiful view opens through the gap of the defile, over the lake of Neuchâtel, and the Alps along the horizon.

1 NEUCHÂTEL (Route 44).

ROUTE 50.

YVERDUN TO GENEVA, BY ORBE, WITH EXCURSION TO THE LAC DE JOUX.

153 stunden = 51 Eng. miles. The daily diligence performs the journey from Neuchâtel to Geneva in 16 hours.

2 Orbe-(Inn: La Maison de Ville)-a -a picturesque and ancient town of 1927 inhabitants, built on a hill nearly insulated by the Orbe, which is crossed by a bold arch. It was the Roman station Urbigenum, and a place of importance in the middle ages, under the Burgundian Kings, who had a Royal Castle here. The fair but cruel Brunehilde, Queen of the Franks, took refuge here, with her grand-daughter, but was soon put to death. The 3 sons of Lothaire I. met here, in 855, to divide his kingdom. In 1475 the Swiss took Orbe by assault; but the Castle, whose venerable and extensive ruins, especially the solitary towers of antique structure, are still a conspicuous object in the view of the town, made a lengthened resistance. The garrison yielding step by step, disputed the possession of each chamber, stair, and passage. The last remnant were pursued into a tower, which the Swiss set fire to, and the few who fell into their hands alive were thrown over the battlements. "The circular tower of the Castle, not unlike the celebrated Irish towers in construction, though of very different proportions, should be attentively examined."

There is a high-road into France

from Orbe, along the 1. bank of the Orbe, by Jougne and Salius.

About 2 miles above the town, near Mont Charand, is a cavern, with stalactites, called Grotte aux Fées; not far from it is a cascade of the Orbe.

An interesting excursion may be made from Orbe to the Lac de Joux.

The carriage-road thither turns away from the river at once, and proceeds through Romainmotier, under the singular mountain called Dent de Vaulion, to Le Pont, on the Lac de Joux. The vale of the Orbe is one of the most beautiful in the Jura, and the pedestrian may find a foot-path along its banks, up to its source, in the cliff below Pont.

Pont, a little village, named from a bridge across the channel which connects the Lac de Joux with the small Lac des Brennet, is the best head-quarters, as it has a tolerable inn. It is prettily situated, at the S. base of the Dent de Vaulion, one side of which is a sheer precipice of bare limestone 2000ft. high-the other a steep slope, or inclined plane, covered with verdant turf. It requires a steady head to look from the top over the verge of the precipice.

About 3 miles N. of Pont, and the same distance above Vallorbe, is the source of the Orbe, which rises at once a copious stream, supplied, it is supposed, by subterranean conduits from the Lac de Joux.

The valley in which the Lac de Joux is situated contains two other lakes, Le Ter and Brennet, and is entirely shut in by high hills; so that, although these sheets of water are fed by all the streams of the valley, they have no visible outlet above ground. There are, however, large cavities and orifices in the beds of these lakes, called entonnoirs, through which the waters escape. These fissures are sometimes rendered incapable of carrying off the waters from internal obstructions, and thus inundations are caused in the valley. A tunnel, of no very great extent, might drain

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The Museum contains a collection of second-rate pictures, and some very interesting relics of the middle ages. In it are also placed two very curious monuments of Jean Sans Peur and Philip le Hardi, Dukes of Burgundy, formerly in the Carthusian Church. They were taken down and pulled to pieces at the Revolution, but have been repaired "and restored with great skill. The alabaster figures of mourners by which they are surrounded are, perhaps, the finest specimens of sculpture of the sort now existing.

"There are some valuable private collections here, particularly one formed by the late M. Baudot, where, amongst other objects, may be seen the Bauble of the celebrated fraternity called 'La Mêre Folle.'

"A day may be well and agreeably spent in this fine city.' —P.

2 Genlis. This village is often mistaken for the residence of the celebrated Madame de Genlis ;-she, however, lived at another Genlis, in Picardy.

14 Auxonne-(Inn: Hotel du Grand Cerf)-—a fortress on the

Sôane.

cated; if discovered concealed, they are confiscated with a fine. From recent information (1838), it ap pears that watches may now be introduced by paying a duty of 4 fr. apiece.

1 La Vattay. In descending the mountain a sublime view is disclosed of the Alps, Mont Blanc, the lake of Geneva, and the intervening plain. There is another road to Geneva by St. Cergues (instead of Gex), “it branches off a little beyond Les Rousses, and is very preferable in every respect. This road has been made at a great expense by the Canton de Vaud within the last 10 years, and it is one of the finest works of the kind. In going from Geneva to Paris, it is particularly to be recommended, as the ascent is much less severe.

"Les Rousses to St. Cergues, 1 post; St. Cergues to Nyon.

"The traveller is recommended to mount the steep and picturesque streets of Nyon up to the fine old Château, once the seat of the Baillis de Nyon, in order to see the view from the Terrasse des Marroniers."

"St. Cergues is the spot from which the Dôle, the highest summit of this part of the chain of the Jura, can be most easily ascended. Mules and guides can be procured at the small inn of St. Cergues, which af fords tolerable accommodation for a night. The ascent of the Dôle from St. Cergues requires about three hours' march; but it is neither fatiguing nor dangerous. Perhaps there is no mountain in Switzerland which better repays the traveller for his fatigue; and no view more wonderfully extensive, and admirably diversified, than that which it commands."-R.

2 Gex. Ferney, Voltaire's residence (described in page 139), is passed 5 miles before reaching

2 GENEVA. (Inns Hotel des Bergues, a grand establishment, recently built, facing the lake-expensive. Charges-Table d'hote at 1, 3f.; at 5, 4f., including wine; dinner