¬The¬ Land in the mountains : being an account of the past and present of Tyrol, its people and its castles
perfectly well known at periods long antecedent to authen tic history, though it was left to the world-conquering Romans to apply that knowledge to really useful ends, by constructing roads across them. The history of the Brenner Pass is so closely interwoven with the story of the country itself in its earlier stages of development, that by presenting a picture of the Bren ner from the time when what is now Tyrol became the Roman province of Raetia, the leader will obtain a sufficiently comprehensive
insight into the country’s early history up to Charlemagne’s reign, when Tyrol, as we know it to-day, first begins to take shape. Though the difference in elevation between the Brenner and the only other pass over the Central Alps at all approaching it for lowness and ease, i.e., the Reschen Schei- deck at the head of the Vintsehgau,* is only a few feet, the Brenner offers such an infinitely more direct passage from Italy to Central Europe that the further advantage possessed by it in meteorological
respects gave it a * There is a curious variation in the heights of these two passes given by the best authorities. While the " Encyclopaedia Britannica^ the usually very correct Schaubach, and Egger in his Gcschichte Tirol s makes the difference only 7 or 8 ft., i.e., the Brenner 4588 ft. and the Scheideck 4596 ft. over the sea, Baedeker makes the altitude of the one 4485 ft. and of the other 4898, or a difference of 413 ft., while Amthor makes it in one place of his guide 132 and in the other 137
metres, or over 430 ft. Bonney, in Ms " Alpine Regions, gives the height of the Brenner as 4700 ft., but probably the first-named are the right elevations. Mr, Beaumont's wonderful barometer makes the Brenner Pass 3896 ft. above the city of Bozen, or 5 io 9 ft- above the sea !