Recommendations for an Advanced Search

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

THE PLATES CONTAINED IN VOLUME THE FIRST. PASS OF Tins LITTLE ST. BERNARD. 1. Scene near La Tullio. Title Vignette. 2. Vale of’ Gresivaudan, from t.lve Chateau ' Bayard. 3. The Roclie Blanche. 4. Scene from the Little Saint. Bernard, looking towards the Tarentaise. Colonne do .Ions, and Hospice of the Little Saint. Bernard. d. Mont. Blanc, from the Baths of St. Didier. 7. Mont Blanc, and the Val d’Aosta above Fort. Roc. i 8. Ascent of the Little St. Bernard from the Tarentaise. Bud Vignette

Devil’s Bridge- Title Vignette. 2. Bcllinzona, from Sementina. 3. A irò Io and the Val Levantine. 4. Ponte Tremola. 5 . The Summit of the Pass of the St. Gotbard. fi. Scene in the Valley of the Rcuss, above Gosehenen. 7. Toll’s Chapel, from the Lake of Uri. 8. Toll’s Tower, Alters. End Vignette. 9. Map of the Route from the Lago Mag giore to the Lake of Uri. PASS OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD. 1. Hospice of the Great Saint Bernard. Title Vignette. 2. The Valley of the Rhone above Mar- tigny. 3. Scene

in the Forest of St. Pierre. 4. Lake of the Great Saint Bernard, from the Hospice. 5. Descent from the Great Saint Bernard on the side of Italy. 6. The Valley and City of Aosta, from the Château Quart.. 7. Château of Saint Germain, from the Defile of Mont, .lovet. 8. Gate of Bourg Saint Pierre. End Vig nette. 9. Map of the Route from Martigny to Ivrea, by the Great Saint Bernard. PASS OF TJIE STELVIO. 1. Galleries in the Wurmscr-loch. Title Vignette. 2. The Vale of Meran, from the old Castle of Tyrol

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 101 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

ROUTE FROM MARTIGNY TO IVREA BY THE PASS OF THE GREAT SAINT BERNARD. There is no passage of the Alps which affords to the traveller greater pleasure, either in the enjoyment or the recollection of his journey to Italy, than that by the Great Saint Bernard; for besides the wildness of this Alpine pass, and the beauty of the valley of Aosta, through which the road to Turin continues after it leaves the mountains, the kind reception which he expe riences from the religious community at the hospice

, on the summit of the Saint Bernard, is remembered as long as he can be grateful for the devotion which induces these excellent men to offer to the traveller their welcome, and spread for him their hospitality in the wilderness. The road which conducts to the Pennine Alps, or the Great Saint Bernard, from the valley of the Rhone, commences near the confluence of this river with the Drance, at Martigny, a town of importance in early history, as Octodurum, the capital of the Veragri, a people of the

Valais, against whom Sergius Galba was sent by Julius Caesar to check the outrages and rob beries which they, together with the Nantuates who inhabited the valley below Saint Maurice, and the Seduni, a people of the Valais between Visp and Sion, committed upon the merchants who, even at this early period, traversed the Pennine Alps*. * It is highly probable that the passage by the Great Saint Bernard was not the only one guarded by Galba, though Octodurum was his head-quarters in commanding the

Pennine Alps; for this name was given to the range of mountains from the Great Saint Bernard to the Simplon, which includes the passes from Italy into the Valais which are above the station of Galba, those of the Simplon and NO. V. L

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 110 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

territories of the Veragri extended to the summit of this pass, which was the barrier between them and the Salassi, a people of the Val d’Aosta. On this mountain, Livy states that the Ve ragri worshipped a god of the Alps, Penninus, or Jupiter Penninus, and one of the earliest names for this passage of the Alps, was Mons Jovis, or Mons Jovis Penninus ; this was gallicised into Mont Joux, by which it was generally known before it acquired that of Saint Bernard. The first foundation 1 of the

hospice has been attributed by some to Louis the Débonnaire, by others to Charlemagne, whose uncle Bernard, an illegitimate son of Charles Martel, led a division of the invading army of Charlemagne over the Great Saint Bernard, when he went to attack Lombardy. The present name of the pass, Saussure supposes, might have been derived from this Bernard ; but there was another of the name, an illegitimate son of Pepin, to whom Charlemagne left the king dom of Italy. To him may rather be attributed the

original establishment of the hospice, from the interest which he would have in preserving the communication with Gaul by this pas sage of the Alps, and with it have given his name, for there is historical evidence that a monastery existed on the Great Saint Bernard before the year 851*; but its history at this period is obscure, because in the year 890 it was devastated by Arnaud, who destroyed the monuments and records. The present hospice was founded in 962, by Bernard, who was bom of a noble family

an earlier abbé of this convent, Vnltgaire, in 832 ; and the annals of Bertin state, that Lothaire the Second, king of Lorraine, in 859, made a treaty with his brother, the emperor, Louis the Second, by which he ceded to him Geneva, Lausanne, and Sion, but reserved particularly l’Mspital du Saint Bernard, which proves, says Saussure, the importance of this passage, and the name which it bore.

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 16 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

THE LITTLE SAINT BERNARD. 13 Toad cut out of the rock is carried high on the right bank by : Fort Roc, a place admirably adapted for the defence of the passage : deep chasms are left covered only by platforms, which may be readily removed, and the road thus rendered impassable : at present, strong railings or walls defend the traveller from the danger of falling over the precipices into the gulf below. The scenes in this part of the valley are very wild and grand, par ticularly on looking

should have been allowed to remain a mule road from Bourg Saint Maurice to Pré Saint Didier. The Çol of-the Little Saint Bernard is not much higher than that of either of the great passes mentioned, whifat ; the facilities offered by this route to the engineer and the Traveller are! considerably greater than those found on either of Buonaparte’s roads into Italy. , It is said that Napoleon had directed surveys of the Little Saint Bernard to be made, with the intention, of constructing a great road

- * Plate the sixth. + Sausstire says, speaking ®f the Little Saint Bernard, “ Ce passage des Alps est un des plus facile que'je counoisse.*’

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 111 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

the hospice on Mont Joux, of which he became the chief. He founded at nearly the same time the hospice on the Little Saint Bernard, and gave to them the name, and placed them under the protection of his favourite saint, Nicolas de Myre, as tute lary patron of these establishments ; by degrees the name of the devotee was joined to that of the saint, and after the canoniza tion of Bernard, his name superseded that of all others, and has continued attached to the hospice since 1123. The attempt

of Constantine to destroy the worship of Jupiter had not entirely succeeded, but Saint Bernard rooted out the remains of pa ganism, and founded an establishment for active benevolence to which thousands have been indebted. He died in 1008, after having governed the convent upwards of forty years. F or some time after the death of Saint Bernard, the hospice was exposed to frequent outrages, from barbarians who traversed the mountains; and its records of the eleventh century present a succession of calamities

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 2 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PASSES OF THE ALPS, nv which ITALY COM AI 1'XIC’ A TILS WITH FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, AND GERMANY. HV WILLIAM BROCKEDON, MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AT FLORENCE. VOLUME THE FIRST ; CONTAINING THE LITTLE SAINT BERNARD, THE MONT GENÈVE E, THE MONT CENIS, THE MONT SAINT GOTHARD, THE GREAT SAINT BERNARD, A N » THE MONTE STELVIO. LONDON: !m:!n'tt:o roit THE AUTHOR, 11, CAROLINE STREET, BEDFORD SQUARE; AND SOU) T!V JIOD WKI.I., XKW ROND ST FEET ; . and a. Alien, coKNim.i

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 116 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

The descent from Fort Bard to Donas is short but steep, and cut out of the rock as at the defile of Mont Jovet, an arch of rock which has been cut through, a Roman work, still remains. This part of the road is one of the points of evi dence which has been strongly urged in support of the opinion that Hannibal passed by the Great Saint Bernard. The tradition is preserved among the inhabitants that Hannibal passed through this valley, and some early historians state that an inscription on the

side of this road cut in the rock was seen by them. Luitprand, a bishop of Cremona, in the tenth cen tury, says, that he saw entire transitus annibalis ; and Paul Jovius says, that “ there are letters shown, which are en graved upon the rocks at Barr, a monument of Hannibal hav ing passed that way.” Such an inscription no longer exists but if this evidence be satisfactory of the passage of Hannibal here, it by no means confirms his passage by the Great Saint Bernard, for it applies with equal force

to the passage of the Little Saint Bernard, which also leads into Italy by the Val d’Aosta. From Donas the road descends to Saint Martins, a town surrounded by high rocks, and where a bold and lofty arch crosses the torrent which descends from the Monte Rosa by the Val de Lys. Here the valley of Aosta may be said to terminate; the mountains lower, the hills slope down into the plains of Italy, and after passing through Setto Vittone, the traveller arrives at Ivrea, whence roads branch off to Milan

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1829

¬The¬ Cornice, the Grimsel and the Gries, the Bernardin and the Splugen, the Brenner, the Tende and the Argentière, and the Simplon.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 2)

Page 153 of 164

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

Location mark: III 83.717/2

Intern ID: 333560

subject. This led him into such errors as those of supposing the site of an encampment of 30,000 men to have been where 500 could not be drilled! —the existence of a market town, the Forum Claudii, on the Great Saint Bernard!!—and such a view of the plains of Italy, that Hannibal pointed them out to his soldiers, and shewed them “ through clouds immediately under their feet, the very position of Rome itself, at the distance of 400 miles, in some bright ray issuing from a distant cloud

Saint Bernard, and generally of the entrance to the Alps by the Mont du Chat.* Since M. Deluc’s work appeared, two English gentlemen, Messrs. Wickham and Cramer, have traversed the Alps by every route which has been conjectured to be that of Han nibal, and their " Dissertation on the Passage of Hannibal over the Alps” (London, 1828), is so conclusive, that the author, who has three times visited the Little Saint Bernard, cannot conceive how any one acquainted with the Alps, and especially with that

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 12 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

THE LITTLE SAINT BERNARD. 9 with its grand glaciers of the Miage and the Brenva, which appear to stream from its sides, the Great Saint Bernard, the high summits of the Cervin and Mont Rosa, the immense glacier of the Ruitor extending sixteen leagues, the Mont Iseran, and a thousand intermediate peaks, would be presented in magnificent succession. A similar scene may be observed from the Valaisan, but this is more difficult of access. The mountain on the north-west of the Hospice, the Belle

-face, is still more difficult to climb, and the scene from its height does not repay the trouble of attaining it, as the finest object, Mont Blanc, is concealed by the intervention of the mountain of the Bottomless Lake. From no part of the passage of the Little Saint Bernard or the surrounding mountains can the " plains of the Po ” be seen, which Polytijus says Hannibal pointed out to his army to re-animate them after the fatigues of their march and ascent. This stumbling-block in the

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 17 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

sarily lead to Turin. The objection does not apply to this, which conducts directly to the capital by the Val d’Aosta; and as both sides of the Little Saint Bernard are within the territory governed by Sardinia, the subjects of this state, in the event of the pass being opened by a good road, would be the people chiefly benefited: there are already excellent roads from Chamberry to St. Maurice, and from Courmayeur to Turin. A diligence goes regularly from Chamberry to Moutiers, and every

a defence of the opinion which the author feels himself entitled to hold, that the passage of Hannibal was by the Little Saint Bernard. He has read every work upon the subject to which he could get access, and traversed the Alps by twenty-four different passes into Italy: these passes include every route by which the various theorists have led the Car thaginian army, and all by which it was possible for that army to have crossed the Alps; and these researches and examina tions have induced the

conviction, that the Pass of the Little Saint Bernard alone is that by which, according to the account of Polybius, Hannibal led his army into Italy.

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 7 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

from Moütiers the road passes by the hot and mineral baths of Brida, or, as they are called in the old records of Savoy, La Perrière :* they are now much resorted to by invalids. The'temperature of the water is about 96° of Fahrenheit, and it- contains about a 140th part of saline matter, fi On leaving Moutiers, to pursue the route to the Little Saint Bernard, the Isere is still ascended, but in another direction, nearly parallel to the road from Montmelian to Conflans : for a short distance

mountain side, which.abruptly descends to the river, is clothed with pines, which now prevail , among the foliage; and the mountains of the Little Saint Bernard close the vista. After passing the villàge of Centron, the traveller enters, near the middle of the valley, the old town of Ayme, formerly the Forum Claudii of.the Centrones : it is rich in Roman in scriptions and; other evidences of early importance : the road passés through it, and continues to Bourg St. Maurice. The plain in;which this town

is.situated extends itself beyond Scez, up the valley of. the Isere, which is a wider and more obvious route to a passage by the Alps than that which leads by the valley of the Reclus, as it presents the course.of the larger stream; and the traveller is not at first prepared for the true road, by the Reclus, to the Little Saint Bernard, because this turns off to the left from Scez by a lateral valley, through which it flows into the Isere. Formerly a path led by the tight bank of the Reclus; but an ill

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 8 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

THE LITTLE SAINT BERNARD. now conducts, on the other side, by Notre Dame des Neiges and Villars, to the Roche Blanche;* at the foot of which the river is crossed by a good bridge, and the road winds up the moun tain, by a tolerable mule path, to Saint Germains, the last village of the Tarentaise. The Roche Blanche is a vast mass of gypsum, appearing to close the valley of the Reclus,, which struggles amongst the rocks at its steep base: its summit is covered with pines ; and, as a military

position, its occupation* secures the defence of the pass, whilst its o§pupants might march from its summit to the Coif of the Little Saint Bernard, without again descending, as the mass of exposed gypsum, which gives name to the rock, is protruded, like a headland from the mountain, at the upper end of the little plain of Villars. ? The Roche Blanche is a remarkable feature in this passage, not only from its geological character, but from its historical connexion with the invasion of Italy by Hannibal

with his army, and fought a battle here.” Tradition is good collateral evidence, though of little value alone. On many other passes of the Alps the name of Han nibal has been left by inquirers into this interesting subject, and become familiar to the peasantry. The Viso, the Cenis, the Genbvre, and the Grand Saint Bernard, have their traditions; and even on the snows and glaciers of the Cervin, the author was told by his guide that the fort of St. Theodule, situate on that mountain, was built

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 9 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

Th%^ditiOns, however, of ige of Hannibal by the Little SaÉînt Bernard assume a higher character; they are not passes o ‘S, confined to the pass of the mountain, but may be traced on this routé from the Rhone to Turin. The old Roman road over the Graian Alps passed to the right of the Roche Blanche ; at present, a modem path on the other side, through Saint Germains, conducts by an easy ascent above the village to the “Hospice and plain of the Col:* the heavy snows which fall here in winterihave

of the mount Iseran, com bine to form a fine Alpine scene, f The Hospice on the summit is on the brink of the descent to the Tarentaise : bread, butter, and cheese, sometimes meat, which they incur as they would at an inn. It was formerly held by some monks from the Great Saint Bernard, whose cells and little chapel are now in ruins; these have been left so since the year 1794, when, during the wars of Italy, France poured her republican soldiery through the defiles of the Alps. The sunn-nit of the

Little Saint Bernard was then the site of some military operations not surpassed by any deeds of daring in those regions; but though they want the mystery and Saint Germains, the side of the Roche Blanche hanging over gratis; but those who can afford to pay, discharge the expenses and always wine, by a man and his stationed there b the year: he is di lere. In 1824 it was occupied wily of hardy children. He is a government, and remains all I and relieve the poor traveller

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 105 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

THE GREAT SAINT BERNARD. 5 Velan is a fine object. Beyond the plain of Prou, the valley is ascended by a steep and dangerous path where the traveller is exposed to avalanches during the winter and spring. It is here that many of the victims to the storms of these regions are found, and two chalets have been built, the one to shelter the living, the other as a receptacle for the dead. These chalets are called l’hôpital. This spot is regularly visited in the dan gerous season, by the brethren

of the convent, their servants, or their dogs, to search for and assist unfortunate travellers, and to leave some refreshment at one of the chalets. Before arriving at the convent, the traveller recrosses the river on the pont de Nudri, and then ascending by an abrupt path traverses a bed of snow, which few seasons are favourable enough to melt ; here the roof of the convent is visible, and in ten minutes he receives the cheerful and welcome reception of the monks of Saint Bernard at their dwelling

Chenelletaz and Mont-Mort, for the name of Saint Bernard, like that of the Saint Gothard, is given to the passage, and not to any parti cular mountain. The chief building is capable of accommo dating sixty or eighty travellers with beds ; three hundred may be assisted and sheltered, and between five and six hundred persons have received assistance in one day. Besides the chief building, there is a house on the other side of the road which is generally used as an establishment for the domestics f. * The

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 112 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

Bernard to seek even eleemosynary assistance. The very land upon which their noble duties are performed has been the subject of disputes between the neighbouring states. Sardinia claimed it as within a frontier-extending to the bridge of Nudri, on the northern side; but the Valaisans established a claim to it as within the diocese of . Sion, by bulls of the popes from Leo IX. to Benoit XIV. The hospice, therefore, stands within the canton of the Valais; but its authority extends only to the middle

of the lake, on the borders of which a column is fixed as a line of demarca tion; and the excellent brethren of Saint Bernard had not only all their property within the state of Sardinia taken from them, but they are actually taxed by this state for the use which they make of the summer pasturage of the vacherie. Very little property in land still belongs to the hospice ; a vineyard at Clarens *, and a farm at Roche, in the Pays de Vaud, are the principal; these resources are small, and in aid

so important to humanity. * The 22d note of the Third Canto of Ckilde Hamid, contains, to the disgrace of Lord Byron, a sneer at the establishment on the Saint Bernard, for having, he says, cut down the “ Bosquet de Julie”—" with brutal selBshness that the ground might be inclosed into a vineyard for the miserable drones of an execrable superstitionhe would thus for the sake of Rousseau set the worthlessness of this " Bosquet” against the utility and value of a vineyard, the most valuable sort of property

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 104 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

Bourg Saint Pierre is a village of great antiquity, in proof of which numerous relics and inscriptions are preserved there *. A fine cascade in the neighbourhood is an object usually visited by travellers. On leaving the village, to ascend the valley, the road passes through an old gatef which is situated on the brink of a ravine of great depth, across which a bridge is thrown: its re moval would render access to Saint Pierre extremely difficult on the side, of the Great Saint Bernard. Beyond

the village the valley assumes a character of wildness and savage grandeur. In the forest of Saint Pierre the path winds among old pines and larches, and over and between rocks, which prohibit all means of passing except to the foot of the traveller or his mule; and, beyond the forest, the plain of Prou is seen bounded by lofty mountains, glaciers, and the highest peak of the Saint Bernard, the Mount Velan J; the river passes at too great a depth beneath the traveller’s feet to be heard, and the

always sent for the night to the nearest station, usually Saint Remy, on the side of Piedmont. « Among these is a military column dedicated to the younger Constantine, which, de Rivas says, replaced a statue of Jupiter that was on the summit of the pass of the Great Saint Bernard, but which was destroyed by Constantine about the year 339. t End vignette. t Plate the Second. § Of that great event, one incident, in which Napoleon had a narrow escape, may be mentioned here: in a dangerous part of the

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 115 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

precipitous side of the rocks, was an early work of the Romans, but subsequently widened and improved, at a great expense, by the monks of Saint Bernard, to facili tate the communication with their mountains, the access to the mineral springs of the valley, and the baths of Courmayeur. An inscription cut in the rock records this service. About a league and a half below the defile of Mont Jovet, is the town of Verres, thence the road continues along the banks of the Doire, and among scenes of great

richness and beauty to Fort Bard, where the valley narrows rather suddenly, and the course of the river is through a gorge formed by vast rocks which block up the valley, and renders Fort Bard a military position of great strength-j-. * Plate the Sixty. t When the army of Italy, on its way from the passage.of the Great Saint Bernard, to reap the laurels of Marengo, arrived at Fort Bard, it was checked by an Austrian garrison of four hundred men. The strength of the position maybe conceived by the

number placed there to defend it. This check, if effectual, would have been fatal to the French army; its rations would have been exhausted in a few days, and sufficient supplies by the Great St. Bernard were hopeless. Buonaparte’s im patience and inquietude was excessive. He ordered an assault, the town was entered, but the street terraced out of the rock, through which the route lay, was commanded almost within pistol- shot by the fort. The most daring attempts by the French grenadiers to take the

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 102 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

which were practised upon the people during the long struggle of the bishops of Sion for temporal power against the feu dal lords of the Valais. The scene from the old castle of Mar- ' tignyis very fine, particularly looking up the valley of the Rhone*. In this direction the view extends to the Mount Saint Gothard; down the valley the scene is bounded by the Jura, and in the direction of the mountains of the Great Saint Bernard, the eye commands the town of Martigny, and the estuary of the Drance

. To ascend to the pass of the Great Saint Bernard, it is neces sary, after leaving the inn at Martigny, where travellers usually rest, to traverse the Bourg, a narrow dirty village about half a league distant. A little beyond this place the river Drance is crossed, and the road proceeds along its left bank. Soon after passing the river, a path on the right leads over the Forclaz to the Mont Moro. This Alpine pass lies between Visp in the Valais and the Val Anzasca in Piedmont, and the remains of an old

Ictymuli, which forbad their employing more than five thousand men in the gold mines; this is evidence of an important commerce in their valley, which probably led to frequent communication with the people of the Valais. Without admitting this, it is difficult to understand why Galba should have attacked the Seduni as well as the Veragri, and have taken many of their forts. They could not have offered any interruption to travellers by the Great Saint Bernard as they were a people of the Valais far

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1829

¬The¬ Cornice, the Grimsel and the Gries, the Bernardin and the Splugen, the Brenner, the Tende and the Argentière, and the Simplon.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 2)

Page 136 of 164

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

Location mark: III 83.717/2

Intern ID: 333560

the plan of a hospice was laid out and commenced ; but little beyond raising the walls above the foundation was accom plished ; its plan extended to two hundred feet long, seventy feet wide, and three stages high. It was proposed to place there fifteen persons, monks and domestics, and the establish ment to have been a dependence upon the Great St. Bernard ; but it has been delayed or relinquished. There is, however, in the plain, on the right of the present route, an hospice, a singular

-looking building, where travellers, overtaken by storms, or having met with accidents, are received by two or three brothers of the Great St. Bernard. After passing the Old Hospice, the plain narrows to a valley ; and having crossed, the torrents which descend from the Rosboden, the traveller enters the village of Simplon, situated 4840 feet above the level of the sea. A very com fortable inn in the village offers rest and refreshment; and on arriving late from either side of the mountain

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1829

¬The¬ Cornice, the Grimsel and the Gries, the Bernardin and the Splugen, the Brenner, the Tende and the Argentière, and the Simplon.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 2)

Page 151 of 164

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany

Location mark: III 83.717/2

Intern ID: 333560

With reference to the passage of Hannibal, the result of the author’s examination and inquiry has left upon his mind the most perfect conviction, that it was by the Pass of the Little St. Bernard, and that it is to this pass only that the description of Polybius can apply. The adoption of this author’s history of the event, as the sole authority upon the subject, has been induced by. his declaration, that he made journeys in the Alps expressly to retrace the steps of Hannibal. These journeys

these coincidences are found on the Pass of the Little St. Bernard, and on no other. Various authors have supposed a different line of march, but they have either taken Livy as authority, or attempted a -reconciliation of Livy with Polybius : this, however, is im practicable, for Livy is so inconsistent with himself, that an actual examination of the Alps, upon the route which he states to have been the pass of Hannibal — the Mont Genevre — is at Variance with his own description ; whilst the

Books

Category:

Geography, Travel guides

Year:

1828

¬The¬ Little Saint Bernard, the Mont Genèvre, the Mont Cenis, the Mont Saint Gothard, the Great Saint Bernard, and the Stelvio.- (Illustrations of the passes of the Alps ; Vol. 1)

Page 106 of 150

Notations: Illustrations of the passes of the Alps : by which Italy communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany