ROUTE 33.

THE JOCH PASS, FROM MEYRINGEN
TO ENGELBERG.

Distance about 10 hrs. This pass, though practicable for horses, and a good deal used, is high and steep. It is a fine pass, with considerable variety of scenery, commanding beautiful views of the Titlis. As far as Im Hof it is the same as Rte. 26.

That village is reached in 14 hr. from Meyringen. The road of the Susten is followed for nearly an hour to the junction of the torrent from the Gentel Thal with the Gadmenbach. A rapid ascent follows, till the pastures at the lower extremity of the Gentel Thal are reached, in which is a pure spring, very grateful after the hot ascent from Wyler. From this point the path continues on the rt. bank of the stream on a very gradual rise for 1 hour, and then crossing reaches the lower pastures of the Engstlen Alp. Another ascent of 14 hr. by a rough path, partly through pine forest, leads to Engsteln Alp Inn (about 6100 ft.), capital country inn; civil and intelligent landlord, often overflowing with guests. The position is a very fine one, and the views of the adjoining range of the Titlis, and of the Oberland Alps, magnificent. Many excursions may be made from hence, but the most interesting is the ascent of the Titlis. (See Rte. 31.) From this convenient starting-point it is not very fatiguing, and has been accomplished by English ladies. A practised mountaineer will easily reach the summit in 5 hrs. and return in 3, but it is well to allow ample time to enjoy the view from the top. The landlord will find good and cheap guides. Near to the Inn is a remarkable intermittent Spring, called Wunderbrunnen. It flows from spring to autumn, always running

from 8 A.M. to about 4 P.M., when it

ceases.

[An easy and beautiful pass called the Sättli (Little Saddle) leads hence in 4 hrs. to Gadmen (hr. extra should be allowed by those coming from Gadmen). The path skirts the rocks at the extremity of the Engstlen See, and thence ascends gradually to the summit (1 hr.); the view hence over the Thierberge, Triftenhorn, Sustenhorn, and the glaciers is very fine. On the Gadmen side the descent is so steep, that mules would be unable to pass, but they could go the whole of the reverse way, i.e. from Gadmen to the Engstlen Alp. The downward path takes a direction to the 1. and leads to a shepherd's hut (hr.). Here 2 roads diverge, one to the 1. leads to Obermatt and Stein (Rte. 32), the other, to the rt., to Gadmen and Im Hof. The remainder of the descent is rather less steep and is very picturesque, passing through fir-woods and over open fields commanding beautiful views of the valley, &c.]

There are two paths down to Engelberg, the horse-path, scarcely marked, leading to the I. of the Trüb See; the other and shorter one, only practicable on foot, continuing along a ridge in the direction of Engelberg for a short distance, and then descending abruptly on the rt. to a plain, on which, atm. on the left, is situated the Trüb See, fed by glaciers descending from the Ochsenberg on the rt. It is necessary to bear away to the rt.-hand extremity of this plain, where there is a gap, from which a very rough and precipitous path, called the Pfaffenwand, descends for 20 minutes over grass, and afterwards débris, to the pastures, crossing which it enters the forest for hour, and shortly reaches

Engelberg (Rte. 31).

Steamers 4 or 5 times a day from Lucerne, reaching Flüelen, and thence diligences (places in which must be secured in Lucerne or on board the steamer) start 2 or 3 times a day for Bellinzona in 15 hrs., Milan in 25. By the diligence some of the finest portions of the route are passed in the dark. From the coupé, which contains 3 places, something of the scenery may be seen; from the corner places in the interior, a very little; from the middle places, nothing whatever. single traveller may sometimes induce the conducteur to give him his place outside. The road is very dusty, so that this is not an unmixed advantage. There is no banquette.

A

The innkeepers on both sides of the pass undertake to forward travellers in post carriages, and with posthorses, for a fixed charge. From Flüelen

or Altorf the price of a carriage and 2 post-horses to Hospenthal is 30 fr., to Airolo 60, to Faido 75, to Bellinzona 100, to Magadino 115, to Lugano 125, and to Como 150 fr., not including the pour-boire of 2 fr. to the postilion at each stage, or the extra horses for crossing the mountain. These extras will amount to about 25 fr. more for the entire journey. It will save trouble to fix the entire amount before starting, and obtain a written agreement from the inkeeper to be shown at each stage. The service is well appointed. Lohnkutschers or vetturini abound at Flüelen, and some of them are generally on board the steamers looking out for custom. They perform the whole journey to Como for about 250 fr., including all charges, in 3 days, reaching Como on the 3rd, in time for the last rly. train for Milan. It is well to have this last point secured in a written agreement, which should also stipulate that the driver is to stop at the inns which the traveller may select. These carriages are more comfortable than those furnished by the postmasters, and will accommodate 6 persons.

Pedestrians should drive as far as Amsteg, where the ascent properly begins.

On this pass many rare minerals are found, and may be purchased better than in any other part of Switzerland.

This was anciently perhaps the most frequented passage over the Alps, as it offered the most direct and practicable line of communication between Basle and Zürich, from Northern Switzerland and W. Germany, to Lombardy, and the important cities of Milan and Genoa, Not less than 16,000 travellers and 9000 horses crossed it annually on an average, down to the commencement of the present century; but being only a bridle-path, it was almost entirely abandoned after the construction of the carriage-roads over the Simplon and Bernardin. The cantons of Uri and Tessin, through which this

At present the road is excellent, not inferior in its construction to any other of the great Alpine highways. In grandeur of scenery, especially on the Swiss side, it may vie with any Swiss pass. Its points of chief interest are the Gorge of the Schellinen, Devil's Bridge, and the Italian scenery of rugged mountain and rich valleys. The passage is usually free from snow for 4 or 5 months of the year; and in the depth of winter carriages are safely transported across on open sledges, except immediately after a snow-storm, when the road is sometimes blocked up for a week. In 1860, 41,000 fr. were spent in keeping the road clear of snow. It is still one of the best routes for Italy.

The canton of Uri and the valley of the Reuss possess an historical celebrity, as the theatre of the memorable campaign of 1799, when the armies of the three nations of France, Austria, and Russia, dispossessing each other in turns, marched, fought, and manœuvred, on heights whence the snow never disappears, and previously deemed accessible only to goatherds and hunters. In the month of June, in the above-named year, the Austrians, aided by the natives of Uri, had expelled the French from the valley. Satisfied with the possession of it, they passed nearly 2 months in entire inactivity, when, by a combined movement, planned by Massena, they were attacked at all points by French corps, poured in upon them from the lake of Lucerne, which was crossed by a flotilla of boats, and from every western passage leading over the Alps and into the

the Surenen, Loison the Susten, and Gudin, with a large force, fought his way over the Grimsel and Furca, threatening the Austrians in front, in flank, and in the rear. In an engagement which took place on the 14th of August, and which lasted 5 hours, they were driven step by step up the valley, as far as Andermatt. On the two following days the French pursued them out of the valley of the Reuss into the Grisons by the Oberalp, where a bloody encounter took place. A little more than a month after this, intelligence was brought to Lecourbe, the French commander, that another large army had appeared at the S. foot of the St. Gothard. While still at a loss to imagine to what European power it might belong, fresh tidings announced that it was the veteran Suwarrow, who, at the head of a Russian army of 18,000 foot and 5000 Cossack horse, had broken up from his encampment in the plains of Lombardy, and now began to force the passage of the St. Gothard. The French retired slowly but steadily before him as far as the lake of Lucerne, where Lecourbe, after removing all the boats from Flüelen, entrenched himself in a strong position at Seedorf, on the 1. bank of the Reuss. Suwarrow, whose object was to unite himself with the Russian army before Zürich, of the defeat of which by Massena he had not yet heard, here found himself without the means of transporting his army, threatened on all sides by enemies. He took little time to consider, but immediately planned and executed his wonderful and almost incredible retreat over the Kinzig Kulm and into the valley of Muotta; and though constantly annoyed by the French in his rear, finally conducted his army into the valley of the Rhine, with a loss of 3000 men, of whom far more perished from cold, fatigue, and hunger, than from the enemies' bullets. (See Rtes. 73, 75.)

steamboat pier)-the port of canton Uri, at the S. extremity of the lake of the Four Cantons, is a small village in a not very healthy situation. The malaria from the marshy ground produced by the deposits of the Reuss at its entrance into the lake has been abated by means of works undertaken on a large scale to deepen the mouth of the Reuss, and thus drain the upper country. Conveyances and Post-horses may always be had here.

The Steamer touches here five times a day from Lucerne, and returns after a short stay; it takes carriages. (See Rte. 18.) A pier, alongside of which the steamers are moored, offers a convenient landing-place. About 2 m. off lies

14 m. Altorf-Inns: Adler, good; Schlüssel (Clef d'Or), civil people; Bär; Löwe; Krone; Aigle, good. This is the capital of the canton Uri, the poorest and least populous in the Confederation, numbering altogether only 13,500 souls: it is a dull, lifeless village of 2426 Inhab., without trade or manufactures, and still exhibiting signs of the conflagration of 1799, which reduced the larger part of it to ashes. It was the early home of the great Guelph family, and, if credit is to be given to tradition, it was on the open square in the centre of Altorf that William Tell shot the apple from off his son's head. The place where he stood to take aim is marked by a plaster statue of Tell (!), a gift of the riflemen of Zurich. The lime-tree, upon which Gessler's cap was stuck, for all men to do obeisance to it as they passed, and to which the child was bound, to serve as a mark for his father's bolt, existed a withered trunk, down to 1567, when it was cut down and replaced by a fountain.

The tall Tower, ornamented with rude frescoes, representing Tell and Gessler, has been stated erroneously by some writers to occupy the site of the lime-tree; but it is proved by records still in existence to have been built before the time of Tell.

On quitting Altorf the road crosses the mouth of the vale of Schächen,

traversing, by a bridge, the stream in which, according to tradition, William Tell lost his life (1350) in endeavouring to rescue a child from the waterfall of Bürglen. He plunged in, and neither he nor the child was seen after. Tell was a native of the Schächenthal, having been born in the village of Bürglen (Inn and Pension, William Tell, much resorted to, in a delightful site), a little to the 1. of our road. The small Chapel, backed by an ivyclad tower, rudely painted with the events of his life, was built in 1522 on the spot where his house stood, near the churchyard. The inhabitants of this valley are considered the finest race of men in Switzerland. A path runs up it, and across the Klausen Pass (Rte. 76) to the baths of Stachelberg, in canton Glarus, and another over the Kinzig Kulm (Rte. 75), into the Muotta Thal.

On the 1. bank of the Reuss, opposite its junction with the Schächen, stands Attinghausen, the birthplace of Walter Fürst, one of the three liberators of Switzerland: his house is still pointed out. Above it rise the ruins of a castle, whose baronial owners became extinct in 1357, when the last of the race was buried in his helmet and hauberk. At

Bötzlingen, 3 m. above Altorf, the parliament (Landesgemeinde) of canton Uri is held on the first Sunday in May, to settle the affairs of the state. Every male citizen above the age of 20, except a priest, has a vote. The authorities of the canton, on horseback, with the Landammann at their head, preceded by a detachment of militia, with military music, and the standard of the canton attended by the beadles in their costume of yellow and black, and by two men in the ancient Swiss garb of the same colour, bearing aloft the two bull's horns of Uri, march to the spot in procession. From a semicircular hustings, erected for the purpose, the business of the day is proclaimed to the assembled crowd, and the different speakers deliver their harangues, after which the question is put to the vote by show of hands.