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es in the valley, and fruit and forest trees luxuriate, as they are almost always found to do on the side of Piedmont. Formerly, this valley was filled with a Protestant community, but their living in it is now prohibited; the Vaudois churches are not permitted out of the valleys of Rora, La Tour, St. Martin, and Angrona. The valley of La Touris known also as the valley of Lucerne, and the Val Pelice.

Below Fenestrelles, the route passes through numerous villages and hamlets-Montole, Rouse, Villaret, and Chapelle -before reaching Perouse, the principal town in the valley; which is sometimes called the valley of Perouse. It is situated directly opposite to the valley of St. Martin, or the Germanasca, one of the most interesting of the

PROTESTANT VALLEYS. A good road leads up by the torrent of the Germanasca to Pomaret and Perrier, through scenes of great richness and beauty. Above Perrier two branches meet; that to the S. W. leads to Rodoretto and Pralis; that on the N. W. has, above a defile on its opposite side; amidst fruit-trees, corn, and pasturages, the commune of Maneille. A little beyond, the road enters a deep ravine of the Germanasca, which is singularly wild and beautiful; at its upper extremity it opens into the valley below the Commune of Marcel, nearly opposite to the valley which leads across the Col de la Fontaine to Pralis.

Continuing up the valley of the Germanasca, the house of M. Tron, the Syndic of Marcel, is passed; a singularly handsome structure in such a situation. He is a man remarkable for his hospitality; but this virtue does not extend to his wife and family, and the stranger who expects to receive it will fare ill in his absence. About a league above this spot is the hamlet of Balsille; and immediately over, the celebra-. ted Castella, a terrace on the side of a peaked mountain, where the Vaudois entrenched themselves under Henri Arnaud. Here the little handful of brave men, only between 600 and 700, struggled for their fatherland, and fought, for three days, the united armies of France and Sardinia, amounting to 22,000 men, when the latter, found it necessary to bring up artillery, which was accomplished with excessive difficulty, the heroic Vaudois, foreseeing that against the cannon they could not hold their position, retreated during the night without losing a man: and the following day their sovereign, of Sardinia, having quarrelled with his allies, agreed to restore them to their valleys and their hearths. No history exists, so replete with wonderful adventures as that of the simple peasants of these valleys, who fought and suffered, and reconquered, for liberty of conscience.

Above the Balsille, one of the grandest assemblages of materials for alpine scenery is to be found, in cataracts, ra¬

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vines, and mountains: from the head of the valley there is a pass by the Col de Pis, to Pragelas in the valley of Clusone. The author has crossed from Pragelas to Perouse in one day, and he knows no finer traverse in the Alps.

From Perouse to the Balsille, and return to Perouse, may be accomplished easily in a day.

On the route from Perouse to Pignerol, some fine quarFies are passed, where stone is raised for the public works of Turin; nearly opposite to these is seen another of the Protestant churches, St. Germano, and the little valley which leads to Pramol; still further down is the church of Prarustin, nearly opposite to where the valley widens, and the road enters upon the plains, through the hamlets of Port and Abadia, to Pignerol.

ROUTE 132.

PIGNEROL TO EMBRUN BY THE VALLEYS OF THE VAUDOIS, AND THE COL DE LA CROIX.

From Pignerol to La Tour a diligence travels daily; the distance is not more than 10 English miles: the route lies. through St. Secondo to Bischerasco, 5 miles, and 3 miles farther to the first Protestant community at

St. Giovanni. Here a new church was built whilst Piedmont was under the government of Napoleon. Upon the restoration of the house of Sardinia, the Catholics, whose church is on the other side of a little stream, complained that the voices of the Protestants in singing disturbed their devotions, and an order was given to shut out the abomination by a large barricade of wood, which the Vaudois were compelled to erect before the door of their church. This has now, however, dropped away bit by bit, and little remains of this evidence of intolerance. The church is of a singular form-a horse-shoe-but it is not favourable to the preacher or his congregation.

A short league beyond St. Giovanni, through a fertile Country lies La Tour, the principal town of the Protestant communities; their church, St. Marguerite, is situated, about a mile from the town, near the rock of Castelluzzo, celebrated in their history.

There are excellent inns at La Tour: the Canon d'Or, kept by Bartolemo Revel, is on the St. Giovanni side of the torrent, which flows from the Val Angrona. The town of La

Tour is situated on the other side of the river.

At La Tour a hospital has been established for the sick and poor among the Protestants, by funds raised chiefly in Holland, Russia, and England; more recently, a college has.

been established there for the education of young men for the ministry of the Vaudois churches, and they have thus removed the necessity which had hitherto existed of sending them to Geneva. This institution was opened in the year 1837; it is chiefly endowed by funds raised in the above countries, but owing in a great measure to the liberality, the exertions, and the zeal for the cause of the Vaudois, of Colenel Beckwith, and Dr. Gilly. To the latter, the Vaudois are under the deepest obligations for the interest he has taken. and the influence his writings have excited in their sa

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There is no part of the Alps that, for richness and beauty in the lower valleys, and for wild and magnificent scenery the defiles and mountains, surpasses the valleys of the Vaudois. Easy of access, by good roads from Turin, La Tour, their principal town, is reached in six hours from that city. Twice a day there are diligences from Turin to Pignerol, and daily from Pignerol to La Tour, over fine roads, and through a country luxuriant in vegetation. There are good inns at La Tour, to make head quarters for excursions; and the civility of all classes to strangers, especially English, ought to be a recommendation to ramblers in their country. Of the Vaudois generally, but especially of the mountaineers, it has been justly said, that "they are far superior in moral character to the Roman Catholic inhabitants; they are from ancient habit, honest, civil, and quiet; and from their situation and necessity simple and laborious."

One of the most interesting excursions from La Tour, is into the valley of Angrona, which is surrounded by lofty mountains and pasturages. It is richly wooded down to the deep defiles of its torrent, and presents every variety of scenery, but some of its wild scenes are associated with their history: as the Barricades of Pra del Tor, which defended by them, gave security to their families who sought refuge within this grand and most picturesque defile. Above it in the recesses of these mountains, concealed from the world for many ages, heir Barbes, or teachers, held their institution for instruction, and fitted their pupils for the ministry. Every foot of ground in this valley is sacred in the history of this extraordinary people. In the Pra del Tor there has lately been erected a Catholic church, but the heart of the valleys is not the heart of the people.

The excursion may be varied by following the high road to the village of Angrona, which offers from many beautiful points of view the plains of Piedmont. The return may be made through the defiles, or on the steep slopes that bound the river. A day given to explore the Val Angrona, will be remembered with pleasure.

From La Tour, up the valley of the Pelice, the road passes by the hamlet of St. Marguerite, where is situated the Protestant church of La Tour. Beyond this hamlet, the ascent of the valley is rich and picturesque. About an hour and a half from La Tour, the village of Villar is passed, and thence to Bobbio is scarcely another hour.

From Bobbio a pass up the mountains leads by Serra le Cruel, and the Col Julien to

Pralis. From La Tour this is a day's journey, but there are few excursions that offer more striking scenes, especially from the Col Julien. Near the summit-"Alps o'er alps," are seen piled in the most sublime confusion, and, surmounting all, the Monte Viso. So near does the latter appear, that the path to the Col de Viso, on the side of France, can be distinctly traced. The descent towards Pralis is very long and fatiguing. From Pralis the author went in one day's march across the Col de la Fontaine to the Balsille, and through the valley of St. Martin to Perouse.

On leaving Bobbio, a long wall is seen, an embankment, made to guard the village from the inundations of the Pelice; it was built by a grant from Oliver Cromwell, during whose protectorate one of these fearful calamities had nearly destroyed Bobbio. A little beyond, the river is crossed, and the mountain ascent begins; soon, on bending to the left, the scenery becomes wild and savage. The last view down the valley towards Bobbio is very fine.

After a long course amidst strangely situated hamlets, where rocks and trees of the wildest character make up a rapid succession of picturesque scenes, the path reaches a dreary mass of rocks, over which is poured the torrent of the Pelice, and further progress seems forbidden. Up, amidst these rocks, however, a path is found, which enters a deep ravine, within which are the ruins of the fort of Mirabouc, built against the steep escarpments of the mountain. The ravine is utterly impassable on the side opposite to the fort; nor is there a path on the side where the ruins of the fort stand, that does not pass through the line of its former gates. The fort was demolished after the wars of the French revolution, in 1796.

Above the fort Mirabouc, a path through a narrow and sterile valley enters upon the meadows and pasturages of the Bergerie de Pra- the highest hamlet in the valley, situated in the midst of fertile pasturages, and where barley and potatoes are raised. This is the station of the Sardinian custom-house on the frontier.

The ascent to the Col de Croix is by a steep and difficult path, made in zigzags, up the abrupt side of the col, towards Piedmont. This, however, is soon surmounted, and from

the highest point which overlooks the side of Italy, the defile of Mirabouc is a savage scene. The col is nearly level for half an hour, and then the path, traversing the side of a hollow, gradually subsides to the valley of the Guil, within the territories of France. On the col there is a station of the douane, and at La Monta, in the valley of the Guil, travellers are examined; thence the distance through the hamlet of Ristolas to

Abries is about 4 miles, where there is an inn, rather better than one might expect to find in the mountains. At Abries the torrent from Valprevaire flows into the Guil, and a path up its course leads to several mountain passes. Below Abries the road through the valley of the Guil leads, in about two hours, to the fort of Queiras, passing in the descent, those valleys in which there are still Protestant communities, particularly that of St. Veran, in a valley which joins from the left the valley of the Guil, at Ville-vielles ; and the valley of Arvieux, which enters that of the Guil near Queiras. To these, and the Val Frassenières, on the other side of the Durance, the name of the Pays de Neff has been given, to commemorate the services rendered to these communities by this young Swiss Protestant minister, who devoted his life to renovating and sustaining the religious worship of the primitive Christians that had existed in these valleys from time immemorial. Neff seems to have taken for his model Oberlin, the good pastor of the Band la Roche, nea Strasbourg, for he not only regarded with the deepest interest the religious faith and practice of these people, but he established schools, and taught them reading, writing, arithmetic, agriculture, and the elements of much useful knowledge, not before possessed by them. He died in 1829. His name throughout these valleys is remembered with the deepest reverence and affection.

The Château de Queiras is finely situated in the valley : it is garrisoned, and entirely commands the pass, and from every point of view presents a most picturesque object. There is a tolerable inn at Queiras.

Below the château the road skirts the deep bed of the river for a short way, then descending to the torrent, which it crosses, it continues for nearly two hours, through one of the finest defiles in the Alps. In some places the mountains seem to close in above the traveller; and it is often necessary to cross the Guil to find a path on one side, which is forbidden on the other by projecting rocks or perpendicular precipices of vast height, whose bases sink like a wall in the torrent. Sometimes, when both sides forbid a passage in the depth of the ravine, the road runs high above the river, and on these higher paths the yellow rind and tortuous branches of

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