ST. MAURICE AND MARTIGNY.

The upper valley of the Rhône above the lake is at first wide and somewhat marshy, being composed of the river deposits, and is bordered by high mountains. At Bex are hydropathic establishments, and a short distance beyond is St. Maurice, the chief town of the valley, and a leading community of the Canton Valais. It is a picturesque old place with narrow and winding streets, squeezed in between the rushing torrent of the Rhône and the cliffs. This was the Roman Agaunum, and here came St. Maurice in the early fourth century to preach Christianity and suffer martyrdom. St. Maurice led here the "Thebain Legion" recruited in the Thebaid, and because they would not renounce Christianity, they were all massacred. Thus perished over six thousand, including Saints Maurice, Candidus and Victor, the story making a dismal page in the Martyrology. They were part of Emperor Maximin's army invading Gaul. St. Maurice was born in Austria, and is the patron saint of that country, being also regarded as the special protector of foot soldiers. St. Theodore founded the old Abbey of St. Maurice at the close of the fourth century, and it still exists, the abode of some Augustinian monks. Among its treasures are the chalice of Queen Bertha of Swabia, wife of Rudolph II., dating from the tenth century, and a richly illuminated

manuscript of the gospels presented by Charlemagne. It is said to be the oldest abbey in Switzerland.

Farther on, the Salanfe river comes down out of the Alps through a deep gorge, and falls over a high ledge of rocks in the beautiful Pissevache cascade and then rushes to the Rhône. This waterfall is over two hundred feet high, and in the spring time when the snows are melting the display is most beautiful. All around St. Maurice are high mountains, two of the highest guarding the valley, the Dent de Morcles rising nearly ninety-eight hundred feet on the eastern side, and the massive Dent du Midi to the westward, its summit elevated ten thousand, seven hundred feet. In this Italian end of Switzerland, all these peaks are "dents" or teeth, which they very much resemble, while over in Savoy they are called "aguilles" or needles, from their sharp points, and in the German section they are generally known as "horns." Thus the name originally was given from their appearance. Just above is the deeply cut Gorge of the Trient, flowing in from the westward, the chasm looking like a huge vaulted cavern, very high and narrow, and appearing much as if it had been cut down by some Titan with a blow from an axe. All about houses cling to the rocks on the mountain sides, the pretty little Swiss chalets, with projecting roofs, held down by stones to keep the winds from blowing them away. Here and there are little patches of soil, with people cultivating them, and goats with tinkling bells wander at will in almost inaccessible places.

Deep down at a sharp angle made by this picturesque Rhône valley, is Martigny, the starting point for various routes over the Alps, doing now very much as in the Roman days, when it was their station of Octodurum. Its tree-shaded market place displays a bronze bust of Helvetia; and the vineyards of the neighborhood yield the noted wines of Coquempey and Lamarque which were popular in the Roman times, as now. High, snow-covered mountains are all around, and ponderous cliffs and terrific gorges border the flat-floored and highly cultivated, narrow valley, through which swiftly flows the muddy torrent of the Rhône. Up on the hillside above the town is the ancient Castle of La Batiaz, built by Peter of Savoy in the thirteenth century for the Bishops of Sion, and from its dark gray round tower, there is a fine view along the three deep and narrow gorges which converge at Martigny. The first stretching off toward the northeast, is where the Rhône comes down out of the high Alps around its sources in the St. Gotthard, and then turning a sharp angle to the northwest at Martigny, it rushes off past St. Maurice through the second gorge to Lake Léman. The third gorge is La Forclaz, toward the southwest, and out that way is the "Mauvais Pas" over the Tête Noire, to Chamounix and Mont Blanc, one of the most remarkable mountain passes in this region. From the centre of Martigny two famous roads diverge that scale the Alps to Italy. A little monument marks their starting point, bearing upon one side the name

of "Simplon," pointing up the Rhône valley; and upon the other "St. Bernard," which leads southward up the Drance. Both are magnificent roads, exhibiting great feats of engineering.

THE ALPS AND THEIR PASSES.

The famous road over the Great St. Bernard, is constructed up the deeply cut ravine of the Drance of Valais, from the Rhône at Martigny to Orsières, and thence over the mountains to Aosta, in Italy, a distance of about forty-seven miles, the summit of the Pass being at more than eighty-one hundred feet elevation. It is named for St. Bernard of Menthon, who was born at that town in Savoy, in 923, and became the Archdeacon of Aosta, being engaged for forty years in missions among the people of this mountain region. He saw the terrible hardships that Alpine travellers suffered, and founded the Great St. Bernard hospice, where during nine centuries the monks, who afterward became St. Augustinians, have ministered to their wants, and at the same time taken care of the series of huts and shelters built at intervals on the Great and Little St. Bernard Passes. The Great St. Bernard crosses the range to the eastward of Mont Blanc, and the Little St. Bernard crosses to the southward, both going to Aosta.

There are hundreds of mountain passes over the great range of the Alps, which extends nearly eight hundred miles from the Mediterranean, the axis of

the range being at first north, and then turning nearly east. The majority are only mule tracks or foot-paths, but there are at least sixty carriage roads and most of these are very skillful and costly works. When they were begun, no one knows, for the prominent routes have been crossed from remote periods, and at the dawn of history. The earliest knowledge of the Alps was only of the portions adjacent to these Passes. In their desire for conquest, the Romans were the first to travel these roads extensively, and as a long and toilsome ascent was necessary, they were all called "Mons," which term has survived, so that while the routes are over depressions in the range, they are all now known as Monts or Mountains, thus explaining why the ancient name paradoxically belongs to a depression rather than to a peak. Similarly preserved have been the designations originally given by the Romans to the chief Alpine groups. The great range, where Mont Blanc is located and which includes the highest summits, embraced between the Little St. Bernard and St. Gotthard to the eastward is called the Pennine Alps. Before the days of the Cæsars the Celtic dialect was used in Cisalpine Gaul, with its name of Pen or Ben signifying a mountain, and hence came the title with the subsequent Roman designation also of Jupiter Penninus.

To the southward of the Little St. Bernard are the Graian Alps, extending to Mont Cenis. This is said to have been originally a Celtic name, though Pliny