thus, Thus, in its old age, did Mount Rosenberg." Byron.

On approaching Goldau the traveller soon perceives traces of the dreadful catastrophe which buried the original and much larger village of that name, and inundated the valley for a considerable distance with a deluge of stones and rubbish. The mountain which caused this calamity still remains scarred from top to bottom: nothing grows upon its barren surface, and ages must elapse before the aspect of ruin can be removed,

The Rossberg, or Rufiberg, is a mountain 4958 ft. high; the upper part of it consists of a conglomerate or pudding-stone, formed of rounded masses of other rocks cemented together, and called by the Germans Nagelflue, or Nail-rock, from the knobs and protuberances which its surface presents, resembling nailheads. From the nature of the structure of this kind of rock, it is very liable to become cracked, and if rainwater or springs penetrate these fissures they will not fail to dissolve or moisten the unctuous beds of clay which separate the nagelflue from the strata below it, and cause large portions of it to detach themselves from the mass. The strata of the Rossberg

are tilted up from the side of the lake of Zug, and slope down towards Goldau like the roof of a house. The slanting direction of the seams which part the strata is well seen on the road from Arth. If, therefore, the clay which fills these seams be washed out by rains, or reduced to the state of a viscous or slimy mud, it is evident that such portions of the rock as have been detached from the rest by the fissures above alluded to," must slip down, like the masses of snow which fall from the roof of a house as soon as the lower side is thawed, or as a vessel when launched slides down the inclined plain purposely greased to hasten its descent. Within the period of human records destructive landslips had repeatedly fallen from the Rossberg, and a great part of the piles of earth, rock, and stones, which deform the face of the valley, derive their origin from such catastrophes of ancient date; but the most destructive of all appears to have been the last. The vacant space along the top of the mountain caused by the descent of a portion of it, calculated to have been a league long, 1000 ft. broad, and 100 ft. thick, and a small fragment at its farther extremity, which remained when the rest broke off, are also very apparent, and assist in telling the story. long and wide inclined plain forming. the side of the mountain, now ploughed up and scarified as it were, was previously covered with fields, woods, and houses. Some of the buildings are still standing within a few yards of the precipice which marks the line of the fracture.

The

The catastrophe is thus described in the narrative published at the time by Dr. Zay, of Arth, an eyewitness :

"The summer of 1806 had been very rainy, and on the 1st and 2nd September it rained incessantly. New crevices were observed in the flank of the mountain, a sort of cracking noise was heard internally,

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Route 17.

stones started out of the ground, detached fragments of rocks rolled down the mountain; at two o'clock in the afternoon on the 2nd of September, a large rock became loose, and in falling raised a cloud of black dust. Toward the lower part of the mountain, the ground seemed pressed down from above; and when a stick or a spade was driven in, it moved of itself. A man, who had been digging in his garden, ran away from fright at these extraordinary appearances; soon a fissure, larger than all the others, was observed; insensibly it increased; springs of water ceased all at once to flow; the pine-trees of the forest absolutely reeled; birds flew away screaming. A few minutes before five o'clock, the symptoms of some mighty catastrophe became still stronger; the whole surface of the mountain seemed to glide down, but so slowly as to afford time to the inhabitants to go away. An old man, who had often predicted some such disaster, was quietly smoking his pipe, when told by a young man, running by, that the mountain was in the act of falling; he rose and looked out, but came into his house again, saying he had time to fill another pipe. The young man, continuing to fly, was thrown down several times, and escaped with difficulty; looking back, he saw the house carried off all at once.

"Another inhabitant, being alarmed, took two of his children and ran away with them, calling to his wife to follow with the third; but she went in for another, who still remained (Marianne, aged five): just then, Francisca Ulrich, their servant, was crossing the room, with this Marianne, whom she held by the hand, and saw her mistress; at that instant, as Francisca afterwards said, The house appeared to be torn from its foundation (it was of wood), and spun round and round like a tetotum ; I was sometimes on my head, sometimes on my feet, in total darkness, and violently

separated from the child.' When the motion stopped, she found herself jammed in on all sides, with her head downwards, much bruised, and in extreme pain. She supposed she was buried alive at a great depth; with much difficulty she disengaged her right hand, and wiped the blood from her eyes. Presently she heard the faint moans of Marianne, and called to her by her name; the child answered that she was on her back among stones and bushes, which held her fast, but that her hands were free, and that she saw the light, and even something green. She asked whether people would not soon come to take them out. Francisca answered that it was the day of judgment, and that no one was left to help them, but that they would be released by death, and be happy in heaven. They prayed together. At last Francisca's ear was struck by the sound of a bell, which she knew to be that of Steinenberg: then seven o'clock struck in another village, and she began to hope there were still living beings, and endeavoured to comfort the child. The poor little girl was at first clamorous for her supper, but her cries soon became fainter, and at last quite died away. Francisca, still with her head downwards, and surrounded with damp earth, experienced a sense of cold in her feet almost insupportable. After prodigious efforts, she succeeded in disengaging her legs, and thinks this saved her life. Many hours had passed in this situation, when she again heard the voice of Marianne, who had been asleep, and now renewed her lamentations. In the mean time, the unfortunate father, who, with much difficulty, had saved himself and two children, wandered about till daylight, when he came among the ruins to look for the rest of his family. He soon discovered his wife, by a foot which appeared above ground: she was dead, with a child in her arms. His cries, and the noise he made in digging, were heard

She

by Marianne, who called out. was extricated with a broken thigh, and, saying that Francisca was not far off, a farther search led to her release also, but in such a state that her life was despaired of: she was blind for some days, and remained subject to convulsive fits of terror. It appeared that the house, or themselves at least, had been carried down about one thousand five hundred feet from where it stood before.

"In another place, a child two years old was found unhurt, lying on its straw mattress upon the mud, without any vestige of the house from which he had been separated.

Such

a mass of earth and stones rushed at once into the lake of Lowertz, although five miles distant, that one end of it was filled up, and a prodigious wave passing completely over the island of Schwanau, 70 feet above the usual level of the water, overwhelmed the opposite shore, and, as it returned, swept away into the lake many houses with their inhabitants. The village of Seewen, situated at the farther end, was inundated, and some houses washed away, and the flood carried live fish into the village of Steinen. The chapel of Olten, built of wood, was found half a league from the place it had previously occupied, and many large blocks of stone completely changed their position.

"The most considerable of the villages overwhelmed in the vale of Arth was Goldau, and its name is now affixed to the whole melancholy story and place. I shall relate only one more incident: A party of eleven travellers from Berne, belonging to the most distinguished families there, arrived at Arth on the 2nd of September, and set off on foot for the Righi a few minutes before the catastrophe. Seven of them had got about 200 yards a-head, — the other four saw them entering the village of Goldau, and one of the latter, Mr. R. Jenner, pointing out to the rest the summit of the Rossberg (full four

45

miles off in a straight line), where some strange commotion seemed taking place, which they themselves (the four behind) were observing with a telescope, and had entered into conversation on the subject with some strangers just come up; when, all at once, a flight of stones, like cannon-balls, traversed the air above their heads; a cloud of dust obscured the valley; a frightful noise was heard. They fled As soon as the obscurity was so far dissipated as to make objects discernible, they sought their friends, but the village of Goldau had disappeared under a heap of stones and rubbish 100 feet in height, and the whole valley presented nothing but a perfect chaos! Of the unfortunate survivors, one lost a wife to whom he was just married, one a son, a third the two pupils under his care all researches to discover their remains were, and have ever since been, fruitless. Nothing is left of Goldau but the bell which hung in its steeple, and which was found about a mile off. With the rocks torrents of mud came down, acting as rollers; but they took a different direction when in the valley, the mud following the slope of the ground towards the lake of Lowertz, while the rocks, preserving a straight course, glanced across the valley towards the Righi. The rocks above, moving much faster than those near the ground, went farther, and ascended even a great way up the Righi: its base is covered with large blocks carried to an incre dible height, and by which trees were mowed down, as they might have been by cannon.

"A long track of ruins, like a scarf, hangs from the shoulder of the Rossberg, in hideous barrenness, over the rich dress of shaggy woods and green pastures, and grows wider and wider down to the lake of Lowertz and to the Righi, a distance of four or five miles. Its greatest breadth may be three miles, and the triangular area of ruins is fully equal to that of Paris, taken at the external boule

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Route 17.

-

vards, or about double the real extent of the inhabited city. I notice, however, that the portion of the strata at the top of the Rossberg, which slid down into the valley, is certainly less than the chaotic accumulation below; and I have no doubt that a considerable part of it comes from the soil of the valley itself, ploughed up and thrown into ridges like the waves of the sea, and hurled to prodigious distances by the impulse of the descending mass, plunging upon it with a force not very inferior to that of a cannon-ball."

The effects of this terrible convulsion were the entire destruction of the villages Goldau, Bussingen, and Rothen, and a part of Lowertz; the rich pasturages in the valley and on the slope of the mountain, entirely overwhelmed by it and ruined, were estimated to be worth 150,000l. ; 111 houses, and more than 200 stables and chalets, were buried under the debris of rocks, which of themselves form hills several hundred feet high. More than 450 human beings perished by this catastrophe, and whole herds of cattle were swept away. Five minutes sufficed to complete the work of destruction. The inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages were first roused by loud and grating sounds like thunder: they looked towards the spot from which it came, and beheld the valley shrouded in a cloud of dust; when it had cleared away they found the face of nature changed. The houses of Goldau were literally crushed beneath the weight of superincumbent masses. Lowertz was overwhelmed by a torrent of mud.

The danger of further calamity from the fall of other portions of the mountain is by no means past even now. On July 3d, 1823, a shepherd boy climbed up to the peak of the Rossberg called Spitzbühel to gather herbs. In crossing over towards Zug he came to a fissure, which he leaped

Goldau.

across, but on his return he found it so much widened that he could not venture to repeat his jump, and was obliged to make a circuit to reach home. By the 6th July, the rent had increased to a width of 40 or 50 feet, and to the depth of nearly twice that number of feet. Great apprehensions were entertained lest the mass thus separated should in falling take the direction of the Inn and Church of Goldau: however, on the 11th, after the crack had widened to 150 feet, with a depth of 120 and a length of 200, down came the huge fragment; it was shattered to pieces in its fall, and threw up the waters of the lake of Lowertz 5 feet, but did no damage.

Those who desire a near view of the landslip should ascend the Gnypenstock, whose summit may be reached in three hours from Arth.

Goldau to Brunnen.

At Goldau one of the most frequented bridle paths up the Righi strikes off to the rt. (See p. 49.)

The new church and one of the inns at Goldau stand on the site of the village overwhelmed by the Rossberg; its inhabitants, thus destroyed in the midst of security, are said to have been remarkable for the purity of their manners and their personal beauty. The church contains two tablets of black marble inscribed with the names of some of the sufferers, and with particulars of the sad event. The high-road traverses the talus or debris, which extends from the top of the Rossberg far up the Righi on the rt. It ascends vast hillocks of rubbish, calculated to be 30 ft. deep hereabouts, but near the centre of the valley probably 200 ft., and winds among enormous blocks of stone already beginning to be mossgrown, and with herbage springing

Route 17. - Lowertz

Lucerne to Schwytz.

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1 Lowertz, standing on the margin of the lake round which our road is carried on a terraced embankment, lost its church and several of its houses in the same catastrophe. The lake was diminished by one quarter in consequence of the avalanche of mud and rubbish which entered it, and its waters were thrown up in a wave 70 ft. high to the opposite bank, so as to cover the picturesque island, and sweep away a small chapel which stood upon it. The ruined Castle of Schwanau, still existing upon it, has an historical interest from having been destroyed at the first rising of the Swiss Confederates in 1308, to avenge an outrage committed by the Seigneur, in carrying off a damsel against her will, and detaining her in confinement. "There is a wild and sombre tradition attached to this island, that "once a year cries are heard to come from it, and suddenly the ghost of the tyrant is seen to pass, chased by the vengeful spirit of a pale girl, bearing a torch, and shrieking wildly. first he eludes her swiftness, but at length she gains upon him, and forces him into the lake, where he sinks with doleful struggles; and, as the waves close over the condemned, the shores ring with fearful and unearthly yellings.'

At

Near the village of Lowertz another footpath strikes up the Righi, which is shorter than going round by Goldau for travellers approaching from Schwytz or Brunnen. About 3 miles above Lowertz it falls into the path from Goldau, p. 49. The Rigi Culm may be reached by it in 3 hours.

1 Schwytz - Inns: Hirsch, good; Rössli.

Schwytz, a mere village, though the chief place in the canton- "the heart's core of Helvetia" from which comes the name Switzerland, contains a population of 5225 inhabitants, including the adjoining scattered houses and villages which all belong to one parish. It lies picturesquely at the foot of the very conspicuous double-peaked mountain, called Mythe (Mitre) and Hacke, (4598 ft.)

Adjoining the Parish Church, a modern building, finished in 1774, is a small Gothic chapel, called Kerker, erected, according to tradition, a a time when admission to the church was denied the people by a bai of excommunication from the Pope It was built in great haste, half of it within three days, and the mass was secretly administered within it.

In the cemetery of the Parish Church is the grave of Aloys Reding, the patriotic leader (Landeshauptman) of the Swiss against the French Republicans, in 1798.

The Rathhaus, a building of no great antiquity or beauty, in which the Council of the canton holds its sittings, is decorated with portraits of 43 Landammen, and a painting representing the events of the early Swiss history.

The Arsenal contains banners taken by the Schwytzers at Morgaren, and others borne by them in the battles of Laupen, Sempach, Cappel, Morat, &c.; also a consecrated standard presented by Pope Julius II. to the Schwytzers.

The Archiv (record office) is a tower of rough masonry several stories high, and was probably once a castle: its walls are remarkably thick, and beneath it are dungeons.

Schwytz possesses a Jesuits' college (1837), a Capuchin convent, and a Dominican nunnery, founded in 1272.