cloud; he ought to shudder on the margin of its precipices, and explore its darkest depths; he ought to muse among its blasted pines, or lie down on one of its slopes, when the summer sun in the meridian extorts from its rugged features a reluctant smile. He ought to stand there all alone, till the wild music of its torrent and its forests might fall upon his listening ear, and till its sublime solitude might enter his very soul. How much is there still to learn about it? How looks the strange avenue from below, when the mid-day sun for one quarter of an hour throws its flame upon the restless waters? Is there no rent in these cliffs, by which a natural staircase leads to the very margin of the river? Are there no means by which you can enter these long and lofty caverns, compared with which the vault of Pfeffers is a toy? A bold and prudent traveller, who, with good guides, should explore these torture-chambers, where the imprisoned and tormented river writhes, and curls, and groans in subterranean darkness, might weave a stirring narrative, worthy to be placed side by side with the story of an ascent to Mont Blanc, or of a walk over the ice-plains of the Oberland. At present no living thing goes down to that darkness, except, perhaps, some colony of bats, who live nestled in the hollows of the precipice. Nor are these quite safe: for in 1834, after heavy rains, the postmaster of Thusis visited the middle bridge, when the torrent, which is usually seen four hundred feet beneath the centre of the bridge, had swollen in its rage, and, breaking over its prison walls, was furiously foaming within a few feet of the arch—a magnificent spectacle to the postmaster, but awkward to the bats. Some day, perchance, if the memory of that flood forbid it not, a scaffolding of planks, like that at Pfeffers, carried along the cliffs, will throw open, even to the timid, the whole extent of that wonderful avenue, along which the tormented river now howls and groans. What traveller would not willingly pay his fee to secure such a walk? About two miles more of gradual ascent brought us to a third bridge over the river, close to Zillis, where the pass opens on the tamer scenery of the valley of Schams. Here we descended to the level of the pure stream, whose waters do not at that point, like other Alpine streams, betray its glacial origin by being turbid. The Hinter Rhein rises in the Rheinwald Glacier, at the foot of the Piz Val Rhein or Vogelberg, a mountain marked in Keller's large map as 10,280 feet in height. Here it is fed by many streamlets, in a region of savage grandeur, and then, passing in its course the lofty village of Splugen, enters the valley of Schams; and then, being recruited by the waters of the Aversa torrent, which descends from the Val Ferrera, it begins its descent into the Via Mala, at the bridge a little below Zillis. Hitherto it has flowed joyously on in sunshine; but at this point the lofty Piz Beverin, and the mountains of the Ober Halbstein, stand like resolute brigands in the way of the light-hearted traveller, determined to bar all farther progress. But it would go on. Gallantly it struggled with these hostile masses: it has worn them down; it has cleft them asunder, and worked its channel deeper and deeper into the solid cliff. Here it has wrought a chasm which, though it seems bottomless, is yet so narrow, that an active hunter might leap across it: there it has excavated for itself a subterranean passage, whence it is still struggling to escape. Look there; beneath that middle bridge it is imprisoned on every side by precipices of 1500 feet. Can it ever emerge? Follow it, and see. A little farther down the glen it has rolled into a channel less obscure, where the sunshine is again on its waters; and there you may see the foam of its agony subsiding into clear green depths, where for a moment it seems to rest, that it may gather strength for the conflict, and then again bounds on to accomplish its destiny. Again it is buried beneath the closing rocks, which seem to forbid all passage; but after a few more struggles, you may see it once more flashing far down, as you look between the stems of the gigantic pines which cling to the rocks near the issue of the glen, and advancing rapidly to its final triumphs. How many a noble spirit, in like manner, has in youth struggled with unimaginable difficulties, in friendless obscurity; but, resolute in duty, and gathering courage from

every conflict, has fought his way to distinction, and eventually blessed mankind with his calm wisdom and extensive beneficence!"

Following the course of the Vorder Rhein, we reach the beautifully situated village of Trons, memorable in the history of the Grisons, at which we shall glance in the succeeding chapter. Here are the remains of the maple-tree beneath which the deputies of the peasants met the nobles in the year 1424. "Close to the tree," says Murray, who calls it a sycamore, "stands the little chapel of St. Anne, whose portico is adorned with the mottos, In libertatem vocati estis;' Ubi Spiritus Domini, ibi Libertas;' 'In te speraverunt Patres;' and with two fresco paintings. One represents the first formation of the Grey League, the principal figure being the abbot of Dissentis, in the robes of his order; the count of Sax, with a white flowing beard; and the lord of Rhætzuns. The other picture shows the renewal of the oath in 1778; the deputies here appear with starched frills, and hair powdered and frizzled; in silk stockings and walking-sticks. It is recorded that the deputies, on the former occasion, brought their dinners in sacks on their backs, which they hung up by nails to the rocks, while they quenched their thirst in the brook which traverses the meadow of Tavanosa. The more courtier-like deputies of the second meeting were more sumptuously feasted in the mansion of the abbot."

Pursuing the same course, Dissentis is reached, where there is a Benedictine abbey, and beyond this is the village of Sedrun. The ascent of the Ober-alp may now be made; and on reaching the opposite declivity, there is is a small lake, bearing the name of the Ober-alp-see, one of the head-waters of the river Reuss. Passing with needed caution over the bogs of this part, the traveller proceeds by the valley of Urseren to Andermatt, on the St. Gothard.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE CANTON OF THE GRISONS-COIRE-MEYENFELD-COUNTRY OF DAVOS-COL FLUELLA.

THE canton of the Grisons, as it is called in French, or Graubündten, to give its other name, is bounded on the north by the canton of St. Gall, on the east by the Tyrol and Vorarlberg, on the south by the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, and on the west by the cantons of Ticino, Uri, and Glarus. It is entirely surrounded by lofty mountains, with the exception of one point on the north, where the Rhine issues out of it through a narrow valley, along which runs the carriage-road from Coire to St. Gall and Zurich.

A large offset of the Lepontian Alps detaches itself from the group of the St. Gothard, and, running in a north-easterly direction, marks the western boundary of the cantor. Dividing the waters of the Rhine from those of the Reuss and the Linth, it forms many high summits, covered with perpetual snow. Another lofty range, which, under the name of the Rhætian Alps, forms part of the great central chain, runs east from the St. Gothard, dividing the waters which flow northwards into the Rhine from those which flow southwards into the Ticino; the high summits called Piz Val Rhein are in this range, over which pass the roads of the Bernhardina and the Splugen, leading from the Grisons into Italy. The area of the canton is reckoned at 3,080 square miles, its greatest length being about eighty miles from east to west, and its greatest breadth about fiftyfive from north to south. The surface is cut into numerous valleys, about sixty in number. No less than two hundred and forty-one glaciers are reckoned within the limits of the Grisons, one hundred and fifty of which send their waters to the Rhine, sixty-six to the Danube by means of the Inn, and twenty-five to the Po, by the Adda and the Ticino.

In the fifteenth century, the highlands of Rhætia, with their sixty valleys, where the Rhine and the Inn have their sources, a wild secluded region, surrounded and intersected on all sides by the highest Alps, the house of Hapsburg, or of Austria, had no pretensions over the country. Its numerous nobles had become independent, holding directly of the empire; indeed, the bishop of Coire, who had great possessions in the country, was a prince of the empire. A century had now elapsed since the Swiss cantons had achieved their independence, and their neighbours of the Rhætian valleys still groaned under the oppressions of their petty lords, far more overbearing and capricious than the Austrian rulers had been in Helvetia. Perched up in their castles, built on lofty cliffs, they sallied thence like birds of prey, scaring the poor shepherds and cultivators below, and extorting from them the produce of the soil, insulting the chastity of their daughters, and disposing of the lives and liberty of their sons.

The chronicles of Rhatia record many instances of rapacity and barbarity perpetrated in these remote valleys, which have never been surpassed in the most corrupt countries and by the most depraved tyrants. We read of a baron of Vatz who used to starve his prisoners in his dungeons, and listen with complacency to their moans from his banqueting hall; and who, to try an experiment on digestion, had three of his servants ripped open some hours after dinner. In another place, we find the chatelain of Guar

dovall sending deliberately to demand, for his private pleasures, the young and beautiful daughter of Adam of Camogask, one of his tenants-an outrage, however, which led to the revolt and emancipation of the fine valley of the Engadine. We are told of the governor of Fardun driving his wild colts among the ripe crops of the farmer Chaldar, whom he cast in chains into a subterranean dungeon for pursuing and killing the destructive animals. Such is man in every age, and under every clime, when left to the uncontrolled indulgence of his passions over the persons and property of his fellow-creatures.

The nobles were often at variance with each other. Hartmann, bishop of Coire, unable to defend the scattered remains of his see, authorised his vassals to form alliances with the neighbouring communes and lordships; accordingly, in 1396, his subjects of the valley of Domleschg, Avers, Oberhalbstein, and Bergun, entered into a treaty, offensive and defensive, with the powerful counts of Werdenberg, lords of Schams and Obervatz. This was the first origin of one of the three leagues or federations of Rhætia. The increase of strength thus derived by the prelate excited the jealousy of the nobles of the

upper Rhine, who formed likewise, in 1400, an alliance with their neighbours of the free canton of Glau. But they did not grant any franchise to their vassals as the bishop had done; and this made the people more impatient of their servitude. They had no justice to expect from the courts, nor protection on the high roads, no security for their persons or properties. Several of the elders among the peasants of the country formed a secret association for the purpose of devising a remedy for the evils with which the country was afflicted. They assembled at night time, in a wood near the village of Trons, between the valley of Dissentis and the town of Ilantz. There they framed certain resolutions, which they communicated to the trustiest among their respective neighbours. On a fixed day, all the communes of Upper Rhætia sent deputies to their respective lords, demanding a solemn compact, by which the rights of all, high and low, should be defined and guaranteed, and justice and security rendered inviolable. The barons were taken unawares; they had few soldiers on whom they could depend. The abbot of Dissentis, a prudent man, who belonged to an ancient native family, received the deputies kindly, and readily acceded to their demands. The two barons of Rhætzuns followed his example. Count Ulric of Sax, one of the most powerful feudatories of the Alps, did the

same, as well as the old Count Hugo of Werdenberg, brother to the defender of Appenzell. Henry of Werdenberg-Sargans, lord of Schams, alone, whose father had been defeated at Næfels by the people of Glarus, rejected with scorn the deputies of the communes. In May, 1424, the abbot and all the lords of Upper Rhætia joined the deputies of the various valleys, and of the towns of Ilantz and Tusis, in an open field outside of the village of Trons, and there, forming a circle round a gigantic maple tree, all of them standing, nobles, magistrates, deputies, and elders, swore in the name of the Holy Trinity a perpetual alliance for the maintenance of justice and the security of every one, without, however, infringing on the rights of any.. The articles of the league, which to this day rules that country, were then stipulated. This was called the Grey League, from the colour of the outer garments which the deputies wore. By degrees it gave its name to the whole country, which was called Grisons, Graubündten, and that of Rhætia became obliterated. Such was the glorious covenant of Trons, one of the few events of its kind which can be recorded with unmixed satisfaction.

In the seventeenth century the independence of the Grisons was annihilated from their harsh and imprudent treatment of the people of the Valtelline, and of their obstinate rejection of proposals from Madrid. The overbearing conduct of Austria, was, however, the cause of the restoration of Grison independence. In that part of the country which they now considered as their own, it having been incorporated with the Austrian dominions, Baldiron's soldiers oppressed the inhabitants with the greatest insolence, interfered with their property, obliged them to carry heavy loads, and treated them more like beasts of burthen than like men. A swarm of Capuchins spread over the valleys to convert the peasants to Catholicism. All the reformed clergy were driven away, seventy-five evangelical churches were left without pastors, and the people were compelled by blows to attend the catholic service. This last act of tyranny roused them to resistance. The robust and spirited inhabitants of the fine valley called Prätigau, on the banks of the Landquart, disarmed as they were, hied to the mountain forests, made themselves spears and clubs, and on Palm Sunday, 1622, they issued out with loud shouts, surprised the Austrian detachments, cut them to pieces or made them prisoners, and drove away the main body as far as Meyenfeld. They then invested Coire, where Baldiron himself was. The rest of the country followed their example, the mountaineers from Appenzell joined them, and Baldiron was obliged to demand a truce, to withdraw from the country. Rudolph de Salis was named General of the Patriots, but Baldiron came against him into the Prätigau the next summer with 10,000 men eager for vengeance. The people fought with the fury of despair in the valleys, in the villages, in the mountains. It is recorded that thirty brave men, in the last fight in the plain of Acquasana, on the 5th of September, threw themselves, armed with clubs only, into the enemy's ranks, and fell one after the other upon heaps of soldiers whom they had slain. The succour from Coire came too late. The whole country of Prätigau was already in flames, and the population almost entirely destroyed.

The Grison leagues sent envoys to the archduke of Austria at Lindau; but they had to submit to hard conditions. The league of the ten jurisdictions was declared to belong to Austria, and free passage was to be allowed through the whole Grison country to the Austrians and Spaniards.

The king of France, Louis XIII., who was jealous of the Austrian power, had already interfered by negotiations, in concert with the duke of Savoy and the senate of Venice, to prevent the permanent occupation, by Spain and Austria, of the important passes of the Grisons and the Valtelline. At last, in 1624, he sent a force, under the count de Cœuvres, into the Grison country. Berne and Zurich not only gave a free passage, but added their contingents. All the exiled Grisons, led by Rudolph de Salis and by Colonel Jenatsch, led the van. As they reached the frontier of their country, a general