VISP OR VIEGE: SWITZERLAND. BY MRS. BUSHBY. RAVELLERS rather disagree in the epithets which they apply to this place; some calling it "a miserable village," others "an important town." The truth is, that travellers, unless they are implicitly guided by hand-books, seldom all see with the same eyes. Thus, very lately, a gentleman was heard to exclaim, "What a frightfully ugly country Belgium is! there is nothing at all in it, in the way of scenery, to be admired." "Nothing to be admired in Belgium !" said another, in great surprise. "What! not the beautiful country round Liège? -not the picturesque banks of the Meuse?-not the lovely scenery at Spa ?" But "Convince a man against his will, He's of the same opinion still." So our first speaker remained obdurate in his unbelief respecting the beauties of Belgium, and no doubt will continue so to his dying day. Though Visp, then, according to its German, and Viège, according to its French name, may be variously rated in respect to its intrinsic interest, there can hardly be a question as to the beauty of its position at the junction of the Rhone and the Visp, and at no great distance from some of the most magnificent of the towering Alps. It is situated in the Canton of Le Valais, about six and a half leagues from Sion, and one and a half from Breig; at which place the ascent of the Simplon begins, and which is also noted as containing the chateau of Baron Stockalper, whose family is the noblest in the Canton. Visp, in times long past, was itself the residence of many noble families; and near it formerly stood the castle of Hubschburg, the seat of the Counts of Visp and Blandra. It contains a hotel de ville, or town-house, and two churches; one of which, that of St. Martin, is remarkable for the height of its steeple. It stands at the opening of the Visp-thal, which again branches into the two valleys of the Saas; on the left, leading to the foot of Monte Rosa, by the pass of the Moro, the summit of which mountain is 9,641 English feet above the level of the sea; and of St. Nicolas, or the Matter-thal on the right, ascending to Mont Cervin, as it is called by the French; a pyramidical obelisk of rock, not 1,000 feet lower than Mont Blanc; known as Monte Silvio in the Italian language, and as the Matter-horn in the German. It is a disputed point whether the snow-clad peaks which bound the splendid view from the bridge that crosses the Rhone, near Viège, are those of Monte Rosa, or whether they belong to the mountains of Saas, which divide the valley of that name from the Matter-thal. Monte Rosa, which has been called "the Queen of the Alps," is not a single summit; but a knot or union of two ridges crossing each other at right angles. The valley of the Saas is one of the wildest defiles amidst the Alps; dark crags are piled above each other in seeming disorder on either side; whilst torrents, dashing from rock to rock, pour their foaming waters into the deep ravine below, swelling the river, which, a little above the village of Stalden, meets its sister stream from the Matter-thal in a scene of surpassing grandeur. Of the bridges, so trying to the nerves to cross, which span this deep and narrow valley, Brockeden thus writes: "I had to cross it (the river) three times, and over bridges so illconstructed, with only a few pines laid across, that even to me, who had been rather inured to such places, the sensation of crossing on a mule was horrible; the planks moved loosely under the animal's feet, and the whole fabric shook as if an infant could have overthrown it. Some bridges in the valley are at fearful heights above the torrent; one of these, about two inches above Stalden, serves for communication between some cottages and the opposite mountain. Its height above the water is from 200 to 300 feet; and the cottages are so placed on the cliff, that a line dropped from them would hang far over the torrent on the other side. I have nowhere seen such rugged wildness; the huge old larches which overhung the deep gorges of the river, were of an immense size, and their giant limbs and roots thrown about in a savage grandeur, were quite in accordance with the surrounding scenery." Between the elevated plain and village of Saas, and the village of Stalden alone, more than 150 crosses mark the spots where lives have been lost. These mementos of the dead must form rather lugubrious landmarks to the adventurous traveller. The scenery in the valley of St. Nicolas, though sufficiently wild and imposing, is not so savage as that of the valley of Saas; yet even here the path lies along a precipitous slope, where a false step might hurry the unwary passenger to certain destruction. St. Nicolas, the chief place in the valley, is pleasantly situated amidst orchards and forests. At a considerable distance higher up, lies Randa, a village which was once partially destroyed by the mere draught of air produced by the fall of an avalanche behind it, from the precipice of the Weisshorn. Still higher lies Zermatt, situated on an an elevated plain, and surrounded by pine-forests and vast glaciers. From Zermatt, the ascent to the summit of the pass of Mount Cervin may be made in about fifteen hours; but it is a difficult undertaking, and cannot be adventured on without experienced guides, nor without the assistance of ropes and ice-poles. The valley of Visp, or Visper-thal itself, enclosed by the lofty mountains known as the Matter-horn, and Mittag's-horn, or Monte Rosa, with the Moro, abounds in wild, sublime, and romantic scenery, as well as in rare plants and fossils. It is inhabited by a simple German alpine race, very patriarchal in their manners and customs. In this upper part of the Canton of Le Valais, German is the language spoken; at and below Sion, French prevails. Switzerland is perhaps the only country in Europe which has no language peculiar to itself. German, French, Italian, and a sort of patois -a mixture of French and Italian-are the languages of this romantic land. Of these, German is the most diffused; though French is spoken in the Cantons of Neufchatel, Geneva, and De Vaud; in the bishopric of Basle; in part of Fribourg; and in the Lower Valais. Two religious persuasions also divide the Cantons,-part of them adhering to the Romish Church; the rest being Protestant. The Protestants of Switzerland are almost all Calvinists. It is a remarkable fact, attested by many travellers, that the Protestant cantons far excel the Roman Catholic ones, in the industry, cleanliness, and thriving appearance of their population. The contrast between the Pays de Vaud, which is a Protestant canton, and Le Valais, which is a Popish one, is striking. Little or no provision has been made for the education of the lower classes among the Valaisans; consequently more ignorance, fanaticism, and superstition prevail in Le Valais than in any other portion of Switzerland. This superiority, not only in the morals, manners, and appearance of the Protestant districts of Switzerland, but also in the cultivation of their soil, over the districts in which Roman Catholicism prevails, is likewise observable in a country nearer home. In Ireland there is a larger amount of misery and want amidst the Romish than amidst the Protestant part of the population. Wherever the mind is enslaved, wherever the spirit bestowed by the Great Creator is dragged down to be in bondage to beings whose powers are as limited as its own, there must be a certain amount of degradation. It is not the difference of classes in society-not the vast difference between the rank, the wealth, the information, or the talents of individuals, that can cause this pariah state of the soul: it is because the mind, in Popish countries, lies under a "strong delusion;" because, "having the understanding darkened," it seeks not light from Christ; because it has "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator." The Valais, or valley of the Rhone, one of the deepest, if not the deepest, valley in the world, lies between, two ranges of the Alps, which, dividing at Mont Furca, from whose glaciers the Rhone takes its rise, unite again at Mont Blanc. That colossal mountain, Mont Cervin, and Monte Rosa, are in the southern chain; while amidst the northern range are the Finsteraar-horn and the Jungfrau. Ascending from the banks of the Rhone to the icy regions of the hills above, the traveller meets with a succession of trees and plants of every climate; from the fig and the pomegranate of the valley, up to the red rhododendron springing close to the perpetual snow. The inhabitants of the Upper, are a more robust and handsome race than those of the Lower Valais; both are much attached to their secluded home; and not even long residence, or military service in richer lands, can weaken their passionate love for their native country. The effect which the RANZ DE VACHES produces on the Swiss mountaineer, at a distance from his home, is well known. This shepherd-call is not a single air, as it is often supposed to be; but a class of melodies peculiar to the Alpine valleys; almost every valley having a call of its own; the original being said to be that of Appenzel. The Ranz de Vaches is either sung in a few high prolonged notes, or played on the rude Alpine horn; and nothing can exceed its wild melody, heard amidst these mountaiu-solitudes, where its notes are caught up and repeated, in clear unearthly tones, by the echoes of the surrounding hills. There is a great fascination in simple music, heard amidst the grand and lonely scenes of nature. Even Lowlanders admire the sometimes wailing, sometimes martial sounds, of the Highland bagpipe, as it reverberates from crag to crag among the romantic Highland glens. There is a magic in the blast of the postilion's horn, when he blows it on passing the foot of the Hartz mountains, that stronghold of German superstitions; and it is even pleasing to listen to the simple reedflute of the untutored negro, when its plaintive notes mingle with the hollow murmur of the sparkling waves of the Atlantic, as they dash on the flower-enamelled sands of the lovely West India Islands. |