BOTANY—SOIL AND CLIMATE.
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our limits will not permit us to quote—the perusal of native works on the historyand topography of the Grisons. *
The Flora of this portion of the Alps comprises a great variety of rich andbeautiful productions—all indicative of the wonderful change in climate whicha few leagues have occasioned by transporting us from the regions of eternalwinter to those of continual spring, where the common plants are the jasminumofficinale, the centaurea splendens, with purple flowers, the citisus nigricans,and salvifolius, the cyperus longus, and Celtis australis: while the gardensexhibit a profusion of orange and pomegranate trees in full vigour, and thewhole scene is a continued display of beauty and fertility.
The manufacture of cookery utensils from the laveze, or lapis ollaris , ofChiavenna—and the lapis comensis, of former times—still continues in someactivity. The peculiar advantage of this material is, that, in cooking, the processis much more quickly performed, and the taste and flavour of animal food greatlysuperior to that prepared in vessels of iron or copper. In 1700, the trade inthis article alone produced an annual revenue of 250,000 florins, but of lateyears it has greatly decreased.m
Qui pressum quondam lusit, Grislere ! popellumPileus Helvetic! foederis ansa fuit.
Brutus erat nobis Uro Gulielmus in arvoAssertor patriae, vindexque, ultorque tyranntim.
Before taking final leave of the Hesperian frontier, we shall make a shortdetour by the lakes of Chiavenna and Como, recross the Monte Cenere, traversethe Livinen-thal upwards to Airolo, thence climb the St. Gothard , and pauseamong those scenes over which the “ men of Uri ” and their deeds have thrownunfading lustre.
From Chiavenna to Riva, in the Lake of Como , a distance of two leagues, we
* Die Drey Biinde in Hohen Rhaticn—Historia Reformationis Eccles. Rhaetie. Schokke’s HistorischeDenkwiirdigkeiten—and, for an excellent abridgment, Dr. J. G. Ebel’s Account, in Meyer’s Voy. Pittor.dans le Cant des Grisons. Zurich , 1827.