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mendous abyss. A Valaisan was foolhardy enough, for the sakeof a trifling: wager to climb this tree and fetch a branch from itstop. Beyond the abyss on the right, in a perpendicular rock, isseen a quadrangular aperture through which formerly ran thedangerous footway leading over the mountain. On reaching thehut the traveller enjoys a magnificent prospect of the lofty chainof Alps which separates the Valais from Piedmont; but the viewis confined to the small portion directly opposite to the Gemmi.

From Leuk the road continues along the valley which consistsof meadows, sprinkled with hamlets as far as Viege or Visp . Thisis a large village, situated on a river of the same name, which, atits junction with the Rhone , is not inferior to that river. Abovethe place formerly stood the castle of Hiibschburg, the seat ofthe Counts of Visp and Blandra. At that period Visp was theresidence of most of the gentry of the Valais , of whose haughtyspirit many instances are recorded by historians. After the Va-laisans had, in 1383, in an unfortunate contest with Savoy, lostthe w hole of the Lower Valais , and Count Rudolph of Greierzw r as continuing the war for Savoy, with a view to the conquestof the Upper, he was attacked by the people of the latter, on the20th December 1388, near Visp , and totally defeated with theloss of 4,000 men, who were partly put to the sword and partlyperished in the Rhone . The Savoyards in revenge carried offtwo sons of Raron, the commander of the Valaisans , who were be-headed by command of the Duke. The Hiibschburg was demo-lished by the victors.

The Visper-thal, or valley of Visp , at the opening of which thisplace is situated, is nine or ten leagues in length and inclosed bythe lofty mountains, the Rosa or Mittags-horn, the Matter-hornand Moro. It abounds in wild, sublime and romantic scenery,as well as in the rarest plants and fossils, and is inhabited by aGerman Alpine tribe, among whom the simple manners of the

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