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BRIEG.

patriarchal ages still prevail. It is however, but little visited andtherefore almost unknown.

Beyond Yisp the valley becomes marshy, and the bed of theRhone is fringed with rushes to some distance: the firs seemscarcely to vegetate on the steep and barren mountains; and no-thing is to be seen but a few dwellings collected on the hills, insituations where the inhabitants have been able to construct aque-ducts to supply them with water. These little spots covered withverdure and with cottages encompassed by trees, afford a singularcontrast to the sterility of the rocks which surround them; butthe country soon opens and becomes more fertile.

The road from Yisp leads first through Gambsen, then past theopening of the Nanzerthal, through the relics of a wall which randown the mountains to the Rhone , and is supposed to have beenthrown up by the Romans as a defence against the Viberi, whodwelt above it. The traveller next comes to Gliis, where, in thechurch, is to be seen the monument of George Supersax or vonder Flue, and his twenty-three children : in the Italian wars atthe beginning of the 16th century he was a violent partisan ofFrance , and by his opposition to Bishop Schinner, involved hiscountry in the greatest troubles. Crossing the Saltine rivulet, hethen arrives at Brieg.

Brieg, situated 1,026 feet above the Lake of Geneva and 2,184above the level of the sea, is one of the best built towns in theValais . It is seated at the foot of the Simplon and presents asmiling picture in the midst of a wild country. The cottagesscattered over the hills, the hamlets shaded by trees, and thebeautiful village of Naters on the opposite bank of the Rhone ,enliven and diversify the scene. Nature herself seems to havedelighted to lavish her blessings on this remote part of theValais .