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VILLA.

Opposite to Mazzone is seen the village of Pie de Muliere,near which opens the valley of Mount Rosa. This mountain rises15,084 feet above the level of the sea, being very little inferiorin elevation to Mont Blanc. It is composed of a series of giganticpeaks of nearly equal height, which form a vast circle inclosingmeadows studded with pine and larch-trees, in the centre ofwhich is situated the village of Macugnaga. The steep declivi-ties and the glaciers by which it is bordered, form the secondrange of the amphitheatre and gradually rise to the very sum-mits of the mountain. This valley is remarkable for the beautyof its vegetation, and still more for its gold-mines. The pyritescontaining the metal is found in a veined granite.

At Mazzone travellers sometimes leave their carriages and pro-ceed in boats down the Toccia to Lago Maggiore . The roadby land exhibits nothing remarkable: all the mountains, whichare more bare than in the upper part of the valley, assume a py-ramidal form which is by no means pleasing. The travellerleaves at some distance the quarry of white marble of which thecathedral of Milan is built. The blocks raised from it are con-veyed down the Toccia and Tessino to that city where they arewrought; and of the same marble are also the statues and orna-ments with which that church is most profusely decorated. Atlength after traversing the extensive meadows from Orvanascoto Gravelona, you arrive at Feriolo, on the banks of Lago Maggiore .