THE I1ATHS OF PFEFFERS.

447

(like a gigantic pyramid), and in the distance the Alps that tower round Feldkirck arethe most prominent features. During our journey to the baths, the morning sun playedon the snowy summits of the distant mountains, and marked their forms on the blueexpanse behind them, in the most distinct outlines. But, on our return, in the afternoon,when the fleecy clouds had assembled, in fantastic groups, along the lofty harrier, thereflexions and refractions of the solar beams threw a splendid crown of glory round theicy heads of the llhetian Alps —changing that “ cold sublimity ” with which themorning atmosphere had invested them, into a glow of illumination which no pen orpencil could portray. To enjoy the widest possible range of this matchless prospect, thetourist must climb the peaks that overhang the village, when his eye may wander overthe whole of the Grison Alps and valleys, even to the lake of Constance.

“ From Yalentz we turned abruptly down towards the ravine, at the very bottom ofwhich arc the baths of Pfeffers. The descent is by a series of acute and precipitoustourniquets, requiring great caution, as the horses themselves could hardly keep on theirlegs, even when eased of (heir riders. At length we found ourselves in the area of a vastedifice, resembling an overgrown factory, with a thousand windows, and six or sevenstories high. It is built pn a ledge of rock that lies on the left bank of the Taniinatorrent, which chafes along its foundation. The precipice on the ‘opposite side of theTamina, and distant about fifty paces from the mansion, or rather hospital, rises five or sixhundred feet, as perpendicular as a wall, keeping the edifice in perpetual shade, exceptfor a few hours in the puddle of the day. The left bank of the ravine, on which thehospital stands, is less precipitous, as it admits of a zig-zag path to and from the baths.The locale, altogethpp, of such an establishment, at the very bottom of a frightful ravine,and for ever chafed by a roaring torrent, is the most singularly wild and picturesque Ihad ever beheld j but the wonders of Pfeffers are not yet even glanced at.

“ From the western extremity of this vast asylum of invalids, a narrow wooden bridgespans the Tamina, and by it we gain footing on a small platform of a rock on theopposite side. Here a remarkable phenomenon presents itself. The deep ravine, whichhad hitherto preserved a width of some 150 feet, contracts, all at once, into a narrowcleft or crevasse, of less than twenty feef, whose marble sides shoot up from the bed of thetorrent, to a height of four or jiye hundred feet, not merely perpendicular, but actuallyinclining towards each other, so that, at their summits, they almost touch, thus leaving anarrow fissure through which a faint glimmering of light descends, and just serves torender objects visible within this gloomy cavern: Out of this recess the Tamina darts ina sheet of foam, and with a deafening nojse reverberated from the rocks within andwithout the crevasse. On approaching the entrance, the eye penetrates along a majesticvista of marble walls in close approximation, and terminating in obscurity, with a narrowwaving line of sky above, and a roaring torrent below ! Along the southern wall of thissombre gorge, a fragile scaffold, of only two planks in breadth, is seen to run, suspendedas it were in air, fifty feet above the torrent, and three or four hundred feet beneath thecrevice that adrnits air and light from heaven ipto the profound abyss. This frail andfrightful foot-path is continued (will it be beljeved P) nearly a quarter of a mile into themarble womb of the mountain ! Its construction must have been a work of greatdifficulty and peril; for its transit cannot be made even by the most curious andadventurous travellers, without fear and trembling 1 , amounting often to a sense ofshuddering and horror. Along these two planks we crept or crawled, with faltering stepsand palpitating hearts. It has been my fortune to visit most of the wonderful localitiesof this globe, but an equal to this I never beheld.

“ ‘ Imagination,’ says an intelligent traveller, ‘ the most vivid, could not portray theportals of Tartarus under forms more hideous than those which nature has displayed inthis place. We enter this gorge on a bridge of planks (pont cle planches) sustained by