ON LANDSLIPS. 325 



public Acclimatisation Gardens, and by the first view of the 

 magnificent cathedral, with its thousand pinnacles. Built 

 entirely of white marble, its exterior is very striking ; but 

 on going inside I did not like it. There is a want of equili- 

 bration in the entire structure, and the upper portion has 

 had to be tied together by great iron tie-rods from pillar- top 

 to pillar-top, and on to the springing of the arches on the 

 top of the walls. 



Returning to Bellagio, the most beautiful spot on the most 

 beautiful lake of Como, I watched a thunderstorm as it passed 

 grandly over the lake and the riparian mountains. A suc- 

 ceeding storm drove me back to the hotel. A third thundered 

 over us .while at dinner ; and during the night a terrific 

 thunderstorm, with furious wind and hail, passed over. The 

 combination of noises w^as extraordinary : that of the waves 

 breaking upon the rocks at the foot of the hotel, the contin- 

 ual rushing of the hailstones, the howling of the wind, and 

 the constant slamming of an outside jalousie shutter against 

 the window, together with the continual heavy peals of 

 thunder, kept every one wide awake ; and when we got up 

 in the morning the hail was piled in heaps several feet deep 

 around the hotel, and the upper two-thirds of the mountains 

 bordering the lake were covered with snow. From being 

 hot summer the day before, it was now winter. The land- 

 lord of the hotel was in terrible distress at the prospect of 

 losing all his visitors so early in the season ; and I made up 

 my mind to return home at once, before anything should 

 happen to block the railway. And well it was I did so. 

 When I got to Airolo there were nine inches of sloppy 

 snow on the ground, and thick, half-melted snow was falling 

 all the time. As I passed along I could see the raging tor- 

 rents rushing down the, what had been, dry channels, and 

 some grand waterfalls, as I had anticipated ; but the view 



