602 
peated echoes, which might truly be 
called the music of the mountains, and 
was in perfect harmony with the vast 
sublimity of the scene. 'To these deep 
echoes succeeded a solemn silence, till 
again an appalling crash, from another 
part of the range, was repeated by 
louder echoes, responding from moun- 
tain to mountain. It would have re- 
quired no very poetic imagination to 
haye heard amid these sounds the 
mighty genii of the Alps, holding con- 
verse together ih an awful language, 
that spoke of the feebleness of human 
power, compared with the force and 
immensity of nature. 
All that I had hitherto witnessed in 
the Alps, sunk in comparison with the 
‘scene before me. Nowhere, in that 
vast range, can the two senses of sight 
and hearing receive a more powerful 
combined impression of the sublime ; 
but to experience this fully, certain con- 
ditions are required. ‘To the clearness 
of the atmosphere must be conjoined 
the proper season, and hour of the day. 
The latter end of sammer, when the, sky 
js clear, every day, between the hours 
of two and four, the avalanches begin to 
fall, and are greater and more numerous 
in proportion to the warmth of the 
weather. 
AVALANCHES. 
Few persons who have not visited Al- 
pine countries, have a corrgct idea of an 
avalanche. It is not, as frequently de- 
scribed, snow set in motion, and ac- 
cumulated by rolling, for the noise can- 
not be produced by snow rolling over 
snow. Anavalanche isa mass of snow, 
sliding from the upper part of a moun- 
tain, and falling over a precipice, and 
then striking against the base of the 
mountain, or upon the rocks below. 
To compare .great objects with small, 
the snow falling from the roof of a 
house upon the pavement, is an ava- 
Janche on a small scale; judge then of 
the effect, when many tons, or hun- 
dredsof tons, of snow fall from the height 
of several thousand feet upon the solid 
ground, The snow on the Alps is much 
consolidated, being partly changed into 
ice, by partial thawing and repeated 
freezing. 
{t may be briefly stated, that a sloping 
bed of snow, over a precipice, like the 
yoof of a building above a wall, are 
essential conditions for an avalanche, or, 
at least, for producing an avalanche 
which will be attended by those loud 
and appalling sounds, that break in on 
Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaisc, &c. 
awful, reverberaling in Jong and ro-~ 
the silenoe of Alpine regions. “There 
may be, and often is, a sliding down 
of snow, from the upper to the lower 
part ofthe mountains, without the snow 
falling over a precipice; but such ava- 
lanches can produce but little noise. 
PUBLIC PRESS. 
The newspapers published in the 
Swiss republics contain scarcely any 
political information. As the govern- 
ments of the different cantons are afraid 
of offending their powerful neighbours, 
the editors avoid any comments on pas- 
sing events. Even the Genevesée are 
content with publishing, twice a weck, 
a single sheet of advertisements called 
Feuille d’Avis, without any political 
news whatever. 
GRAPE DIET. 
The physicians at Geneva send some 
of their patients to Vevey, during the 
vintage, to take what is called a regular 
course of grapes, that is, to subsist for 
three weeks entirely on-this fruit, without 
tasting any other food or drink. The 
quantity recommended to be eaten is, 
in many instances, about seven English 
pounds perday. The patients generally 
dislike the grape diet at first, butin a 
few days it becomes agreeable, and they 
feel no inclination for other food. 
An English gentleman, who had been 
at the same pension where we boarded 
at Geneva, was sent to take a course 
of grapes, near St. Saphorin; he was 
in a state of great debility, after an 
attack ofthe measles, and was declining 
rapidly ; he had eruptions over his body, 
and his recovery seemed doubtful. After 
three weeks he returned to Geneva much 
improved in appearance, and in good 
health and spixits. In certain cases of 
insanity, a grape diet is said to be very 
efficacious in restoring the patient to 
a sound state; and so far as an entire 
change of food can effect a material 
change in the constitution of the patient, 
ii may be readily admitted that sub- 
sisting entirely on grapes, for several 
weeks, may have a powerful influence, 
TOUISSANT. 
The unfortunate negro chief, Touis- 
sant, died at Vevey. The seizure and re- 
moval of Touissant is one of the deepest 
stains in the history of Napoleon, and it 
was as impolitie and ruinous to the in- 
terests of France, and of St. Domingo, as 
it was flagrantly unjust; but it does not 
appear that Touissant was kept in the 
painful state of durance that has been 
generally believed. 
CANTON OF VALLAIS. 
The mountains on each side of this 
