ALPS. 



127 



situated the highest of the above-mentioned moun- 

 tains. This formation is particularly rich in beauti- 

 ful minerals, of which lime-stone, gneiss, mica slate, 

 and granite are the chief. To this succeeds, as 

 well upon the northern as upon the southern side, 

 the slate formation, which rises also to a considerable 

 height, without reaching, however, the highest 

 points. It consists principally of table-slate, whet- 

 slate, silicious slate, graywacke, and cont ins, also, 

 a kind of lime-stone. In it there are fo nd, also, 

 layers - of ore, particularly the famous masses of 

 sparry iron in Styria. The porphyry formation ap- 

 pears only on the south side of the Alps, particularly 

 in Tyrol, where it forms a wide, low p'ateau. The 

 latest formation of the central chain is the elder or 

 red sand-stone, consisting of a coarse stone, often a 

 -conglomerate, or of a finer red or gray stone. The 

 ridges of lime-stone Alps rise northwards and south- 

 wards, at the foot of the central chain, steep, and 

 highly picturesque, constituted by Alpine or elder 

 Flcetz lime-stone, marl, plaster, clay, fossil salt, trap, 

 porphyry, also amygdaloid, and conglomerate. It is 

 distinguished by beds of calamine, galena, and clay 

 iron stone. On the lime-stone chain lean the 

 younger formations of the Jura (q. v.), of the Suabian 

 Alps, &c. See the article Alps, Suabian; also 

 Ebel, uber den Bau der Erde in dem Alpengebirge, 

 On the Structure of the Alps, 2 vols., Zurich, 1808. 

 ALPS, Roads over. One of the most lasting 

 monuments of the power and policy of Napoleon are 

 the artificial mountain-roads, which connect Savoy 

 with France, and Valais with Italy. The first leads 

 over mount Cenis (a mountain 5,879 feet high) by 

 Lansleburg to Susa, from Savoy to Piedmont. 

 Formerly, travellers were obliged to pass over the 

 steepest height on mules, or in chairs ; but, in 1805, 

 Napoleon ordered a winding road for carriages to be 

 laid out here, thirty miles long and eighteen feet 

 wide, which is passable even in winter. In 1815, 

 16,000 carriages, and 34,900 mules passed this road. 

 The second leads over the Simplon (Sempione), 

 which is 10,327 feet in height, from Valais to Pied- 

 mont, from the village Glus to Domod'Ossola. This 

 road, constructed between 1801 and 1806, is the 

 only one from Switzerland, over the Alps, passable 

 by wheel carriages. It is about thirty-six miles 

 long, and twenty-five feet wide throughout, and is 

 nowhere too steep to be passed by the heaviest wag- 

 gons. It is carried over steep precipices, and 

 through six galleries hewn in the rocks. Some of 

 these passages are several hundred paces in length, 

 and are lighted by openings. From them you step 

 into lovely valleys, adorned with cottages, and see 

 above them dark forests of pine, glaciers, and peaks 

 covered with snow shining in the olue sky. Bridges 

 are thrown over tremendous precipices, from one 

 mountain to the other. The Italian side offers a 

 more beautiful spectacle than the Swiss, because the 

 rocks are steeper. The grande galerie is 683 feet 

 lng, entirely excavated in granite, called the 

 gallery of Frissinone, from the rivulet, which forms 

 ii splendid cascade near it. The road commences a 

 mile westward from Brieg, and leads over the 

 Saltina-bridge ; above the village of Ried, it goes 

 through a beautiful grove of larch-trees, to the first 

 gallery, and then over the Chanter-bridge, eighty 

 paces in length, to Persal. Here begin precipices 

 and avalanches, on which account the road lias many 

 windings. At the galerie des glaciers the growth 

 of trees ceases, and the road rises 1 ,033 toises above 

 the lago Maggiore, or almost 6,000 feet above the 

 sea. At the top stands a hospitium for travellers, a 

 turnpike, and, lower down on the right, the old 

 hospital. Four miles farther on lies the village of 

 Simplon, 4,548 feet above the sea. The road goes 



along the river Veriola, till near Domo d'Ossola. 

 At Gunt is a tavern ; a mile further, the territory of 

 Valais terminates near a chapel; the first Italian 

 village is S. Marco. Avalanches, and masses of 

 earth, brought down by the rain, often damage this 

 road, so that the annual repair requires a consider- 

 able expense, which, however, neither the Swiss nor 

 the Sardinian government have, as yet. been willing 

 to take upon themselves. Osterwald has given 

 fine sketches of the picturesque views on the road 

 over the Simplon. (q. v.) A third road leads over 

 mount Genevre (about 6000 feet high), on the 

 frontiers of France and Piedmont. There is a vil- 

 lage on the level summit of the mountain, with a 

 monastery, where travellers are received. The 

 fourth road (la corniche) goes from Nice, by Monaco, 

 to Genoa, through the rocky ground at the foot of 

 the Maritime Alps. Among the other roads over 

 the Alps are to be mentioned, 1, that over Mt St 

 Gothard (q. v.), from the canton Uri to the canton 

 Tessino ; but, as this is very toilsome, and, in some 

 places, dangerous, particularly near the Devil's 

 bridge, in the Urnerloch, and at the descent to 

 Airolo, in the Val Livino, goods can be transported 

 from Switzerland to Italy only on pack-horses. The 

 road ascends to a height of 8264 feet, and at an 

 elevation of 6367 feet there is a hospitium of the 

 Capuchins. 2. The road over the Great St Ber- 

 nard (q. v.), from the lake of Geneva to Italy (the 

 nearest of all to Turin and Genoa), is unfit for car- 

 riages, and can only be passed on foot and by pack- 

 horses. In order to shorten the way, it has been 

 proposed to make a passage, for the transport of 

 wares, from the Valais to Genoa. 3. The main 

 road from Innspruck to Italy, over the Brenner, a 

 mountain of Tyrol, 6063 feet in height. At this 

 place the road is about ten miles long, and ascends 

 to a height of 4367 feet. With this is connected, 

 4. the new road built by Austria since 1821, the 

 highest in Europe, from Bormio, in Valtellina, 

 over the Braglio, and the yoke of Stilfs, 8400 feet 

 high. 5 and 6. The road from Bellinzona to Coire, 

 over the Bernardin, and that over the Splugen, 

 passable for wheel-carriages since 1823 ; the former 

 leading to the lake of Lugano, the latter to the lake 

 of Como. The canton Tessino, in 1818, entered 

 into a compact with the government of Lombardy, 

 by which, on condition or being allowed the impor- 

 tation of salt and fruits from Lombardy, it promised 

 to prevent the building of a new road from Bellin- 

 zona to Coire, over the Bernardin, and only to 

 keep the old road in its present condition. The 

 validity of this treaty, however, so contrary to the 

 interest of the Orisons and the other cantons, was 

 disputed, and the building was finally commenced. 

 The roads over the yoke of Stilfs, and that over 

 mount Simplon, are among the greatest productions 

 of human energy and art in modern times. 



ALPS, the Suabian. The northern continuation of 

 the Schwarz-wald, or Black Forest, is a regular, 

 calcareous mountain, seventy miles long, and from 

 nine to twenty broad, on the southern frontier of 

 Wirtemberg, of which the highest and most barren 

 part is the Rough Alps (Rauhe Alp). The highest 

 point is not quite 3000 feet above the level of the 

 sea. In the village of Sirchingen, the eaves of a 

 house shed the rain, on one side, into the Rhine, 

 through the Neckar, and on the other, into the 

 Damibe. As the mountain abounds in lime, it is 

 rich in caverns containing stalactites. The higher 

 the quarries of limestone are situated, the finer is the 

 grain of the stone, and the greater the mass of petri- 

 factions ; among which are particularly to be noticed 

 large specimens of the cornu ammonis. These Alps 

 are poor in metals. 



