Essays on Life 



homeward. If he was escaping, he would 

 make immediately for the Savoy frontier, 

 within which Saas then lay. He would cross 

 the Baranca above Fobello, coming down on 

 to Ponte Grande in the Val Anzasca. He 

 would go up the Val Anzasca to Macugnaga, 

 and over the Monte Moro, which would bring 

 him immediately to Saas. Saas, therefore, is 

 the nearest and most natural place for him to 

 make for, if he were flying from Varallo, and 

 here I suppose him to have halted. 



It so happened that on the 9th of Septem- 

 ber, 1589, there was one of the three great 

 outbreaks of the Mattmark See that have from 

 time to time devastated the valley of Saas. 1 

 It is probable that the chapels were decided 

 upon in consequence of some grace shown by 

 the miraculous picture of the Virgin, which 

 had mitigated a disaster occurring so soon after 



1 This is thus chronicled by M. Ruppen : " 1589 den 9 Sep- 

 tember war eine Wassergrosse, die viel Schaden verursachte. 

 Die Thalstrasse, die von den Steinmatten an bis zur Kirche am 

 Ufer der Visp lag, wurde ganz zerstort. Man ward gezwungen 

 eine neue Strasse in einiger Entfernung vom Wasser durch 

 einen alten Fussweg auszuhauen welche vier und einerhalben 

 Viertel der Klafter, oder 6 Schuh und 9 Zoll breit sollte." 

 (p. 43). 



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