288 AUSTRALIA AND HOMEWARD. 



are like the wild goats leaping from crag to crag. 

 Looking down directly below us we saw other roads, 

 one about 150 feet below, and another 100 below that 

 again. I expressed surprise that so many railway 

 lines had been cut through these mountains, but was 

 much more surprised to learn that there was but one 

 line, and that we had just come over the very tracks 

 we saw directly below us. We were going up the 

 mountains as we would ascend a spiral staircase. 



Winter has its special charms in the Alps. If one 

 cannot see Switzerland in b >th seasons, then I pre- 

 sume the summer is preferable, but the beauties of win- 

 ter are also delightful. From bridges over vast chasms 

 you now and then get a view down the long valleys 

 where the evergreens, gracefully bending under a 

 c ivering of spotless snow, are interspersed with rocks 

 encased in the same material ; light and shadow, crag 

 and chasm, rocks and trees and shrubs alternating. 

 The deep abyss at your feet, the interminable depths 

 in the distance ; the sjffc and mellow blending, the 

 frowning mountain immediabe'y above, all combine 

 to draw fort'i the soul into admiration of the works 

 of our great Creator. 



The snow having prevented us from connecting with 

 the evening express train, we were obliged to remain in 

 Basle on the Rhine one night, much against our will. 



