ALPINE ROADS. 13 



bury, called the old Sarum Road ; leaving Winchester, 

 it passes Teg Down, Crab Wood, Horsebridge Mill, 

 and so on throuQ^h Bossina^ton. 



It always seems to me a great pity that such 

 famous roads as the Romans made should not be 

 maintained and used at the present day, particularly 

 as they appear to traverse the country in the directions 

 most desirable, and connect many of our large towns. 



In speaking of other roads than those of Great 

 Britain, I would mention those that the great Napoleon 

 constructed across the Alps. The engineers employed 

 upon these roads were all French and Italian, and 

 their works are triumphs of engineering ; and what 

 makes them still more remarkable is that they were 

 made in very great haste to meet the exigencies of 

 war. The roads are quite as marvellous as those I 

 mentioned in Peru ; they ascend the steepest mountains 

 climb along the face of precipices, and cross bridges 

 over almost unfathomable gorges. The engineers who 

 constructed them at the order of Napoleon appear to 

 have surmounted difficulties calculated to intimidate 

 the most determined hearts. 



In mentioning these roads I speak from experience, 

 being well acquainted with all the great roads over 

 the Alps from Switzerland into Italy. 



Previous to the year 1800, until Napoleon made 

 his Alpine roads, the only means of conveying 

 goods was on the backs of men, horses, or mules ; even 

 now, upon all the less frequented passes the entire 

 traffic is carried on by the use of pack-saddles, or 

 goods roughly slung over the backs of ponies, mules, 

 or donkeys. The ponies used in the Bernese 

 Oberland are clever and sure-footed, but they are 

 not so good as the mules of Chamouni and other parts 



