14 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



of Savoy. All Swiss riding-saddles have a flap or pillion 

 attached, on which goods can be carried not exceeding 

 in weight 30 lbs. The Swiss law does not allow this 

 weight to be exceeded, unless the animal be led and 

 not ridden, when in place of the rider a large quantity 

 of luggage or goods may be thus conveyed. 



A pass does not in every case mean a road by 

 which vehicles can pass ; many of the so-called passes 

 are foot or bridle-paths. A pass signifies a way by 

 which travellers can go. A pass is a depression in a 

 range of mountains facilitating a passage across them 

 either on foot or horseback. There is no doubt that 

 such ways being so frequently used become worn 

 into legible tracks, and that various insignificant efforts 

 are made by the inhabitants of these regions to 

 facilitate the passage over them and provide shelter 

 on the way ; but they are not roadways, and it 

 remains for a powerful Government or a sovereign 

 ruler such as Napoleon to authorise or command 

 their conversion into a wide roadway, supplemented 

 by numerous bridges and protected by avalanche 

 galleries. 



Many persons who are not acquainted with 

 Switzerland may wonder what an avalanche gallery 

 is. This I will endeavour to explain, and when I have 

 done so, I think they will admit that there are perils 

 attending the construction, maintenance, and even the 

 travelling on a Swiss mountain road, which are never 

 dreamed of by those accustomed to our level and 

 unromantic highways. 



When during the spring and summer the snow is 

 melting in the high Alps, it is apt to glide away from 

 the place it has occupied during the winter. As it 

 moves onward and downward other drifts are loosened 



