ALPINE ROADS. 21 



ail important pass, but recently a tunnel has been 

 made through the mountain, and also through the St. 

 Gothard, a work which even surpasses the roads 

 constructed over their summits at the order of 

 Napoleon. Had the little Corsican lived at the present 

 day, he would have had no reason to complain 

 because there was a want of facility in transporting 

 troops or weighty artiller)-. Before the existence of 

 the tunnel, sledges used to be employed in winter to 

 cross the snow-covered pass; fourteen men were often 

 required, and twelve mules, to conduct the diligence 

 across this mountain in safetv. 



A great many of the so-called j^^^sses are only 

 bridle-paths and not carriage-roads ; some of them are 

 not even bridle-paths, being too precipitous for any- 

 thing but pedestrians. There is no doubt that a great 

 many of these might be converted into carriage-roads, 

 but since they lead to and from no important places, it 

 would be a useless expense to convert them ; in fact, 

 the Mont Cenis, St. Bernard, St. Gothard, and 

 Simplon, the four greatest passes, are becoming dis- 

 used owing to the construction of the tunnels, and 

 now that tunnelling^ through mountain rano^es has met 

 with such success, there is no saying to what extent it 

 may not be carried. Why tunnels should not be 

 provided for ordinary traffic as well as for the passage 

 of the locomotive, it is difficult to say ; ot course 

 the illumination and ventilation of such long tunnels 

 is not only expensive, but is a matter of great 

 difficulty. 



In speaking of these tunnels I may be departing 

 somewhat from the subject of roads, but as there is 

 no reason why common roads should not penetrate 

 through tunnels, thereby avoiding severe declivities, 



