132 CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF THE TYROLESE. 



which are literally riddled with grape-shot, to mark the severity 

 of the fire to which their countrymen were exposed. 



The next important action in the war, was on a rocky ridge, 

 between Reichenhall and Viedering, on the road from Salzburg to 

 Worgel. The French and Bavarians, under the Duke of Dantzic, 

 having captured Salzburg, after the fatal battle of Ratisbon, ad- 

 vanced towards the Tyrol, on the great road from Vienna to In- 

 spruck. The Tyrolese, under Hofer, took post on a rocky emi- 

 nence, surrounded by vast and precipitous mountains, immediate- 

 ly to the westward of a small lake which lies on the frontier of the 

 Salzburg territory. It is impossible to imagine a scene of more 

 perfect beauty than the one which was here selected as the field of 

 battle. A lake of small dimensions, not unlike Loch Achray, in 

 Perthshire, spreads itself at the foot of lofty cliffs whose sides and 

 base are clothed with luxuriant woods, and penetrates far into 

 their lovely recesses. Green fields, and white cottages, and smiling 

 orchards, fringe the margin of the water, and occupy the narrow 

 space which lies between the lake and the stupendous rocks by 

 which it is surrounded. The road winds through this delightful 

 region till it reaches ihe extremity of the lake, when it ascends 

 the rugged and almost perpendicular chfFs which form its western 

 boundary, and separate on this side, the territories of Saltzburg 

 from those of Tyrol. 



It was on these cliffs that the Tyrolese took their station — vast 

 forests of larch and fir covered the higher parts of the mountains, 

 and entirely concealed the peasants who occupied the passes. It 

 was early on the morning of the 14th May, that the French troops, 

 to the number of 28,000, broke up from Reichenhall, where they 

 had passed the night, and advanced along the margin of the lake 

 towards the ridge which the Tyrolese occupied. A thick mist, 

 very prevalent at daybreak in that country, at first concealed their 

 movements ; and the peasants were too inexperienced in the art of 

 war, to have gained any previous intelhgence of their approach. 



They were saying their matin prayers on the morning of Holy 

 Thursday, which is kept with remarkable devotion by all the peo- 

 ple, when the most advanced first perceived, through the mist 

 which was beginning to rise, the sun glittering on the bayonets of 

 the hostile troops that were advancing against them. The in- 

 creasing warmth of the day shortly after dispelled the clouds, and 

 the Tyrolese, from their station in the forest, beheld the long 



