i«93-] 



*5 



By and by we pass through a tunnel, which pierces the conglom- 

 erate, and crossing a viaduct of wrought iron girders of considerable 

 i pan, we proceed to the summit. 



To me, the chief interest in the view from Rigi-Kulm lies in the 

 lahvs which cluster around its base. Their waters, when seen on a 

 sunny but not cloudless day are a most remarkable colour — a blending 

 of green and purple- and the shadow effects are wonderful. Such 

 colour and such remarkable reflections I have never seen elsewhere, 

 and conclude it was an affect which could only be seen from a great 

 altitude. 



After enjoying this view and the fine air for some time, we 

 descended t'he south-east side of the mountain to Arth-Goldau, a 

 station on the Saint Gothard Railway. Butterflies were flying about 

 in great numbers, especially about 2000 feet down, and we secured 

 Argynnis aglaja, A. adippe, A. euphrasy ne, A. amatkusia, Melitoea athalia, 

 Polyommatus hippothce, Lycama corydou, L. icarus, L. icarinus, L. medon, 

 and two of the pieridce viz., Rapes and Napi. 



Of birds there w T ere remarkably few, and indeed this scarcity of 

 bird-life was most noticeable in all parts of Switzerland that we 

 visited. 



From Arth we travelled by the well-known and wonderful Saint 

 Gothard line to Goeschenen. 



By this time the weather which had hitherto been irreproachable, 

 had become dull and showery, and our walk through the Schollenen 

 gorge was under atmospheric conditions which harmonised with the 

 scenery of that remarkable pass. 



After walking through the pretty village of Goeschenen, we soon 

 enter upon a scene of dreary desolation. Gaunt and grim the granite 

 cliffs of this gloomy gorge tower above you, hang over you. Stern 

 and sombre, with no trace of vegetation, these huge walls of naked 

 rock press upon you. Grim forbidding solitudes: no bird wings its 

 way hither to its nest, no hum of insect is heard, no sound of the 

 wind in the pines ; nothing but the noise of the brawling contentious 

 Reuss, as with wild abandonment it casts itself against and madly 

 leaps the great boulders which obstruct its course. 



How appropriate to find a Devil's Bridge here, in such surround- 

 ings. 1 will not detain you with the legend, the chief interest lying 

 in the harmony of association. 



A few hundred yards from the bridge the road is strongly roofed 

 to protect it from avalanches, and when we get through this tunnel 

 tiie scene has changed. We are now in the pastoral valley of Ander- 

 fnatt— a grassy plain, as the name Andermatt (in the meadow) signifies, 



