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Nor th L E I G h’j Travels 
Book II. 
We were no fooner pafsM the Bridge of Ponthavoifm, but we came into a Valley much more pleafant than any 
but we were fenfible of the Difference of the Country ; we had yet met with in Savoy, and continuing our Way 
for whereas we had left behind us the fertile Plains of towards Argentier, we met the roaring River Arche, 
Bauphiny, the other Side of the Banks of the fame River which at that Time fit being Midfummerj was fo fwei-^ 
reprefented to our View the frighful Alps, the Precipices led by the melted Snow from the Mountains, that we 
whereof would have been more dreadful to us, had not were forced to leave the ordinary Road near the Water- 
the many Vineyards we found on the firft Afcent taken fide, and, inftead thereof, climb up a dreadful Precipice, 
off a great Part of the Horror we had conceiv’d at the call’d by them Mount Greny or Grezy, as high if not 
firft Sio-ht of them. higher than Mount Cenis itfelf. On the middle Region 
As ^ou afcend the firft Rocks, you fee and hear the of this Mountain you fee a few fmall Farm-houfes, 
Catarafts of the River Guyre among the Precipices, over there being thereabouts fome cultivated Ground, which 
which you ride by a Way cut out and fupported by Art : you can perceive below, but when you come to it, you 
Along this terrible Road I found among the wild Hedges find another Mountain rifing upon the former, like Pe- 
the Oscyacantha, the Privet, Liguflrum C? Vaccinia nigra. Hon upon Offa : The Froth and Sediments which are by 
From this narrow Paflage you proceed further into the the Impetuofity of the River Arche forc’d down from 
Alps^ where the Duke of Savoy h?iS made a Road thro’ the Mountains, make its Waters appear in the Val- 
the Middle of the Rock, near which is ereded a Stone ley as black as Pitch, almoft like the Wafties of 
with this Latin Infcription : Dyehoufes. 
We kept however along the Current of this River for 
Carolus Emanuel II. fome time through Argentier, Efperies, and la Chamhrey, 
inconfiderable Places, and we no fooner left the laft, 
Subaudire Bux. Pedem. Princeps. Cypri Rex. PuUicd but we were forced to climb up the Mount, by Reafon 
fcslicitate partd ftngulorum commodis attentus, hrevio- of the Inundation of the River Arche, the Defcent 
rem feeurioremque viam Regiam, a natura occlufam, whereof brought us to St. Joh?i Morienne, once the 
Romanis intentatam, cceteris defperatam, dejedUs Jco- chief City of the Madulli, and an Archbifhop’s See, 
pulorum Repagulis, eequatd montium iniquitate, qua: which gave the Title of Earls of Morienne to the Dukes 
Cervicibus imminebant, pr<£cipitia pe dibus fubjter- of Savoy. From hence we went on to St. Michael, a 
nens, aternis populorum Commerciis patefecit. Anno low watery Place: On the Top of the Mountain I ob- 
Bomini, 1670. ferv’d as well as I could the Mentha Cattaria montana, 
Valeriana Alpin. Latifol. Valerian. Alpina Angujlifol. the 
About half-way betwixt this noted Pafiage and Cham- Caryophill. Alpin. minimus ; the fmall Mountain Pink of 
lery you fee a delightful Fall of Water from one of the the Alps ; afterwards 1 found it in great Plenty on ano- 
higheft Rocks, which being continued afterwards by ther Hill. St. Michael was formerly a Convent, but 
three or four more gradual Falls joining into a Current, now only a Village, near the Banks of the River Arche, 
and from a vaft Height fpreading itfelf arnong the crag- which they pafs over hereabouts by Bridges of Timber 
gy Precipices, produces here a natural, but more plea- made of the Trunks of young Fir and Pines, laid 
fant Cafcade than all the Art and Expences of athwart, which being round and ill joyn’d, tremble 
are able to afford. under your Feet as you pafs them. 
From hence we proceeded to Chambery through a Sort The next Place we came to was St. Andre, an incon- 
of a Valley, (in refpedt of the other Mountains) a Town fiderable Town feated among the Mountains ; juft over 
not fo confiderable at prefent as in former Ages, when againft it is fuch another Cafcade or high Waterfall, but 
it could boaft the Refidence of the Dukes of Savoy, not altogether fo diverting as that near Chambery. The 
but now has nothing to ftiew but old Houfes and Walls, Current of this River, render’d impetuous by various 
and a ruin’d Ditch about them ; it is Cameriacum od Waterfalls, is almoft like the Torrents of our Mill- 
the Latins, and ftill the Capital of the Dutchy of Sa~ pools, but more foul and furious. I took Notice here- 
by, where there Parliament is conven’d, and the Cham- abouts of the Abfinth. Latifol. Ponticum or Ro 7 n. and the 
hereof Accounts kept : Its Situation is on the little Ri- Abfinth. tenuifol. minus, which fome would have to be 
ver Orban, in a Sort of a Valley furrounded with Moun- Abfinth. Commune minus of Gefner and Gerard. Above 
tains ; the Churches and Convents, the Town-houfe, Mar- St. Andre the River Arche is, at a Place call’d Termignon, 
ket-place, and a great Number of Fountains, make fome augmented by a Channel of Water coming from ano- 
tolerable Show. Here we firft obferv’d what we after- ther Part of the Mountains, which brought us to Laf- 
wards found common over all Italy, the Houfes built nebourgh or Lanfebourgh, a Place that has nothing re- 
fo as to iet out into the Streets, and fupported by Pil- markable, except its Situation at the Foot of Mount 
lars, which form a Sort of Alley or Cloyfter, under Cenis : Here crofting the River Arche, we took our 
which you may pafs fecure from Rain and the Heat of Leave of it, which rifes about two Leagues above this 
the Sun. The Mall without the Town is handfome. Place with a pure but fmall Source, and affords in the 
Another fuch Plain brought us to MonUnelian, a Place Neighbourhood as well tafted Trouts as our beft Rivers, 
of great Strengh both by Nature and Art, in Savoy, We were now come to the PaftTage of Mount Cenis, 
feated on a high Rock at fuch a convenient Diftance (the Cinifcum of the Ancients) which we perform’d by 
from the adjacent Mountains, that though they overlook the Help of Mules we were furniftied with at Lafnebourg. 
it they don’t command it ; the River Hero runs by the This Mount exceeds in Height thofe of St. Goddard 
Town that bears the fame Name with the Caftle, with and Sampion,hy which you Italy from Switzerland: 
an impetuous Current, and joining with the Arche, ano- Mount Cenis being in fome Places cover’d with Pine 
ther rapid River made by the melted Snow, falls into and Fir-trees from the Top to the Bottom, afcending 
the Rhofne at Arbigny, a little Place above Montmelian, regularly one above another with the gradual Rifing of 
as the docs at the Acceffion of thefe ra- the Mountain, affords the moft natural Grove that 
pid Rivers being the true Occafion of the impetuous can either be devifed by Art or expreffed by the Pen- 
Courfe of that River. This Fortrefs is the Key of the cil. About May thefe Mountains open the vaft Store- 
Mountains on this Side, as Sufa is on the other *, but houfes of Snow, which melting by Degrees till 0^<7- 
notwithftanding its Strength, it was taken, by the Frm/f? her, (when they begin to harden again J make the 
in 1691, and i? now demoliftied. _ Rivers fwell hereabouts m the Heat of the Summer, 
The Country hereabouts being all mountainous, hath when the Sources of moft other Rivers are very near 
a very indifferent Proftpeft, except fome few Valleys, exhaufted. . , ^ 
which feem to promife fomething of Fertility ; and the The Pafiage of Mount Cents, notwithftanding its 
People looking as meagre and dejeded as the Soil is Height, is not very unpleafant; the Precipices being not 
barren, they feem to be made for one another, and perperpendicular, gave our Eyes Liberty to look about 
adapted to that Slavery they are forced to fuffer from with left Trouble, and the Slowness of our Cattle 
their Prince, who has model’d his Government after that (which made me walk on Foot; allow’d me fufficient 
oi France. Opportunity to expatiate a little Way out of the Road, 
We had fcarce pafs’d the River Ifere at Montmelian, and to take Notice of a great many Plants ; but hav- 
ing 
