37° * A L P 
ALPIS'TE, or Alfia, a fort of feed ufed to feed 
birds with, efpecially when they are to be nourifiied for 
breeding. The alpifte feed is of an oval figure, of a pale 
yellow, inclining to an ifabel colour, bright and gloll’y. 
ALPS, f. an extenfive range of exceeding high moun¬ 
tains, which fer.arate Italy from Gaul and Germany. The 
word is alfo ufed as an appellative, to denote any moun¬ 
tains of confiderabie altitude or extent. Thus, the moun¬ 
tains of the moon, thofe of Sierra Leona, the peak of Te- 
neriffe, and mount Atlas, are called the African Alps. 
The Altaic chain, and Wertuvian mountains, are (tiled 
the Afatic Alps. The Andes, and the Allegany or Apa- 
lachian mountains, are the Alps of north and fouth Ameri¬ 
ca. The Pyrenean mountains are called the Spani/k Alps ; 
and the mountains of Wales, the ciifFs of Albion, and the 
Highlands of Scotland, are frequently dignified with the 
title of Britifi Alps, Scotti/k Alps, See. 
The Alps, properly fo culled, are the mod: fiupendous, 
and form the principal belt or chain of .primitive moun¬ 
tains, in Europe. They begin at the Mediterranean, and, 
flretching northward, leparate Piedmont and Savoy from 
the adjacent countries; whence directing their courfe to 
the calf, they form the boundary between Switzerland and 
Italy, and terminate near the extremity of the Adriatic 
-Sea, to the north-eaft of Venice. Thefe venerable moun¬ 
tains extend themfelves in the form of a crefcent; and, as 
they branch different ways, they are diftinguifhed by 
different names. From Savona, to the fprings of the Va¬ 
rus, they are called the Maritime Alps, tire higheft peak of 
which is named the Col de Tende. Thefe extend from 
fouth to north, between Gaul to the welt and Genoa to 
the eaft, beginning at Monaco on the Mediterranean ; then 
running out through the eaft of the county of Nice, and 
between that and the marquifate of Saiuzzo, terminate at 
mount Vi fo, between Dauphine and Piedmont. Hence to 
Sufa run the Alpes Cottia, or Cottian Alps; mountains ex¬ 
tremely high, feparating Dauphine from Piedmont, and 
■extending from mount Vifo to"mount Cenis, between the 
Maritime Alps to tire fouth, and the Grain to the north. 
The Alpes Grain, or Grecian Alps, fo called -from the paf- 
fage of Hercules, begin from mount Cenis, where the Cot- 
tian terminate; and'run out between Savoy and the Ta- 
rentefe to the weft, and Piedmont and the Due he d’Aoufte 
to the eaft, quite to the Great St. Bernard, where the 
Pennine Alps begin-. They -are alfo called by fome Grains 
Mens; which extend from weft to eaft, between St. Ber¬ 
nard and the Adula, or St. Gothard ; and thus they run 
out between the Valefeto the north, and the Milanefe to 
the fouth. From thefe are continued the Rhetian Alps, to 
the head of the river Piave'; a part of which are tire Alps 
Tridentince, to the north of Trent. They confift-of that 
chain front which flows the river Adige, or Athefis, and 
whole inhabitants were anciently called Rhceti. To thefe 
•join the Morician Alps, reaching to Doblach in Tyrol, to 
•the north of the river Tajamento : thence begin the Alpes 
■Carnicce or Curnician Alps, extending to the fprings of the 
Save: and the laft, called Alpes Pannonica, and Julia, ex¬ 
tend to the fprings of the Kulpe. Over thefe rugged and 
mhofpita'ble mountains Hannibal forced his way from Car¬ 
thage, when he invaded the Roman empire. He afeend- 
•ed the hills to the fouth of Martigny, through a narrow 
defile of neat fix miles, to the top of the firft ledgingof the 
•mountains; which was then the only channel of commu¬ 
nication‘between Gaul and Italy. His army was compof- 
•ed of infantry, cavalry, and elephants; and he was attend¬ 
ed by a train of'draught-horfes and wheel-carriages, for 
•drawing (lores. Mr. Whitaker, who has lately publiftied 
the courfe of Hannibal’s paffage over the Alps, fays, thefe 
•carriages were affuredly the fame with the cars of Ireland, 
and the Highlands at this day, then ufed by the Gauls 
sand Spaniards, and peculiarlyca’iculated for mountainous 
roads. This author, in detailing Hannibal’s perilous ex¬ 
pedition, very ingeniously inveftigates the famous difput- 
«ed point, of that undaunted commander’s overcoming, by 
^bejoint agency of fire and vinegar, the prodigious oblta- 
A L P 
cle to his farther progrefs, from the hidden and perperfi 
dicular termination of the rocky road, in confequence oi a 
recent earthquake, of which his guides had no informa¬ 
tion. The means by which Hannibal is laid to have fur- 
mounted this formidable obftruftion, namely, by pouring 
vinegar on the rocks, heated by burning large piles of 
wood on them, by which they mouldered away, has been 
much ridiculed; but,as Mr. W. obferves, ridiculed only 
by folly and ignorance. He fully credits the account left 
us by the ancients, and fupports it not only by arguments 
drawn from hiftorical evidence, but from the effects of 
chemiftry; and thus, with great probability, at lead, he 
appears to have eftablifhed this hitherto much controverted 
•faift. M. Beaumont, principal engineer to his Sardinian 
majefty, having lately publiftied hisTravels over the Alps, 
we have, from his elegant and ingenious work, collected 
the following brief descriptions of the mod fublime and 
linking feenesthofe romantic regions afford. 
The Maritime Alps are a ridge of mountains about fix 
hundred miles in extent. The higheft peak, as we before 
obferved, is the Col de Tende, over which is one of the three 
grand palfages to Italy; but which Can never be crofted 
without much difficuly, and at times not without immi¬ 
nent danger. The roads, however, which have been 
lately conftruCled for miles together upon arches, through 
narrow defiles, on the brinks of vaft precipices, and im¬ 
pending over frightful and impetuous torrents, refledl the 
higheft credit on the king of Sardinia; by whofe order, 
and at whofe expence, thefe vaft works have been under¬ 
taken and executed, for the accommodation of his fub- 
je£ts. But the attention of the curious traveller is mod 
particularly directed to that part of the road over the Cdl 
•de Brans, near the village of Tuet; it being, as it were, 
wonderfully fupported for about two miles on arcades 
thrown here and there on the projecting peaks of the la¬ 
teral rocks, hanging over a tremendous precipice at lead 
fifteen hundred feet deep. 
The cold of the Col de Tende is more intenfe than it is 
■on mount Cenis, though the latter is more elevated above 
the level of the fea; for which M. Beaumont accounts, 
by (liewing that the degree of cold, experienced on the tops 
of mountains, is lefs in proportion to their abfolute eleva¬ 
tion than to their height above the furrounding valleys. 
Owing to this extreme height of the Col de Tende, an in- 
tenfity of cold is produced, occafioning vaft accumulations 
of fnow, which fometimes, detaching themfelves from the 
fide of the mountain, fvveep all before them. 
The profpect from the whole of this enormous range 
of mountains is extremely romantic, but more efpecially 
towards the north-weft. One of the mod celebrated isthe 
Grande Chartreufe, where is a monaftery founded by St. 
Bruno about the year ioSq.. From Echelles, a little vil¬ 
lage in the mountains of Savoy, to the top of the Char¬ 
treufe, the diftance is fix miles. Along this courfe, the 
road runs winding up, for the mod part not fix feet broad. 
On one hand is a fiupendous rock, with woods of pine- 
trees hanging over head ; on the other a prodigious preci¬ 
pice almoft perpendicular; at the bottom rolls a torrent, 
that, fometimes tumbling among the fragments of (lone 
which have fallen from on high, and fometimes precipi¬ 
tating itlelf down vaft defcents with a noife like thunder, 
rendered yet more tremendous by the echo from the 
mountains on each fide, concurs to form one of the mod 
folemn, the mod romantic, and mod aftonilhing, feenes in 
nature. To this defeription may be added the ftrange 
views made by the crags and cliffs, and the numerous caf- 
eades which throw themfelves from the very fummit down 
into the vale. On the top of the mountain is the convent 
of St. Bruno, which is the fuperior of the whole order. 
The inhabitants confift of ico fathers, with 300 fervants, 
who grind their corn, prefs their wine, and perform every 
domeftic office, even to the making ot their clothes. In 
the Album of the fathers is an admired alcaic ode, written 
by the late ingenious Mr. Gray when he vifited the Char¬ 
treufe, and which hasfince been publiftied among his works. 
