Notes abroad and rhapsodies at home Author:Notes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. III. ROUTE ACROSS THE SIMPLON. APPROACH TO SWITZERLAND. BRIEG. TURTMANN. SIGN. COSTUME OF THE PEASANTRY. GOITRE. Although so conspicuous in name, ... more »and of such importance as a halting place to those who traverse this lofty desert, the village of Simplon itself offers nothing that calls for particular remark. On departing from it the following morning, we still continued to ascend, and had to proceed some distance further before we gained the highest point in our route. On looking back to take a farewell glance at the hospitable Simplon, we found it quite concealed from view by the thick vapours which floated around, causing the loftier mountain peaks to appear like so many islands emerging from a sea of clouds. We were not, however, a little astonished at perceiving many fields—meadows would hardly be a suitable name in such a situation — of rich grass, at an elevation where one would imagine all must be barrenness, and vegetation entirely destroyed. Nevertheless we did not see a single animal of any kind in these pasture lands; nor had we, in fact, beheld either cattle or sheep grazing anywhere, since we left Domo d'Ossola. As little appearance was there here of human habitation, 38 ROAD OVER THE SIMPLON. save now and then a solitary hut, whose inmates, if it had any, must have been almost as much cut off from the rest of the world as were Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday, in their desert island. We passed, however, one building, which is occupied by a little community of charitable monks, who devote themselves to offices of benevolence and hospitality towards such wanderers as may be overtaken by storm, or seek food and shelter for the night. Besides this, there is further on a very extensive hospice, three stories in height, which was erected by Napoleon as...« less