THE REVEREND S. W. KING'S PENNINE ALPS.* THE field of
Mr. King's Alpine explorations was the Italian slopes: of the great mountain range called the Pennine Alps, that sepa- rates Piedmont from Switzerland. The most stupendous part of this range lies between Mont Blanc on the West and Mont Rosa on the East, but the full extent of the author's tour reached from the Val de.Bonneval, jusfbeyond the Little St. Bernard in a westerly direction, to the Lago Maggiore, with an excursion to Turin for supplies. The attractive features of this region were At freshness—for it is rarely i frequented by travellers, save by men like Saussure and Forbes, and n many places an Englishman is as rare an object as a white man in the .heart of Africa ; the primitive manners and ideas of the people with often (though not always) a primitive honesty ; the economical condition and move- ment among the Piedmontese' and the contrast which the Italian character of the lower mountains at least, furnished to Switzer- land. The attractive character of the book lies in the author's thorough exploration of the country and his evident sense of en- joyment. A. practised mountaineer, and accompanied by his wife who was almost as enterprising in himself, the tourists penetrated the *valleys of the Alps, in some of which it was said no traveller had ever set his foot, mastered passes only used by the people of the country, and made ascents,. if not so lofty as Mont Blanc yet more riskful and fatiguing from the rarely trodden thara;ater of the path, and the absence of a staff of guides. In the case of our clergyman and his wife, there are none of the fre- quent whinings which hard beds, entomological companions, and bad fare draw from comfort-loving tourists. A shake down of hay in a loft sufficed them for a bel, when nothing else was to be bad: the simple fare of Alpine herdsmen with a slender addition from the knapsack, contented them, as did, which some would have objected to more, the company of the peasants ; when a place looked extremely suspicious, our explorer tied his trousers tightly round his ancles, and his sleeves round his wrists, and set a siege at defiance. A mule frequently helped Mrs. King on her route, but Mr. King himself seems to have made the whole mountain tour on foot. With this hardihood, these habits, a facility in the language, and the wonder excited by an English lady travelling in such places, they got on exceedingly well with the people, and made many friends. Occasionally an old woman would. blame Mr. King for dragging his wife through such paths, or display terror on viewing her in a hazardous po- sition ; but as a rule her presence facilitated matters. The only • The Italian Valleys of the Pennine Alps. A Tour through all the Romantic and less-frequented "Vale" of Northern Piedmont, from the Tarentaise to the Odes. By Rererend 5. W. King, M.A., F.R.G.S. Published by Murray.
place where they excited strong suspicion was at St. Barthelemy, a remote village high up in the mountains and nearly in the longi-
tude of the Matterhorn. The cabaret was very uninviting, without even "a decent hayloft to sleep in." Application was Made to the curate who received them hospitably, and the next day being a festa, other divines were his guests. The conversation was free, animated, and various, turning on education, the Ca- tholic church, and as Mr. King put it, the Anglican branch, and so forth. Everything was pleasant, but the hosts seemed hardly satisfied. In the morning the Synod had vanished save the cure's brother ; but that clearly might be the requirements of the feats. A mule was gotten with difficulty; further difficulties were con- tinually made, and it was evident that something was wrong. It was not, however, till the muleteer and. his animal were dismissed on the summit of the pass, that the truth came out from their local guide, an old soldier and smuggler. "When we were once more alone and seated in a sunny nook among the rocks, on the flowery turf, Bantiller opened his lips, and, with his comical smile, asked if I knew what it was all about down at St. Barthelemy? I had not the remotest idea beyond the palpable fact of there being something suspicious, and asked him to enlighten us. To our great amusement he tel us that the night before, after we had retired to rest, he had been closely questioned about us, and, after a long council on our proceedings, was seri- ously warned to have nothing more to do with us—as, to say the least, we were most suspicious characters. Our avoiding the towns in the valleys, and passing from Col to Col, in the most remote and unvisited districts to be found—and where no travellers had ever been before, much less a lady— was clear proof we were avoiding pursuit. In short, they told him there was no doubt I had run away with Mademoiselle,' that she was not my wife, and if he continued with us he would get himself into serious trouble. The best way for him was to join them in refusing to take us over the Col, so that we should be obliged to descend to the main valley of Aosta, by Nus, where we should be within reach of pursuit, 'and Barailler would so escape all further trouble about us. This ..cleared up the mystery, and we had many hearty laughs with "le vieux soldat '—as he had styled and always proved himself—as we deoended the other aide of the Col, he and Charlet shouldering the bags and saddle once more."
. From the nature of the case, description of scenery predomi- nates; and as the kind of scenery, though consisting of several classes, has still a sameness in these classes, something of long monotony pervades the narrative. This might have been obviated by closing the book with the arrival at Varallo, where the true mountain travel may be said to cease' and .perhaps curtailing some other portions •' but this would have interfered with the completeness. The diversion to Turin is rather a relief; not only by varying the leading subject, but by serving to introduce, as at a fitting pause, some general conclusions on the state of epinion and, feeling in Piedmont. These are Mr. King's conclu- sions as to the estimation of the Bible.
"The Waldenses are allowed to circulate the Scriptures and religious publications in the native language, provided they confine them to those of their own sect; but this also is a merely nominal restriction, of the infrac- tion of which the Government takes no notice; and we were rejoiced to see the Bible—a few years ago a prohibited book, as it still is in the rest of Italy—exposed for sale in every little town. But though it is extensively cireulatedi eagerly read, I am obliged to admit that, as far as my own observations go among the classes with whom I had opportunities of con- versing, it is used more as a text-book against the priests, to convict them of misrepresentation from their own avowed source of truth, than from any earnest regard for the great doctrines of the Gospel. I met with many in- stances where the Scriptures were very cleverly and logically quoted, in triumphant refutation of the dogmas of the priests, without the slightest belief ni them beyond their mere use for the occasion. A remarkable in- stance of this was the conductor of the diligence to Turin, who would have gone much further in his arguments than mere scepticism, had I given him any encouragement. It is sad, to feel the conviction that truth has so long been mixed with error, that, when implicit faith is once fairly shaken, both must share the same fate of discredit for a time. When or how the light of truth shall be clearly .enough seen, through the mists of superstition on the one hand, and materialism utter want of faith, and distrust of all doc- trine on the other—so as to be,the guiding star of a newly-enlightened ma'- Lion, as Sardinia is proving herself to be—is a question of deep interest."
To a good mountaineer with time on his hands, and who is also a lover of the picturesque and an observer of nature, Mr. King's tour may be recommended as an example. For the bulk of ex- cursionists we have our doubts. Mankind may be imitative and gregarious ; but they have a knack of following the bell-wether which leads them to the pastures that suit them best. And we think Switzerland is one of these. It has more and better accom- modation in the way of inns, guides, roads, and means of locomo- tion. To a person satiated like our travellers with Swiss scenery, the southern slopes of Italy may have an attractive freshness. We doubt whether they would have so much of variety or Alpine picturesqueness to the novice as Switzerland ; whether there are so many Alpine feats to be performed by the aid of guides, mules, and established routine, or whether there are so many easy but
yet stimulating excursions to be made as in Switzerland. The labour we delight in physics pain " ; but Mr. King's journeying was labour nevertheless. Interesting to him and in the telling, by his minute exploration of nature, his varied observations on man and his industry, and his pictures of natural beauty or mag- nificence. There are too in the south of the Pennine Alps very impressive views, though they mostly have to be reached throng greater greater toil and privation than is requisite on the Swiss side. The prospect from the Grivola in the Val de Coyne is, we suppose, unrivalled for extent and wondrous variety—the whole range from Mont Blanc to Mont Rosa before you, and beside you, and around you the gigantic offshoots and spurs. "The only accessible path was close under the precipice, but even this was not safe for, as the sun thawed the frozen cliffs, large fragments of stone, slate; and debris, were continually clattering all round ; form- nately no one was injured. But when this was passed, we had ultimately to take to the steep pile of rocks, in which the precipice terminated, and winch was really formidable, insignificant sail had seemed from the distance. De- lapierre and myself assisted E. up, and even then it required every exertion on her part to overcome the difficulties. It was an immense heap of rocks, broken up and piled one above another, thousands of tons in weight, in the wildest confusion. Sometimes we crept up them and drew E. after us ; others we scrambled round, constantly ascending almost perpendicularly, and in no small risk of accident in the deep crevices stuffed with loose snow among the sharp angles of the rocks—which were chiefly of a compact dark green slate. E.'s dress, too, caught continually on the blocks, which were often so poised that they capsized with a slight weight, rolling down on us ; and we made but slow progress. "We had hardly looked round as we ascended, our attention being fully taken up with what we had to do ; but when at length we stood on the nar- row rugged summit, the scene that burst upon us was magnificent beyond all power of description. The immensity and sublimity of it was inexpressibly solemn : none of us spoke for some moments, and then only in suppressed tones, as if words were vain and utterly inadequate. At a distance of not more than eight to twelve leagues from our central position the glittering wall of icy peaks, the entire range of the Pennine Alps, from Mont Blanc to Monte Rosa, extended in a continuous panorama, some sixty or seventy miles in length—the snowy crest tinged with a faint golden blush, the effect of distance and the glowing sunshine. Not a ridge intervened to interrupt the glorious prospect, but the points of Mont,Emilius. The cloudless mther was intensely blue, making one's eyes Mini to look up into it, and Glarey declared that such a day he had very rarely known on these mountains. "Among all the grand Alpine scenes it had been our fortune to enjoy, we had never beheld anything at all to compare with that from this point. We were on a grand outwork of the Graian chain, which on either side and be- hind SIB presented an overwhelming succession of mountains and glacier fields."
The volume forms a handsome book, and is well illustrated by maps and wood-outs, chiefly of striking mountain features after the author's own sketehes.
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