road-makers with perpetual diversion and employment during the early spring months. There is one thing to be said of mountain roads, that in most places their inclination assists the act of drainage, but even on the highest mountain passes, occasionally the road is level for a considerable distance when passing through elevated valleys.

The principal roads over the Alps are as follows:
The Mont Cenis, 6825 ft.

The Simplon, 6636 ft.
The St. Gothard, 6808 ft.
The St. Bernard, 8200 ft.

It will be seen that the St. Bernard is the highest, and it was in consequence of this fact that Napoleon decided to make other roads more suited to the passage of his artillery which, being at a less altitude, were less likely to be blocked by snow and ice.

The celebrated passage of the Alps was commenced by Napoleon, May 16th, 1800, and occupied four days. The St. Bernard had been reported by Marescot, chief of Napoleon's engineers, as scarcely possible for artillery. "As you admit that it is possible, let us start, then," was the energetic reply of Napoleon.

The part of the road which most tried the troops. was that from St. Pierre to the summit. The artillery carriages were taken to pieces and packed on mules, the ammunition was also transported; whilst the guns themselves, placed in the trunks of trees hollowed out, were dragged up the mountain by main force, the soldiers receiving 1200 francs for each cannon so conveyed. At the hospice each soldier partook of the hospitality of the monks. Since then there is a new road. The old road must have been very bad, otherwise the guns might have remained

on their carriages and been hauled up the pass by a number of mules and horses. Every one is familiar with the pictures that have been painted from time. to time of Napoleon crossing the Alps, engravings from which are frequently to be seen.

It must be remembered that these roads are rendered impassable during the winter months, owing to the depth of snow on their surface. In some cases this difficulty is overcome by resorting to the use of sledges. I remember passing over the Simplon, from Italy into Switzerland, about twenty years ago; the road was not really open, even the mails had only just ventured to cross. I was travelling with a young fellow about my own age, when we determined to make the attempt, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the aborigines. When we approached the summit we had to enter a sledge, which was so repeatedly capsized that we determined to walk, as the snow on the surface of the track was fairly hard. We had three horses to our sledge, one of which I recollect we lost; this was the leader. He got engulfed in

a drift into which he had inconsiderately plunged. The glare and the heat was very considerable, although the snow was nearly thirty feet above the road, the telegraph posts just peeping out of the snow, which clearly indicated to what depth they were buried.

I remember to this day that the avalanche galleries through which we passed presented a very lovely appearance, as on either side of them the tunnel was continued through ice and snow, the rays of the sun without being reflected on the walls of ice within, producing the most marvellous prismatic effects. When we arrived on the Swiss side of the mountain, astonishment was expressed that we had not rolled

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down into the valley, or shot over one of the many precipices which we had passed; and certainly our escape was marvellous, seeing how many times we had been capsized close to the very edge of the snowy track, beyond which was nothing but a sheer descent of hundreds of feet.

It must be remembered that the Simplon road is not even a very high pass, being only 6636 feet above sea-level. It was commenced on the Italian side in 1800, and on the French side in 1801. The road was decided upon by Napoleon immediately after the battle of Marengo, whilst the recollection of his own difficult passage of the Great St. Bernard was fresh in his memory.

The Simplon Pass was considered at the time a stupendous result of engineering skill, but the gigantic works of recent times have equalled and surpassed it. The finest point of the Simplon road is the Gorge of Gondo. The surveys of this road were made by M. Cérd; it took six years to complete these surveys; more than 30,000 men were employed in the construction of the Simplon road at one time. There are 611 bridges, great and small, in addition to the far more costly works, such as terraces of masonry miles in length; ten avalanche galleries, either quarried or built; and twenty houses of refuge, to shelter travellers and lodge the road-makers engaged in maintaining the road. Its breadth is never less than twenty-five feet, and the slope nowhere exceeds one foot in thirteen, although it has to ascend to a height of 6636 feet. Its cost averaged £5000 a mile; * in England the average cost of constructing a turnpike road is £1000 a mile.

*The entire road cost eighteen million francs.