and good, and free from
ravine or precipice; but from its continual turns, (of which I counted
not less than sixty-five) is difficult and embarrassing to any but a
crane-necked carriage; though in no place could an overturn produce
worse consequence than a roll of a few yards. The distance may be
abridged on foot, either by crossing the zig-zags, or by taking the
summer path to the right through a fine range of Alpine pasture, which
exhibits a profusion of hardy flowers growing up to the edge of the
snow-drifts: amongst many others, whose names were unknown to us, we
observed blue and yellow crocusses, hearts-ease, oxlips, cowslips,
primroses, and two sorts of gentianella. In this direction the road
cannot be missed to the turf cabaret which stands on the sharp edge of
the mountain. It is curious to look back a moment from this elevated
spot down the narrow valley behind you, and observe the road curling
from below your feet into blue distance, like the coils of an
immeasurable white snake.

At this fine season of the year, it exhibits a busy scene of passengers
and loaded strings of mules, toiling up in your rear, or lessening in
the perspective till hardly visible at the bottom of the ascent. The
site of the cabaret borders on the line of perpetual snow, and though
inferior in height to the crest of the Simplon road, stands in a
situation, I should conceive, much more exposed to the effects of sudden
hurricanes and snow storms. The road appears to be commanded by no spot
where avalanches could accumulate, as on the precipice where you first
overlook Brieg, and must, therefore, during the winter, be rather
difficult than dangerous. On the other hand, no mountains intervene on
the Turin side, to blunt the edge of the north winds from the Savoy
Alps; and in the direction of Nice, the south-west winds must be
concentrated and driven up the mountain avenue of Tende with the roar of
artillery. I can, therefore, easily credit Beaumont's account, that
many mules are annually lost in consequence of the tempestuous weather
on the Col. We did not, however, taste any of the mule-hams at the
cabaret, which, according to that writer, are afforded to the frugal
natives by these casualties, but contented ourselves with a spoonful of
brandy, and a taste of their good brown bread. Had our stomachs been
desperate, other refreshments, I believe, were to be had.

The view to the north from this "raw and gusty" ridge affords a more
strik