rs, are a pious race of Christians, who have,
age after age, boldly "contended for the faith once delivered to the
saints," and kept the lamp of truth brightly burning, when all around
was darkness.

This beautiful spot is surrounded by very lofty mountains, whose tops
are almost lost in the clouds, while the little stream that murmurs
below has its banks covered with vines and mulberry trees, rich corn
fields, and happy villages. When I first entered it by the Alpine pass
of La Croix, the whole valley was shrouded in a dense fog, with the
exception of one bold and very remarkable Rock, which towered in
solitary grandeur above the sea of mist, and seemed from its height like
an island suspended in mid-air!

Upon inquiring what this Rock was, I was informed it is a place famous
in the history of the Valley. When the poor peasants were persecuted by
their foes, their cottages and hamlets plundered, their loved
sanctuaries burnt with fire, and "all their pleasant things laid
waste," they would retire with their wives and little ones up to this
rocky citadel, which the God of nature seemed to have reared as a
shelter for His defenceless people.

Within this Rock that same God had wonderfully provided for their safety
and comfort. It contains a large cavern, capable of holding many at a
time; and in the very centre of this cave is a fountain of water, which
yields a never-failing supply. When driven thither by the storms of
persecution, the exiles provided themselves with food, from the
plentiful wild fruits of the adjoining mountain, so that the Bible
promise was made good to them, "Their bread shall be given them, and
their water shall be sure!" Swords and cannon and other means of
defense they had none, but a single man, stationed at the mouth of the
cave, was enough to defy hundreds of armed soldiers. He had only to hurl
fragments of loose stones (which were supplied from the sides of the
cavern) down upon the foe, and they were instantly beaten back, thus
fulfilling God's words to Israel, "Five of you shall chase an hundred,
and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight."

Often, often, then, when the wintry tempests and Alpine storms, and
drifting snows, were raging fiercely around, adding to the terrors of
the enemy, did these peasant warriors find in the Rock of Castello a
secure shelter and retreat. With their fountain and blazing fire, their
Bibles and their God, they would make the rocky cavern ring w