Merly the Boundary of the District of Borniio, Dividing It on the South from the Valteline. This Defile Was Narrow Enough To

THE MONTE STELVIO. 87 merly the boundary of the district of Borniio, dividing it on the south from the Valteline. This defile was narrow enough to secure the frontier by a wall, and the passage with a gate and chain. Upon leaving the country of Bormio, expressively called " il freddo paese," the river is recrossed, and the traveller descends into the Valteline ; the change is rapid to more genial vegetation than the pine and the larch: the chestnut is seen immediately below La Serra; and shortly after, the vine is observed to be extensively cultivated ; there is a strikingly rich and luxuriant appearance in the valley near Grosio. The river is passed and repassed before arriving at Mazza ; and from this place, seven or eight villages, with their church spires, enliven the rich scene. Near Tirano the valley widens, the road descends, crosses the river, passes through the town of Tirano, and traverses the valley to Madonna, a pleasant little town at the entrance to the valley of Puschiavo, which leads to the Engadine, by the pass of the Bernina. There is an excellent inn at Madonna; and the church is worthy of the inspection of travellers. From Madonna, the road continues, in its descent to Sondrio, on the right bank of the Adda, passing through numerous pic- turesque villages. Owing to the neglect of the embankments of the river in some places, the levels of the valley are become swamps, where reeds and grass grow rank, and the marshes are productive of malaria,— the sickly aspect of the inha- bitants evinces this; but their squalid appearance is height- ened by poverty, and few districts present a more miserable race of people, afflicted as they are with goitres and cre- tinism, the concomitants of filth. The inns at Sondrio are not equal to what might fairly be expected in the chief town of the Valteline, and where the intercourse occasioned by the passage of the Stelvio must frequently demand good accommodation. In the Piazza Grande of Sondrio is a 88 PASSES OF THE ALPS. colossal bust, on a pedestal, of Francis the First, Emperor of Austria.* The road continues from the Piazza Grande across the Mallero, a large stream which passes by Sondrio, and flows into the Adda. The abundant productions of this part of the valley are well known, and the wine of the Valteline has an extensive celebrity ; but the vines appear to be ill-trained, and the vineyards mismanaged. Numerous mulberry-trees are cultivated for silk-worms ; and the soil is so productive, that two harvests of Indian and other corn are gathered in the year. The Adda is three times crossed in the descent from Son- drio to Morbegno, whence the road continues on the left of the river to Cólico, on the lake of Como. On the right of the road, before arriving at Cólico, the traveller passes the ruins of a fort, which was built in 1604 by the Marquess of Fuentes, at a time when this part of the country was united to the states of Milan. The fort was « built on the hill of Montecchio, near the mouth of the Adda ; but it is so surrounded by deadly marshes, that it has been the grave of more victims to malaria than to war. Cólico, the port of the Valteline, on the lake of Como, will probably become, from the great line of communication which has been made with Germany through the Valteline, a place of much importance, particularly since the establish- ment of steam-boats on the lake of Como, which secures the navigation of the lake, from one extremity to the other, in ïbur or five hours. But a very interesting part of the new road is its intended continuation along the shores of the lake from Cólico to Lecco, thus opening a carriage communication between Milan and the Valteline : already the greater part of this vast under- * Plate the Fourth. .

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