by means of which there is easy communication between the
Saone Valley and the middle Rhine Valley. This is the Gate
of Burgundy, a gap of great importance in connection with
the course of the main routes. It is worth note that so low
is the watershed here between Rhine and Rhone, that a canal
actually connects the Rhine and the Doubs (a tributary of
the Saone).
What we have called the third of the great walls, guarding
Italy from approach from the north-west, is formed by the
Alps themselves, and the breaches in this wall are narrow and
THE TRIPLE RAMPART 27
steep, and will demand rather more careful consideration.
At present we need only note that the successive members of
the triple rampart are higher and more difficult as we pass
from the north-west to the south-east. Further, while the
lowest and outermost is widely breached, the possible lines of
passage become successively more difficult and narrower as
we approach the Central Alpine chain. If we think of the
tourists of the north-west as a great army advancing upon
Italy, then we have to reaUse that at first there are many hues
of possible advance, but the more nearly we approach the
citadel the more closely are the advancing forces compelled
to concentrate upon a very small number of possible routes.
With this general conception in view let us note a few details.
There are two main junctions which may be regarded as
marking the end of the first stage of the journey — the traverse
of the broken belt of ancient uplands. The traveller who has
reached Dijon or Basel has conquered the first of the three
difficulties which he between him and fairyland.
To reach Dijon practically only one route is possible, that
which leads from Paris first up the valley of the Seine, then up
that of the Yonne, and finally along the line of the Canal of
Burgundy and over the Hmestone region of the Cote d'Or to
Dijon and the upper part of the Saone Valley. (See the map
which forms Fig. 3, p. 29.)
On the other hand, the time-table oSers a bewildering variety
of routes to Basel, though on investigation these reduce them-
selves to three, with variants.
The quickest route, but that with a very Umited service,
leads from Calais across the plain direct to the Plateau of
Langres, which is a dome-shaped region, connecting, as it
were, the Morvan to the Vosges, and formed of ancient rocks,
more or less thinly covered by later beds. This route avoids
Paris, passes through Laon and Reims, crosses the low plateau
without great difficulty, goes through Belfort and the Gate of
Burgundy, and so reaches the middle Rhine Valley and Basel.
28 WAYS TO THE SOUTH : FIRST STAGE
It traverses what is now French territory for the whole of its
course, and enters Swiss territory at Basel. Now Paris is in a
very special sense the centre of France, and the fact that this
route avoids Paris indicates that it is intended to serve British
rather than local traffic, hence the very hmited service of
trains. The more usual route to Basel includes Paris, and thus
is necessarily longer, for it involves a loop (Amiens to Paris,
Paris to Chalons, where the other route is joined, and thus
two sides of a triangle, instead of one.) We may note here
that the most recently opened approach to Italy, that via
the Lotschberg tunnel, avoids Basel, reaching Berne directly
from Belfort.
If the descriptions of the uplands already given have been
followed, it will be obvious that there are two other possible
routes to Basel. As the town lies at the end of the IVIiddle
Rhine Valley, it may be reached by travelHng up the valley,
which may be entered either (1) where its western rampart
breaks down in the north, e.g. at Cologne, or (2) where there is
a noticeable gap in its retaining wall further south, at the
Col de Saverne, e.g. near Strasburg.
The former of these two routes, which is the longest of the
more usual ones, involves the wide sea crossing to Flushing
or from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, and then a journey
via the level plain of Holland to Cologne, after which the
valley is followed to Strasburg, Mulhouse and Basel. As a
number of routes pierce the eastern retaining wall of the
Rhine Valley, and permit of access to many of the towns of
the eastern part of the European plain, the heavy composite
train which is made up at the Hook divides up en route, and
its Basel component is not a large one. The Flushing train
also chiefly serves Germany.
The other route mentioned is interesting. It involves the
sea passage from Calais to Ostend, then a journey via Brussels
to Namur. Between Namur and Luxemburg the Ardennes
are crossed. From Luxemburg the Moselle Valley is reached
MAIN RAILWAY ROUTES
29
at Metz, an interesting intersection point of routes. At
Metz the line turns nearly due east, and, skirting the anterior
-Sketch-map to illustrate the course of the chief railway lines from
t of France, IJelgium, and Holland to Basel and Dijon. Note the
Fio. 3.
the coast I - „
number of routes which converge upon Basel. The areas left uncoloured
lie l)etweon sea-level and a height of 650 feet ; those lightly shaded be-
tween 650 feet and KiOO feet above sea-level ; those shaded dark above
1600 feet and below 4!)0ii feet.
end of the Vosges, reaches Strasburg, and so has the road open
up the Rhine Valley to Basel.
30 WAYS TO THE SOUTH : FIRST STAGE
But we have to note, in connection with this route, that
further up the Moselle than Metz lies the town of Nancy, also
an important intersection point. Now the Moselle once ran
into the Meuse near Toul, and its old course allows an easy
crossing from the Moselle valley at Nancy to the Meuse.
The next river, the Marne, also once flowed into the Meuse,
and thus there is another easy passage from the valley of the
Meuse to that of the Marne, and the Marne drains into the Seine
and so leads to Paris. Thus it is possible for a traveller to
reach Strasburg via Paris, the Paris and Brussels routes
joining not long before the train enters Stra'^burg.
To sum up, in order to reach Italy the traveller from the
north-west must first travel either to the upper (north) end of
the Saone-Rhone valley at Dijon, or to the upper (south) end
of the Middle Rhine valley at Basel. To reach Dijon he can
journey to Paris by any one of a considerable variety of routes ;
from Paris it is possible to make almost a bee-line to his desti-
nation, despite the intervention of the Cote d'Or, for the great
tributaries of the Seine have opened out a way for him. No
perfectly direct route leads to Basel, for the Vosges intervene.
The quickest route leads round the southern end of these
mountains and avoids Paris. Only very shghtly longer is the
route near the extreme northern end of the Vosges, which
passes by Brussels, Metz, and Strasburg. Travellers from
Paris can reach this route directly through Nancy. About
one hundred miles longer, and yet not without its advantages
to the judicious traveller, is the route which leads right down
the middle Rhine valley from Cologne.
To have grasped the geographical reasons which have deter-
mined the course of those various routes is to have acquired
a grip of the chief structural features of the western part of the
European plain, and the traveller with discretion will so vary
his journeys, outward and inward, as not only to see the four
main routes, but also so as to traverse, so far as possible, their
more interesting parts by daylight.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ALPS 31
This description of them may seem to some needlessly
detailed, and more than a little dull, but one has to remember
that the Alps and their continuations separate parts of Europe
which differ from one another profoundly, not only in their
natural features, but in the history and social conditions of
their peoples. It is impossible to realise fully the contrasts
between the two areas, unless one understands the relative
difficulty of communication in different places, and the lines
along which this communication has taken place. The great
Rhone valley allows Mediterranean influences to penetrate so
far with the greatest of ease, and we find that Aries and Avi-
gnon are Mediterranean in character, though politically French.
Lyons, lying in the same valley, but outside the reach of the
Mediterranean climate, is wholly northern in type. To
appreciate the conditions which have determined the main
routes of travel, is to appreciate also the Unes along which
more subtle influences have passed, and the extent of such
influences is related to the relative ease or difficulty of inter-
communication.
CHAPTER III
WAYS TO THE SOUTH : SECOND STAGE
' Lo ! where the pass expands
Its stony jaws, the abrupt mountain bends
And seems, with its accumulated crags,
To overhang the world.'
To appreciate the significance of the second great step in the
southern journey, let us look for a moment at the structure
of the Jura. The Jura proper extend from about Chambery
to the region lying north-west of Zurich. To the north-east
the line is continued by the Swabian Jura and the Franconian
Jura, but these do not show the characteristic folding which
is so clearly developed in the Franco-Swiss Jura.
The latter are of younger date than the Alps proper, are,
of course, much lower, and display a very simple form of up-
fold and downfold, the upfolds corresponding broadly to the
higher ground and the downfolds to the valleys. So simple
and direct a relation between mountain structure and form is
rare, and is in itself evidence of very recent origin. The
arches of the upfolds in the Jura are generally broken at the
summit, and there clays and similar rocks appear, so that the
broad plateau-hke summits of the ridges are often marshy.
But to a great extent the Jura are built up of hmestones, and
the steep escarpments of the hmestone rocks are one of the
most obvious and attractive features of a journey through the
region.
As any good physical map will show, the whole chain con-
sists of a series of ridges (the upfolds) separated by long
32
THE VALLEYS OF THE JURA 83
valleys (the downfolds), the ridges being most numerous, and
thus the chain widest, opposite the gap between the end of the
Central Plateau of France and the end of the Vosges (c/. what
is said on p. 26), that is to the north-west of Lake Neuchatel.
The position of the chief valleys, which run along the chain
{i.e. are longitudinal), from the human point of view makes
the construction of transverse hnes of communication
laborious, and further renders it difficult for the great rivers
of the Alps to escape. Thus it will be noted that the Aare
runs parallel to the Jura for a long distance before it can make
its way through the chain, and this is true also of the Rhone
between its exit from Lake Geneva and its sudden bend to the
north-west in the latitude of Chambery. In the heart of the
chain two other streams of considerable size occur, whose
courses are of interest as throwing fight on the structure of the
chain. Of these one, the Ain, runs south-west, in a direction
parallel to the folds, until it makes its escape into the Saone-
Rhone depression, where it enters the Rhone not far from
Lyons. The other, the Doubs, begins by running in exactly
the opposite direction, that is to the north-east, as though it
were aiming for the Rhine, then it turns upon itself at a very
sharp angle, flows almost due west for a time, again changes
direction, and, when it finally emerges from the chain, it is
to travel south-west to the Rhone. Without going into
details as to the meaning of this complicated course, we may
note that the river finds its way from one narrow longitudinal
valley to the next by means of a narrow gap or cluse, such
cluses being common in the Jura, and of great importance in
connection with means of communication. Another very
good example of a cluse is seen east of Bellegarde, and permits
river, road, and railway to escape from one longitudinal
vafiey to the next.
To sum up then, the Franco-Swiss Jura, which we have
called the second great rampart in the way of the traveller
from the north-west to the magic land of the Mediterranean,
c
34 WAYS TO THE SOUTH : SECOND STAGE
is of complicated structure, resembling a series of broad,
ruinous walls with intervening ditches. It is thus a consider-
able obstacle to transverse traffic, but the existence of a number
of narrow gaps, which we may compare to postern gates
leading through the walls and thus permitting communication
between one ditch and the next, faciUtates the passage of road
and rail. As compared with the first obstacle, that formed by
the broken rim of ancient uplands, the Jura are more formid-
able, because more continuous. On the other hand, they are
of far less extent, which makes it possible to avoid them, more
or less completely, by a detour.
Let us see which course is adopted by the various routes.
If we begin at Dijon, one of the points which we regarded as
marking the end of the first stage of the journey south, we find
that from this town three routes he before us. We may
follow the Saone-Rhone valley practically to its mouth, thus
avoiding the Jura altogether, and then travel along the coast,
between the Alps and the sea, till Italy is reached. This is
apparently an obvious method of getting over the barrier
aUke of Jura and Alps, In point of fact, however, the Alps
approach the coast so closely that both road and rail have
been constructed with great difficulty, and the southward bend
of the coast, the bend which helps to give the Riviera its
special climate, makes the route long.
The second possibiHty is to follow the Saone valley till the
end of the Jura is reached, and then travel south-eastward.
This fine of advance leads to the Mt. Cenis tunnel, and at
Culoz connects with the circuitous route to Geneva, a town
which, so far as international through routes are concerned,
lies in a backwater. In the vicinity of Culoz the Mt.
Cenis route skirts the Jura, passing the beautiful Lac du
Bourget and Chambery on its way to the Alps.
The third through route from Dijon used toleadmaFrasneto
Pontarlier, through the Jura by a somewhat complicated route
(Fig. 4) and so to Lausanne. From Lausanne the road Ues clear
RAILWAYS IN THE JURA
35
up the lake of Geneva and then to the Upper Rhone valley,
where the Simplon tunnel leads through to Italy. This route, it
will be seen, actually pierces the Jura, and this at a point where
the chain is wide. The difficulty of the passage led to a reversal
of the train at Vallorbe, rendered parts of the Une Uable to
snow-block in winter, and gave rise to various other difficulties.
It will be noted, from what has been abready said, that in the
Jura, in contradistinction to the Alps, one great tunnel is not
Flo. 4. — Part of the old railway
through the Jura from I'ontarlier to
Lausanne. The curious curves on the
course of the line are due to the fact
that the railway follows a river valley
for a certain distance, and then takes
a<lvantage of a clusf to enter another
adjacent valley. The section between
Tontarlier and Vallorbe has now been
cut off bv the Mont d'Or tunnel.
Fio. 5. — The old railway route
through the Jura from Belfort to
Berne. Note as in Fig. 4 the cir-
cuitous course of the line, again
due to the peculiar structure of the
Jura mountains. The large loop to
the west has now been cut off by a
tunnel.
required. Owing to the existence of a number of parallel
chains, with intervening valleys, it is impossible to tunnel
through the chain as a whole, and the route is often circuitous,
because the hue must edge its way along one valley in order
to find an easy access to another. In the case of this par-
ticular route, the line was found somewhat too circuitous, with
too heavy gradients for the traffic, and a new tunnel has been
pierced to straighten it (Mont d'Or tunnel). In connection
with the tunnel a new section of Une has been constructed,
36 WAYS TO THE SOUTH : SECOND STAGE
which takes off at Frasne, now the French frontier station,
avoids the easterly bend to PontarUer, and runs direct to
Vallorbe, the first Swiss station.
Let us turn next to the other great intermediate station on
the way to Italy, that of Basel. Basel owes part of its import-
ance as a railway junction to the fact that it commands the
direct access from north-western Europe to the St. Gothard
tunnel. From Basel the narrow anterior end of the Jura is
traversed, and the journey is then continued via Olten to
Lucerne, and so to the St. Gothard and Milan. Another,
more circuitous, route leads from Basel, again through the
anterior end of the Jura, to Zurich, then between the main
Alpine chain and the hmestone range in front, via the Arlberg
to Innsbruck, thence southwards to Italy over the Brenner.
Recently, however, another through route has been con-
nected up to Basel. It is possible for passengers coming from
Eastern Germany to travel direct to the Simplon by means of
the new Lotschberg tunnel. This involves a journey to Berne,
from Berne to Thun and Kandersteg, and then through the
tunnel to the Ehone valley at Brig, where the Simplon tunnel
is entered. For travellers coming from the north-west, it is
quicker to avoid Basel, and travel direct from BeUort through
the Jura to Berne. The route through the Jura here is in-
direct (cf. Fig. 5), the Hue, among other interesting features,
taking advantage of the cluse of the Doubs of which we have
spoken above (p. 33). Like the corresponding traverse of the
Jura between Pontarher and Vallorbe this is too indirect and
difficult for heavy international traffic, and has been corrected
by the construction of a new tunnel (from Moutiers to Granges).
If we stop here for a moment to sum up the routes by which
the Jura can be circumvented or traversed, we find that one
possibihty is to travel down the Saone-Rhone valley to the
coast, and so avoid the Jura altogether ; this route involves
a great number of minor tunnels through those spurs of the
Alps which approach the coast closely, but no great tunnel.
THE ALPINE TUNNELS 37
The second route leads to the Mont Cenis tunnel : this also
practically avoids the Jura, and has as its special feature the
journey down the side of the Lac du Bourget and so past
Aix-les-Bains.
To reach the Simplon, on the other hand, a direct traverse
of the Jura is necessary, whether we choose the older route,
by Frasne and Lausanne, or the newer by Belfort, Berne and
the Lotschberg.
Basel forms the direct access to the St. Gothard, certainly
the most beautiful of the great routes, on account of the
number of lakes seen en route. A leisurely traveller, whose
aim is Venice or its vicinity, may use the Arlberg tunnel to
reach Innsbruck, and then the Brenner route, with no great
tunnel but many minor ones, to pass the Central Chain of the
Alps.
CHAPTER IV
MOUNTAm, HILL, AND PLAIN
' Wo die Bachlein fliessen,
Wo die Blumen spriessen,
Wo das Edelweiss
Bliiht in Schnec und Eis.'
Having now in imagination crossed or rounded the Jura,
we must stop to consider what lies behind. To do this most
satisfactorily we must begin by looking at a few general
points in regard to the Alps. Their structure is extraordin-
arily complex, whether we consider the rocks of which they
are composed, the nature of the folds which appear in them,
or their present topographic form, but here we shall discuss
only a few of the more general and obvious points. Even these,
however, cannot be made very simple, and those unfamiliar
with the region will find the following description difl&cult to
understand, unless it is followed step by step on a map.
The southern side of the Alps arises with great steepness
from the plain of Northern Italy ; on the other hand, on the
north and north-western sides the Central Chain has in front
of it an area of elevated ground, or marginal range, which
diminishes the sharpness of the contrast between mountain
and plain, and further the plain here is of greater mean ele-
vation. Let us consider a few points in regard to this marginal
range.
Suppose we stand on the cathedral terrace at Avignon on
a clear day. To the west and north-west we see hilly country,
in which the nearest lofty peak is Mt. Ventoux (over 6000 feet).
â– m
J'LATK 111
A view on the sliore of Lake Annecy, showing the limestone cliffs
so characteristic of tlie Swhaliiiiie region.
THE SUBALriNE CHAINS 39
Again, those who break their journey southwards at Cham-
bery to see the Grande Chartreuse find in the vicinity of the
monastery fine Umestone peaks exceeding six thousand five
hundred feet in height. These two elevated areas are repre-
sentative of a very extensive region, which extends from the
central chain of the Alps to the edge of the lower Rhone valley,
and is characterised by the occurrence of splendid escarp-
ments of hniestone, all the more conspicuous owing to the way
in which they rise above forests and meadows of distinctively
southern type (Plate III.). The broken chains of these regions
offer some resemblance to the ranges of the Jura, but whereas
the Jura are separated by a depression from the Alps, the
Subalpine chains, as the French geographers call them, are
closely attached to the Alps, from which they are cut off only
by deep and narrow river valleys, such as that of Gresivaudan,
in which the Isere flows, and the valley of the Drac south of
Grenoble. They form a charming region, not greatly visited
by Enghsh tourists, save in certain Hmited areas ; blazing
hot in summer and then hable to those sudden thunderstorms
characteristic of regions of high rehef ; with an interesting
flora, and, as contrasted with the Alps, a wealth of human
associations. Those who are fond of walking and yet shrink
from the perils of the high mountains will find here, save in
the height of summer, a region full of varied charm. (See
Plates III. and IV.)
The Subalpine chains are continued into Switzerland, but
there we find in front of them a zone of hills of somewhat
different structure, often but not always calcareous, which
runs from the region of Chablais ou the south shore of the Lake
t)f Geneva, in front of the Bernese Oberland and its continuation
in the Glarner Alps, to end in the Siintis, at the eastern end of
the lake of Zurich. These are the Fore Alps, which are con-
tinued beyond the Rhine in a belt of hillocks fringing the
Calcareous Alps of Bavaria. The Fore Alps include many of
the Swiss hills ascended by the ordinary tourist, as distin-
40 MOUNTAIN, HILL, AND PLAIN
guished from the climber, and have the great beauty of being
intersected \vith numerous lakes, usually narrow in proportion
to their length, often steep-sided, and sometimes of curiously
irregular form. This description applies, for instance, to
Thun and Brienz, once a single lake, to the lake of Lucerne,
to the Walensee. Less beautiful, because extending further
out into the plain beyond the Fore Alps, are the lakes of
Constance and Zurich. The presence of the lakes and of the
often boldly-shaped mountains, the relative ease of access,
the mild cUmate, give to the Fore Alps a number of health
and pleasure resorts, including some of the most frequented
of the Alpine towns, e.g. Lucerne.
We have just stated that the Fore Alps include a number of
hills constantly ascended by tourists, whether on foot or by
the aid of mountain railways. The great object of these
ascents is to permit of the enjoyment of a view which is gener-
ally more varied than that from the summits of the Central
Chain. This is because, in clear weather, we have not only
the snow-clad Alps in the background, the charming fore-
ground of lake and wood, but also a third element, the plain.
The Rigi, Pilatus, the Stanserhorn, may serve as famihar
types of such mountains, though in point of fact the Rigi,
which is not a Umestone mountain, is included in another
category by geologists owing to its structure.
If we generalise the view towards the plain as seen from
any of these border mountains, we find that from the lofty
Fore Alps (Pilatus is nearly 7000 feet) we look down upon a
country of hills, traversed by numerous streams, representing
the drainage of the mountains, and with not a few lakes.
Extending our view in imagination to cover the whole area
up to the Jura, we find that the hills diminish and flatten out
till we come to a plain (or plateau, for it has a considerable
mean elevation), which ends abruptly against the wall of the
Jura. The lowest part of the plain, the whole of which was