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DIVISIONS] two passes (the Splügen and the Septimer) were certainly known to the Romans. In fact the central portion of the Alps was by far the least Romanised and least known till the early middle ages. Thus the Simplon is first certainly mentioned in 1235, the St Gotthard (without name) in 1236, the Lukmanier in 965, the San Bernardino in 941; of course they may have been known before, but authentic history is silent as regards them till the dates specified. Even the Mont Cenis (from the 15th to the 19th century the favourite pass for travellers going from France to Italy) is first heard of in 756 only. In the 13th century many hitherto unknown passes came into prominence, even some of the easy glacier passes. It should always be borne in mind that in the Western and Central Alps there is but one ridge to cross, to which access is gained by a deep-cut valley, though often it would be shorter to cross a second pass in order to gain the plains, e.g. the Mont Genèvre, that is most directly reached by the Col du Lautaret; and the Simplon, which is best gained by one of the lower passes over the western portion of the Bernese Oberland chain. On the other hand, in the Eastern Alps, it is generally necessary to cross three distinct ridges between the northern and southern plains, the central ridge being the highest and most difficult. Thus the passes which crossed a single ridge, and did not involve too great a detour through a long valley of approach, became the most important and the most popular, e.g. the Mont Cenis, Llie Great St Bernard, the St Gotthard, the Septimer and the Brenner. As time went on the travellers (with whatever object) who used the great alpine passes could not put up any longer with the bad old mule paths. A few passes (e.g. the Semmering, the Brenner, the Tenda and the Arlberg) can boast of carriage roads constructed before 1800, while those over the Umbrail and the Great St Bernard were not completed till the early years of the 10th century. Most of the carriage roads across the great alpine passes were thus constructed in the 19th century (particularly its first half), largely owing to the impetus given by Napoleon. As late as 1905, the highest pass over the main chain that had a carriage road was the Great St Bernard (8111 ft.), but three still higher passes over side ridges have roads-the Stelvio (9055 ft.), the Col du Galibier (8721 ft.), in the Dauphine Alps, and the Umbrail Pass (8242 ft.). Still more recently the main alpine chain has been subjected to the further indignity of having railway lines carried over it or through it-the Brenner and the Pontebba lines being cases of the former, and the Col de Tenda, the Mont Cenis (though the tunnel is really 17 m. to the west), the Simplon and the St Gotthard, not to speak of the side passes of the Arlberg, Albula and Pyhrn of the latter. There are also schemes (more or less advanced) for piercing the Splügen and the Hohe Tauern, both on the main ridge, and the Lötschen Pass, on one of the external ranges. The numerous mountain railways, chiefly in Switzerland, up various peaks (e.g. the Rigi and Pilatus) and over various side passes (e.g. the Brünig and the Little Scheidegg) do not concern us here.

6. Divisions.—The Alps, within the limits indicated under (2) above, form a great range, consisting of a main chain, with ramifications, and of several parallel minor chains. They thus form a single connected whole as contrasted with the plains at their base, and nature has made no breaks therein, save at the spots where they sink to comparatively low depressions or passes. But for the sake of practical convenience it has long been usual to select certain of the best marked of these passes to serve as limits within the range, whether to distinguish several great divisions from each other, or to further break up each of these great divisions into smaller groups. As these divisions, great or small, are so to speak artificial, several systems have been proposed according to which the Alps may be divided. We give below that which seems to us to be the most satisfactory (based very largely on personal acquaintance with most parts of the range), considering, as in the case of the limits of the chain, only its topographical aspect, as it exists at the present day, while leaving it to geologists, botanists and zoologists to elaborate special divisions as required by these various sciences. Our selected divisions relate only to the High Alps between the Col de Tenda and the route over the Radstädter Tauern, while in each of the 18 subdivisions the less elevated outlying peaks are regarded as appendages of the higher group within the topographical limits of which they rise. No attempt, of course, has been made to give a complete catalogue of the peaks and passes of the Alps, while in the case of the peaks the culminating point of a lower half-detached group has been included rather than the loftier spurs of the higher and main group; in the case of the passes, the villages or valleys they connect have been indicated, and also the general character of the route over each pass.

As regards the main divisions, three are generally distinguished; the Western Alps (chiefly French and Italian, with a small bit of the Swiss Valais) being held to extend from the Col de Tenda to the Simplon Pass, the Central Alps (all but wholly Swiss and Italian) thence to the Reschen Scheideck Pass, and the Eastern Alps (wholly Austrian and Italian, save the small Bavarian bit at the north-west angle) thence to the Radstädter Tauern route, with a bend outwards towards the south-east, as explained under (2) in order to include the higher summits of the South-Eastern Alps. Strictly speaking, we should follow the Reschen Scheideck route down the Adige valley, but as this would include in the Central Alps the Ortler and some other of the highest Tirolese summits, it is best (remembering the artificial character of the division) to draw a line from Mals southwards either over the Umbrail Pass (the old historical pass) or the Stelvio (well-known only since the carriage road was built over it in the first quarter of the 19th century) to the head of the Valtellina, and then over the Aprica Pass (as the Bergamasque Alps properly belong to the Central Alps) to the Oglio valley or the Val Camonica, and down that valley to the Lake of Iseo and Brescid.

Assuming these three main divisions, we must now consider in detail the 18 sub-divisions which we distinguish; the first 5 forming the Western Alps, the next 7 the Central Alps, and the rest the Eastern Alps, the heights throughout being, of course, given in English feet and representing the latest measurements.

