Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/68

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. JAN. 22, im.

five or six thousand," molesting the travellers with their horns. After this a number of packhorses, laden with dairy produce and other commodities, passed and hustled them ; and later, when they crossed the Spliigen Pass, discomfort gave way to terror. They were travelling in the midst of the most " frightful " mountains. The roads, though paved, were so uneven that the journey was perilous to a degree ; and all the time Busino becomes painfully aware that Italy is exchanged for Germany. The churches were bare and desolate, and true religion gave place to heresy. Miles became leagues in weariness as well as length, and " cam ere " became " Stuben." They entered the village of Spliigen through narrow gorges overhung by tall trees, along a road which was so difficult that Busino and his com- panions seemed to be descending into the infernal regions rather than seeking shelter in a village. The emotion was deepened by the knowledge that they were among heretics. In order not to expose himself to insult, Busino was forced to enshroud himself and his cassock in the buff jerkin of a man-at-arms ; and it was not until the Catholic canton of Rapperschwyl was reached that he could emerge from his disguise.

Leaving Spliigen on Sept. 12, the travellers entered the Via Mala, a road so full of dangers that they were altogether frightened out of their wits.* The next day they reached Coire, where they exchanged the four small two-wheeled carts in which the luggage was stowed for one wagon containing the whole. At Wallenstat they took boat along the lake to Wesen, and then entered the Lake of Zurich and reached Rapperschwyl, where they discovered the inhabitants to be all innkeepers. The wooden bridge here

and seventeenth centuries are few, owing possibly to the fact that the travellers were so concerned for their own safety that they had no time to look about them. The following account from Hentzner, who crossed the Spliigen in the opposite direction in the spring of 1598, is, however, worth noting : " In the neighbourhood of Thusis the way becomes exceedingly difficult and dangerous by reason of the size of the rocks, the narrow paths, and the rickety bridges, which are perched high up over the waters of the Rhine, and which you cross in a state of fear lest they should break under you. The traveller, too, is alarmed by the roaring of the water which rushes down over precipices and between crags .... Although we had four guides, who prepared the way with axes and shovels, we were in such danger of slipping that we took six hours to cross the pass." See Hantzsch, ' Deutsche Reisende des sechzehnten .Tahrhunderts ' Leipzig, 1899, p. 99.
 * Descriptions of Alpine travel in the sixteenth

across the lake attracted the travellers' notice. Bishop Burnet, 70 years later, described this bridge (which was half a mite long and 12 feet broad) as wanting rails, so that in a storm the passenger was in danger of being blown into the lake ; but Busino, passing beneath it, did not notice this defect.* Reaching Zurich by boat on Sept. 17, they put up at the Sword Inn over the bridge from which his Excellency received a salute of musketry. The next day they left again for Baden on horseback,, crossing the Limmat on one of the large carrying rafts in use everywhere at this time which are described by so many travellers.

At Basle the travellers betook themselves to the Rhine. At Brisach, a town belonging to the Archduke Maximilian, they were detained for two nights by the authorities,, who affected to misunderstand their in- structions ; but on Sept. 22 they reached Strassburg without further mishap. Here- fresh boatmen had to be engaged, and the travellers found themselves the victims of a kind of general conspiracy to plunder. First of all the water bailiff summoned sundry pilots, who threw dice for the job. The winner, released from all competition, could charge what he pleased. Then followed a formal election of the crew ; and later on other men came in as judges to decide whether the candidates were capable of managing a boat, for each of which cere- monies exorbitant fees were extorted. The only satisfaction the Ambassador could obtain w T as the knowledge that by reason of his dignity he was regarded as a richer prey than usual, and was fleeced with more effrontery. After all this it was found that the boat was a wretched affair, little better than a raft hastily put together, and intended no doubt to be broken up and sold at the end of the voyage. It was only by the help of some door - hangings that his Excellency could be provided with a cabir. Busino describes the boat as put together with spittle rather than nails or pitch ; and as he proceeded he found the reflection,. " This is all the fence between us and death,' r not a little disquieting.. At the first starting they were forced back by fog, but the travellers were soon floating down the stream more securely than they supposed.

vile going on the Mala Via. He describes the way as cut out of the rock, and states that in. several places the steepness of the rock was such that no way could be cut, and beams were driven into the rock, over \vhich boards and earth were- ! laid. Id., 87, 88.
 * ' Travels,' 1687, 61. Burnet also notes the