the sex, although their looks did not recommend them. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." At this elevation no grain

but barley grows.

By God's good providence, we arrived at St. Bernardino at 7 p.m., and took up our abode at the inn du Chamois. Here we were very glad of some blankets during the night.

2nd, Thursday. We left the village of St. Bernardino at 11 a.m., which consists of a few houses planted half way down the descent, for Bellinzona, through the lower valley of Misocco. Here we have a scene of beauty scarcely surpassed among the Alps. From the luxuriant growth of the chestnut, the mulberry, &c., the traveller is reminded that he is indeed in Italy. The laziness and filth of the inhabitants, and their miserable habitations, form a striking contrast to the situation of Misocco.

which is charming. In the valley there are a number of waterfalls, the most beautiful of which is the Buffalora. Beautiful, however, as some of the waterfalls of Switzerland unquestionably are, they did not come up to my expectation. There was a fearful thunderstorm and inundation in this valley in August, 1834, in consequence of which the land in many places is condemned to eternal sterility. Think of beds of gravel and alluvium in places 90 feet high.

Yours,

J. H.

My dear Sir,

In my last letter I informed you that we were on our way to Bellinzona, which romantic town we entered at 4 15 p.m. This is one of the three chief towns

of the canton Tessin.

It is built on two

rocks which are separated by the Ticino. On the east side are two strong forts, and another on the west. Hence the view of it in approaching is very striking. The forts were built in the 15th century by the dukes of Milan. It was formed with the other Italian bailiwicks into the canton of Ticino or Tessin, in 1801. The largest of the castles now serves as an arsenal and prison. We bought some trifling articles of the prisoners, and I put a few sous into a small basket let down by a string through an iron grating by some poor wretches in an upper room. My limbs were free, bnt theirs were bound with fetters. I was much struck with the view from Castello Grande, the name of the castle. Bellinzona is a well-built place. Its streets, however, are narrow and dirty.

During our stay at Bellinzona, viz., Friday the 3rd, we visited the Lago

Maggiore, the Lacus Verbanus of the Romans, only a small portion of which belongs to Switzerland. Locarno, where we dined, is beautifully situated on the margin of the lake. The wooded cliffs are surrounded by the church of Madonna del Sasso, the most picturesque of Monastic groups, I should think, in Switzerland. Notwithstanding the heat, Mrs. H. succeeded in gaining the lofty clift on which the monastry is built, where we saw a very ugly barefooted monk employed in some of the mummeries of

popery. "Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains Repentant sighs and voluntary pains;

Ye rugged rocks! which holy knees have worn; Ye grots and caverns, shagg'd with horrid thorn! Shrines! where their vigils pale-eyed virgins keep, And pitying saints, whose statues learn to weep."

We passed many little chapels on our ascent to the monastry. The groves of orange and lemon, the trellised vines, the mountains and the glassy lake, form a

striking and melancholy contrast to the religion of the people. The former is all light and beauty; the latter is all darkness. and deformity: the one is a page of surpassing beauty in the volume of nature; the other is a page of interpolations in the volume of grace. A fair land where "all but the spirit of man is divine." With Jeremiah we may truly say, "The customs of the people are vain." The population is 2,676; and the lake is about 15 miles in length, and 12 in breadth. Every thing about this place is Italian, not excepting the laziness and superstition of the people. After a delightful day of excursion we returned to our hotel (Angelo) at 7 30 p.m. The population

of Bellinzona is under 2,000. The mountains in this district are composed of gneiss, and two harvests of maize are annually reaped.

4th, Saturday. At half-past one in the