The Morteratsch Glacier, From The Bernina Road.

Last Houses On The Bernina Pass.

An Old Church, Engadine.

There, close by the Bernina hospice, now used as an inn, I saw a natural phenomenon resembling one I had observed upon the Grand Divide in the Yellowstone Park. Two little lakes lie side by side upon this watershed, divided from each other by a narrow isthmus, two or three feet in height. Yet this slight barrier, hardly broader than a tennis court, suffices to decide their fate. The water from the southern basin flows toward Italy, and reaches finally the Adriatic; while that of its companion makes its way to Pon-tresina, and the Danube. Sometimes, indeed, the barrier is temporarily submerged, so that the common reservoir, thus made, contributes to both streams; and then the fate of individual drops may be decided by a falling leaf or by the flutter of a passing bird. How irresistible is the reflection here of the enormous part which birth, environment, and circumstances also play in shaping human destiny ! How many lives possess apparently as little power as these mountain streams to alter their direction and their termini! It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding their proximity, the color of these lakes is so dissimilar, that they are called respectively Lago Bianco and Lago Nero. The names, however, are inaccurate; for the "White Lake," the offspring of the glaciers, has a delicate green hue, while "Lago Nero," nourished by a spring, is of a deep blue shade. Strange, also, is it not, that the bright, sunny lake should overflow toward Italy, while its dark neighbor sends its waters toward the colder north, to enter ultimately the Black Sea!

The Hospice And Watershed Of The Bernina.

The Crest Of The Bernina.

The Descent Toward Italy.

The crowning peak of the Bernina, 13,300 feet in height, cannot be seen from Pontresina, but first reveals itself when one is nearly at the summit of the pass. Then it stands forth preeminently, as the ermined sovereign of the Rhætian Alps, which even in this era of triumphant mountain-climbing must be treated with respect and caution, and can be conquered only by experienced cragsmen, whose hearts, as well as heads and hands, are proof against the perils of the avalanche, of furious cannonades of rocks, and of the deadlier chasms hidden by deceitful snow. Especially sublime and royal was this glorious Bernina when, at an angle of the steep descent to Italy, we paused to take of it a farewell view. Thus did it look, no doubt, two thousand years ago, when Caesar's legionaries gazed with awe upon its radiant crest, as they toiled up from Rome to Rhætia. Thus also will it look, two thousand years from now, to those whose steps will follow ours. For what are human lives compared with its antiquity ? Despite its cold indifference, we felt a certain pang in parting from a mountain we had so admired; yet there was consolation in the thought that on the morrow we should drive among the chestnut groves and wayside shrines of Italy to the Baths of Bormio; that on the following day we should ascend the highest carriage road in Europe, - the stupendous Stelvio; and that before the sunset of the third we should behold, in the Tyrolean paradise, Meran, the Stars and Stripes unfurled above a modest villa, which - till he shall return to his loved native land - the author calls his Home.

Among The Chestnut Groves Of Italy.

A Wayside Shrine Below The Bernina.