Finally, On The Far Right Of My
Map, You See A High Passage Between B And F. This Is The Famous St
Gothard.
The straightest way of all was (1) over the _Grimsel,_ then, the
moment I got into the valley of
The Rhone (2), up out of it again over
the _Nufenen,_ then the moment I was down into the valley of the
_Ticino_ (F), up out of it again (3) over the Crystalline to the
valley of the _Maggia_ (E). Once in the Maggia valley (the top of it
is called the _Val Bavona),_ it is a straight path for the lakes and
Rome. There were also these advantages: that I should be in a place
very rarely visited - all the guide-books are doubtful on it; that I
should be going quite straight; that I should be accomplishing a feat,
viz. the crossing of those high passes one after the other (and you
must remember that over the Nufenen there is no road at all).
But every one I asked told me that thus early in the year (it was not
the middle of June) I could not hope to scramble over the Crystalline.
No one (they said) could do it and live. It was all ice and snow and
cold mist and verglas, and the precipices were smooth - a man would
never get across; so it was not worth while crossing the Nufenen Pass
if I was to be balked at the Crystal, and I determined on the Gries
Pass.
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