Ice And Snow Eternal On The Various
Pics Or Aiguilles (As The Summits Are Here Called) Which Tower Above
Your
Head, and yet in the midst of these belles horreurs the road is so
well constructed, so smooth, and the
Slope so gentle that when there are
fogs, which often happen here and prevent you from beholding the
surrounding scenery, you would suppose you were travelling on a plain the
whole time. Balustrades are affixed on the sides of the most abrupt
precipices and buttresses also in order to secure the exterior part of the
chaussee. On the whole length of the chaussee on the exterior side are
conical stones of four feet in height at ten paces distant from each other,
in order to mark the road in case of its being covered with snow. There are
besides maisons de refuge or cottages, at a distance of one league from
each other, wherein are stationed persons to give assistance and food to
travellers, or passengers who may be detained by the snow storms. There is
always in these cabins a plentiful supply of biscuit, cheese, salt and
smoked meats, wine, brandy and fire-wood. In those parts of the road where
the sides of the ravines are not sloping enough to admit of the road being
cut along them, subterraneous galleries have been pierced through the rock,
some of fifty, some of a hundred and more yards in length, and nearly as
broad as the rest of the road.
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