Lausanne.

Dear Charley:—

We left Basle on a bright morning, at six o'clock, having places in the coupÉ of the diligence for Berne, a distance of seventy-six miles. We took this route in order to enjoy the remarkable scenery which marks the Moutiers Valley, which is the most romantic in the Jura Mountain range. This journey entirely takes the palm, for enjoyment, of any in our tour; and I think I am more surprised and gratified than I was on the Rhine. Certainly the prospect was more constantly grand and awe inspiring. We started with six horses,—three abreast,—and jogged on, at about six miles the hour, over as good roads as I ever travelled. They are, also, the cleanest you ever saw. All along, at intervals, we saw men with badges on their hats, who appeared to have charge of the highway. Every thing on the road is scraped up; and at every quarter of a mile, or less, there is at the wayside an enclosure for manure, into which every thing is turned. On all the line of travel in Switzerland, we were struck with the careful way in which heaps of manure are protected by large bands of corded hay, twisted around. Then, too, in the villages and towns we were all interested with the enormous stone troughs for watering cattle. Some of these appeared to me full twenty feet long, and two or three deep. On our way from Basle we passed the battle ground of St. Jacob; and some way farther on we saw the battle field of Dornach, at which place the Swiss obtained a victory over the Austrians in 1499. A little before reaching Tavannes we ascended a hill, and came to a wonderful archway across the road—perhaps natural. On it is a Roman inscription. The arch is, I should think, nearly fifty feet high and fifteen feet in depth. We then went on to Bienne; and a pretty-looking place it is. We left it on our right, and our road was very hilly, really mountainous, and the air was sharp. As we walked for two or three miles to help the horses, we found the wild strawberries offered for sale very pleasant. We reached Berne late in the evening; and the entrance to the town, through a noble avenue of trees called the EngÆ, was very pleasant. We repaired to the Faucon, and enjoyed the repose of a long night.

Berne is a large town, with a population of nearly thirty thousand. It lies on the banks of the Aar, which goes almost round the city. The great elevation of the city—seventeen hundred feet above the sea—gives it quite an appearance on approaching it. Then the houses are all built upon arched pathways, and they form arcades, very much like the old city of Chester, in England. We noticed several watch towers, evidently very ancient; and one in the town, near our hotel, has a queer clock, which, like that at Strasburg, is mechanical. On striking, out comes a cock and flaps away with his wings, and then little images appear, and bears pass by a puppet, seated on a throne. Bears seem to be the guardian angels of the place, and are the arms of the town. We were very much pleased with an extensive prospect of the Bernese Alps, from a terrace overhanging the rapid river. I cannot tell you how many peaks we saw covered with snow. Our panorama, purchased here, enumerates more than a dozen; and among these are the Wetterhorn, Stockhorn, and Jungfrau. We greatly enjoyed a fine sunset from this spot. The Cathedral is a noble structure, built between 1421 and 1573, and from designs by the son of the architect of the Cathedral at Strasburg. Some of the work here is exceedingly fine. The great entrance is very imposing, and has rich sculptures. Here, too, are some beautifully-painted windows—one describing the pope grinding the four evangelists in a mill, out of which comes wafers, is very curious. The organ is very fine, and the case one of the richest in Europe. It has four rows of keys and sixty-six stops. The font is of black granite, and has the date of 1525, which is three years previous to the church reformation in this canton. It has some finely-sculptured images of the Trinity, Virgin Mary, and St. Vincent, the patron saint of the church. We were pointed out the communion table, of marble, which is an immense block, and before the reformation it was an altar at Lausanne. There are some fine monuments, having great antiquity.

In the choir we were delighted with the old prebendal stalls, over which were figures of Christ and his apostles, and on the opposite side prophets, all in carved wood. One of the prophets was a capital likeness of Luther.

As we were leaving this noble edifice, we met a minister coming in; he wore a short, black gown, and had a deep white ruff on his shoulders.

The library of the town embraces about forty-five thousand volumes—and well assorted, too. What a reproach it is to us that, excepting in Providence, hardly any small city has what can be called a library!

The Museum we could not examine. I spoke of bears: well, the town keeps several of these fellows at a place called the BÄrengraben.

Much did we long to take a trip into the Bernese Oberland, but it was not practicable; so we started for Lausanne by diligence, a distance of fifty-six miles, and were eleven hours on the way. We saw much fine scenery, but nothing that would compare with the Munster Thal or Valley of Moutiers, and which I think would pay any lover of nature to come from America to look at and travel through. The places we went through were Morat, famous for its battle in 1476; Avenches, the Roman Aventicum; Payerne, &c. The last few miles were of great labor in ascent; and as it was pitch dark for some miles, I cannot tell much about what is said to be beautiful.

At Lausanne we went to the Hotel Gibbon, and a lovelier spot than the rear of this mansion eye never rested upon. Again we were weary, and found good beds very inviting.

Yours, &c.,

james.