Amighty chain of snow-crowned mountains stretches from east to west across Tyrolean territory, dividing it into two great sections, - North and South Tyrol. 'One side of this huge watershed supplies the Danube in its course to the Black Sea; the other sends its melting snows first through the Eisack, subsequently through the Adige River to the Adriatic. At one point this imposing mountain wall is pierced by a deep gorge, which, though itself attaining a height of forty-five hundred feet, has nevertheless from earliest times furnished that easiest thoroughfare from central Europe to the plains of Lom-bardy, known as the Brenner Pass. At the northern terminus of this route is situated Innsbruck, the Tyrolean capital; while at its southern extremity, thiity-six hundred feet below the summit, and in a sumptuous plenitude of vines, figs, olives, cypresses, and fruit gardens, lies Botzen - the half-Italianized metropolis of South Tyrōl. Through this old city, and directly over the Brenner, runs north and south one of the most important railway lines in Europe, with through cars daily during the entire year between Verona and Berlin; while, in the winter, over the same line a train with sleeping carriages and dining car runs several times a week between the Prussian capital and Palermo, crossing the Straits of Messina, to and from Sicily, on ferryboats. The Old World offers many illustrations of magnificent engineering skill in the successful passage of its mountains by the iron horse; but, notwithstanding many difficulties which at first seemed insurmountable on account of the friable nature of the stone, and which necessitated more than once the turning of the river from its course, to lay the rails within its former bed, the Brenner was among the first to bind with bands of steel the hostile forces of the Alps.

Brenner And Eisack.

Brenner Bad, Near The Summit Of The Brenner Pass.

Moreover, none of the other Alpine railways can exhibit in its course so rare a combination of sublimity and beauty; for nowhere does the Brenner climb above the zone . of ample vegetation, and hence the traveler is always either in the presence of green meadows, Spanish chestnut groves, fruits, flowers, and farms, or else is shadowed by majestic pines and firs, which point still higher to the regions of eternal snow. The Brenner, too, is lined with an unbroken series of castles, convents, and romantic ruins; and these, together with the foaming waters of the Eisack, which the railroad crosses often and accompanies ever, keep the delighted tourist always on the alert. It has been my privilege to make the passage of the Brenner frequently and at all seasons of the year; yet so perennial is its charm that it is difficult to say at what time it is most attractive. I think, however, that on a beautiful winter day, immediately after a snowstorm, when millions of coniferæ, bowed down beneath their crystal burdens, render the mountains dazzling with silver-powdered forests and pyramids of prisms, this journey offers one of the most glorious sights that I have ever looked upon. The great majority of travelers cross the Brenner at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and hence gain only glimpses of enchanting panoramas, which, like the brilliant particles in a kaleidoscope, change forms and places every moment as they move. But those who take the time to drive along its admirable carriage road will evermore congratulate themselves on being wise enough to substitute the landau for the railway car. For this old thoroughfare is a thread on which are strung the souvenirs of two thousand years. Its cliffs have echoed to the shouts of Roman legions, and milestones of the time of Caracalla and Septimius Severus have been found embedded in its soil. The forms of many of the greatest actors in the drama of humanity have moved between its rugged walls, leaving behind them memories that now lie superimposed on one another, like geological strata in the rocks that saw them pass. The Tyrolese eagle builds its nest among these crags; and for the freedom which it represents, Andreas Hofer and his valiant followers fought in desperation here, in 1809, against a foreign foe; and many of the boulders, now lying in the stream, then served as terrible engines of destruction, rolled down by the infuriated peasants on the French invaders, who were here crushed by them like insects, till the torrent of the Eisack was crimsoned with their blood. The Brenner is the Tyrolese Thermopylae.