The Rosy Foam Of Flowers.

If the short section of the river Inn which flows through high-walled Finstermünz had been transformed into the solid pavement of pure jade which it resembles, looked on from the heights, we could have driven on its surface through the canyon to the Engadine in half an hour. As such a miracle, however, was impossible, we went by the circuitous route which turns the flank of the ravine, and finally by a series of long, sweeping serpentines winds down a forest-covered mountain into Switzerland. Just at the crest a crucifix, surrounded by a neat enclosure, attests the piety of those to whom this pass is more than a summer promenade. The road means much to them. For they must climb it, often footsore and with heavy burdens, not only when light zephyrs stir its leafy screen, but also when fierce, wintry gales are howling through the ice-clad gorge like hungry wolves, and snow and sleet may make exposure here a tragedy. How little do we understand the real lives of these peasants, - we who flit gaily through their hamlets with the butterflies ! As little as the winter idler on the Nile appreciates the withering heat of Assouan beneath the Dog Star, or the scorching breath of the khamsin.

Cattle Herders On The Heights.

Edelweiss, From The Engadine.

The noble trees on either hand could tell us of the fury of the elements; but they perhaps regard us as scarcely less ephemeral than the insects flitting through their boughs, and are too conscious of their own stern strength and steadfastnessto hint of what they have endured. The first of these arboreal heroes in attractiveness are the larches, - those handsome, mailèd warriors of the Alps, which proudly toss their plumes or brandish their long arms alike in face of friendly sun and hostile storm. I love the European specimens of the larch, the softness of whose airy drapery gives them a unique distinction. They are deciduous, - an unusual quality among the conifers, - and since they thus enjoy at intervals a rest from nourishing their foliage, their strength goes into stem and branch-making. One sees upon this drive a multitude of stately, individual larches, truly royal in the arrowy straightness of their tapering trunks, which sometimes reach a height of one hundred and forty feet. Possibly nowhere else could they be viewed to better advantage, for they grow best precisely on such Alpine passes and in steep ravines, with plenty of pure air above them, and perfect drainage of the soil on which they stand. Moreover, although really old, they seem to have acquired the secret of perpetual youth, so light and juvenile do they appear in contrast to the heavier masses of the firs and pines; while their fresh, light-green sprays, acquired in the spring, stand out in picturesque relief among the sombre hues of the adjoining evergreens. Our first real halting place within the Engadine was Tarasp,

Young Larches And Old Boulders.

Among The Larches.

The Kurhaus, Tarasp.

- a health-resort beside the Inn, comparatively unknown to Americans, so greatly have the charms of St. Moritz, a few miles further up the valley, overshadowed it. It is, however, evident that other nationalities know it well; for the Kurhaus Hotel is an enormous structure, five storeys high and nearly six hundred feet in length. Built on a curving line, this forms a kind of stately bow, of which the river is the silver cord, the space between the two "Inns" being occupied by a beautifully planted, shady park, where a good orchestra, recruited largely from the winter "Kur-Kapelle" of Meran, gives concerts afternoon and evening. A little further down the stream extends the pretty Trinkhalle, where patients every morning, as is usual in such resorts all over Europe, imbibe a glass or two of Tarasp's celebrated waters, and take the exercise prescribed for them within the garden or the long arcade, while listening to the music, making purchases at the enticing booths, or chatting with their fellow health-seekers.