It was not till November, 1816, that Mr. Rupp and three Swiss gentlemen, becoming 8 sanguine, drew up a plan of a slide. 9 more Having purchased a certain extent of the forests from the commune of Alpnach for six thousand crowns, they began the construction of the slide, and completed it in the spring of 1818. The slide of Alpnach is formed of about twenty-five thousand large pine trees, deprived of their bark, and united in a very 10 ingenious manner, without the aid of iron. It occupied about one hundred and sixty workmen during eighteen months, and cost nearly four thousand pounds. It is about three leagues, or forty-four thousand English feet, long, and terminates in the Lake of Lucerne. It has the form of a trough, about six feet broad, and from three to six feet deep. Its bottom is formed of trees, the middle one having a groove in the direction of its length, for receiving small rills of water, which are conducted into it from various places, for the purpose of diminishing the "friction. The whole of the slide is sustained by about two thousand supports; and in many places it is attached, in a very ingenious manner, to the rugged precipices of granite. It is often carried along the sides of hills and precipitous rocks, and sometimes passes over their summits. Occasionally it goes under ground, and at other times it is conducted over the deep gorges by scaffoldings one hundred and twenty feet in height. The boldness which 12 charac terizes this work, the 13 sagacity displayed in all its arrangements, and the skill of the engineer, have excited the wonder of every person who has seen it. Mr. Rupp was himself obliged, more than once, to be suspended by cords, in order to descend precipices many hundred feet high; and in the first months of the undertaking he was attacked with a violent fever, which deprived him of the power of superintending his workmen. Nothing, however, could diminish his 14 invincible perseveHe was carried every day to the mountain in a barrow, to direct the labours of the workmen rance. -an absolute necessity, as he had very few good carpenters, the majority of his workmen having been engaged without any knowledge which such an undertaking required. All these difficulties, however, were surmounted, and he had at last the satisfaction of observing the trees descend from the mountain with the rapidity of lightning. The larger pines, which were about a hundred feet long, and ten inches thick at their smaller extremity, ran through the space of three leagues, or nearly nine miles, in two minutes and a half, and during their descent they appeared to be only a few feet in length. The arrangements for this part of the operation were extremely simple. From the lower end of the slide to the upper end, from which the trees were sent, workmen were posted at regular distances, and as soon as everything was ready, the workman at the lower end of the slide cried out to the one above him, "Let go." The cry was repeated from one to another, and reached the top in three minutes. The workman at the top of the slide then cried out to the one below him, "It comes," and the tree was launched down the slide, preceded by the cry, which was repeated from post to post. As soon as the tree had reached the bottom, and plunged into the lake, the cry was repeated as before, and a new tree launched in a similar manner. In order to show the enormous force which the trees acquired from the great 15 velocity of their descent, Mr. Rupp made arrangements for causing some of the trees to spring from the slide. They penetrated by their thickest extremities no less than from eighteen to twenty-four feet in the earth, and one of the trees having by accident struck against the other, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, as if it had been struck by lightning. After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne. 1Alpnach, a Swiss village at the foot of Mount Pilatus, one mile and a half from Lake Lucerne. The slide of Alpnach is no longer used, the wood being now drawn down by horses and oxen. 2 impenetrable, incapable of being penetrated or entered. 3 utility, benefit; use; service; profit. recesses, literally, the parts hidden from the outside; hence secret places. chamois, a species of antelope living among the lofty ridges of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians. The chamois is about the size of a large goat. The aromatic and bitter plants of the mountain pastures are its favourite food. It is an animal of extraordinary agility, and can leap over ravines sixteen to eighteen feet wide, and pass up and down precipices where scarcely any other quadruped would venture. When a flock is feeding, one is always on the watch, and by a sort of whistle announces danger. It has given its name to a kind of soft leather, first prepared from its skin. impracticable, that could not be accomplished by human means; not able to be done. inaccessible, not accessible; unable to be reached. *sanguine, confident; feeling assured; full of hope. 9commune, a small territorial district. 10 ingenious, skilful; clever; exhibiting genius, or the faculty of invention, in its construction. "friction, the effect arising from one body rubbing against the surface of another. 12 characterizes, marks; distinguishes. 13 sagacity, shrewdness; wisdom; discernment; quality of keen penetration and judgment. 14 invincible, incapable of being conquered; not able to be overcome. 15 velocity, swiftness; speed. 7 : HUMAN LIFE. 'THE lark has sung his carol in the sky; For now the caudle-cup is circling there, Now, glad at heart, the 'gossips breathe their prayer, The babe, the sleeping image of his 5 sire. "A few short years-and then these sounds shall hail So soon the child a youth, the youth a man, 7 Then the huge ox shall yield the broad sirloin ; The nurse shall cry, of all her ills 'beguiled, 10 And soon again shall music swell the breeze! 13 And once, alas ! nor in a distant hour, 15 14 Another voice shall come from yonder tower; He rests in holy earth with them that went before. |