Journal of a Tour in the Years 1828-1829, through Styria, Carniola, and Italy, whilst Accompanying the Late Sir Humphry Davy

by J. J. Tobin

18th. Sir Humphry spent the whole of this day in the fields round Friesach, in the hope of finding a good many quails, but returned late in the afternoon with only one or two, and complaining terribly of the heat.

19th. We left Friesach early this morning, and drove on, over our old road, to St. Veit and Klagenfurth, where we turned off to the right, and proceeded along the banks of the Lake of Klagenfurth to Velden. The length of this lake is about fifteen miles, its greatest breadth three or four. The scenery of its banks near Klagenfurth is rather flat and uninteresting, but towards Velden it becomes more diversified and beautiful. Sir Humphry intended passing the night at Velden, but the old ruined chateau, which now serves as the post-house, was better adapted for the habitation of bats and owls than the accommodation of a sickly and susceptible traveller; and accordingly he ordered horses for Villach, in spite of the approaching night. Whilst they were being put to, we enjoyed a fine view of the lake through the arched windows of the earth-floored hall of the chateau. Some time before we arrived at Villach it was quite dark, but the road being very good and perfectly safe, Sir Humphry, notwithstanding his reluctance to travel after nightfall, said that he was glad that he had gone on to Villach, where he would stay to try the shooting.

20th. This morning he changed his mind, and we went on to Wurzen, crossing over the same mountain which we had passed on our road to Ischl. The ascent on this side is much longer than that from Wurzen. At the foot of the mountain are some hot baths, much used by the inhabitants of Villach. We tried their temperature and found it to be 85° Fahrenheit. The proprietor said that the water contained principally sulphur and magnesia.

21st-25th. These days were chiefly wet and rainy, but when it did not pour Sir Humphry was out shooting in the marshes. Two mornings, when the rain kept him at home, he occupied himself with the additions to "Salmonia," and in dictating an ancient Irish Tale; a fairy fiction, or a tale of enchantment, founded on the supposed adventures of a Norwegian hero in Ireland.

26th. A fine day at last, and we see the Alps unveiled for the first time since we have been here. I thought I should have seen them quite free from snow, and was not a little surprised, on the clearing away of the clouds, to find them covered with a newly fallen crest, which was brilliantly white, for I believed that the temperature of the air would be too high to allow the snow, which falls on the heights when it rains in the valleys, to remain unmelted even for the shortest time. In the afternoon I took a ramble with the postmaster, as a guide, to see a waterfall in the neighbourhood, which I suspected from what he told me was the feeder of the pond from which the Wurzen-Save rises. After a long walk through the woods in one of the smaller side valleys, at the opening of which the pond or source of the Save is situated, we arrived at the end of the valley, where all progress was put an end to by the lofty and rocky mountains which shut it in on all sides; mountains, through which there is hardly a path for the most adventurous chamois hunter. In the centre of this vale is a hut, or, as it is called by the peasants, an Alpe, (a hut on the mountains,) built with the trunks of trees, in which a few cowherds were employed in making cheese. Opposite this hut, high up in the rocks, is a considerable cascade, which without doubt is the source of the Save. The water issues in a considerable stream from an opening in the side of the mountain, and rushes down into the valley foaming and dashing over the rocks; it then flows on for a short time in a bed of limestone pebbles, where it suddenly disappears, sinking into the ground, and in all probability continues its subterraneous course through the whole length of the valley, till it rises in the pond near Wurzen. We ascended with considerable difficulty to the top of the fall, and in order to examine the hole, I was obliged to take off my shoes to prevent my slipping over the rocks. The water flowed perfectly clear and intensely cold from a reservoir in the interior of the mountain, but the opening in the rocks was not sufficiently large to enable me to look in. Having descended safely, and drank some curds and whey in the Alpe, we returned home; and I determined, if the weather should be fine to-morrow, to cross over the Alps to Trenta, and see the source of the Isonzo, to seek which we made such a long trip in vain the last time we were here.

27th. I started from Wurzen at eight o'clock with a guide, who said that he was well acquainted with the pass across the Alps, and as he told me we should find nothing to eat at Trenta, we took some cold meat and eggs with us. At Kronau we turned into the beautiful defile which lies behind this village, and which is called the Valley of Pisching, from a little stream which flows through it, along whose banks we walked briskly for about an hour and a half, surrounded on all sides by rocky and magnificent mountains. At the end of the valley we turned off to the right, and began to ascend one of the mountains by a very rugged and steep path, passing sometimes through fir woods, and at other times over white limestone rocks. After a very fatiguing ascent of more than two hours, we found ourselves on the top of a pass between two mountains. To our left was a still more lofty mountain, through which, near the summit, there was a large hole like a window, so that the blue sky was distinctly seen through it. My guide told me that it was possible to ascend to this hole from the other side, but that he had never been there. The descent to Trenta on the other side was much worse than our ascent had been, the path or rather track that we followed being every now and then impeded by great blocks of limestone and shattered fir-trees. The points of view were very fine and wild, though the whole seemed desolate and dreary. In less than an hour we reached the valley and the few huts which form the hamlet of Trenta. In the middle of the valley runs the Isonzo, which is seen gushing forth from the rocks, and forming a magnificent cascade in a gulley or crevice of the mountain, a few hundred yards distant from Trenta. I immediately went to it, and found that the fall consisted of three distinct cascades, one above the other, all three highly picturesque, but chiefly so the upper one, which is by far the loftiest. My guide said the quantity of water was not now so considerable as in general, and that if I liked to go to the top of the uppermost fall I could see the place from whence it issued out of the mountain. We accordingly climbed up the rocks till we came to a heap of loose and detached fragments of limestone, from under which the water appeared to issue, but on climbing up still further, I came to a large opening in the rock, through which a sunbeam fell, and upon looking into it, I saw that within there was a large cavern filled with water perfectly clear, and apparently of great depth, for when I threw in a large white stone on the spot where the sunbeam played upon the water, I saw it descend through it for a long time. Of the extent of this subterraneous lake and cavern it was impossible to form any idea, for all beyond a few feet from the opening was darkness. The peasants at Trenta call this source the Sorga, and they told me that after great melting of the snows the water rushes also out from the opening, and then forms a very noble cascade. The water is intensely cold, yet an old peasant assured me, that on looking through the hole he had sometimes seen fish in the lake. This, however, seemed very doubtful, for many others said they had repeatedly been there and had never seen a trace of any living animal in the water within the mountain. Having taken a sketch or two and eaten our frugal dinner, we began to think of returning home, and reascended the rugged path which had brought us to Trenta, but before we reached the summit of the pass I experienced great pain in the thighs and legs, so that I was obliged to rest every now and then. At last, however, we gained the top, and having staid there for a good quarter of an hour to recruit my strength, we descended briskly, passed again through the romantic glen of Kronau, and I found myself at home by seven o'clock. Fifty kreutzers (1s. 8d. English) made my guide a happy man, and the evening was passed in recounting to Sir Humphry the adventures of the day.

29th. We left Wurzen this morning, and passed over our old road to Assling. The scenery of the valley is now more beautiful than when we last saw it, for trees of every kind appear in full verdure on the sides of the mountains; beech, oak, ash, walnut, birch, and, last and highest, the pine, above which are the bare brown rocks, just tipped with snow. Three leagues beyond Assling we turned out of the post road, and drove to Radmannsdorf, passing through what much resembled an English park; fine large trees rising from a verdant turf, rendering the drive at once shady and agreeable. Radmannsdorf is a small insignificant town; the only inn it has to boast of was being repaired and not habitable, so that we were obliged to go somewhere else, and Sir Humphry determined to proceed to Veldes and to spend a day or two in that beautiful neighbourhood. After an hour's drive we arrived there, and with considerable difficulty, and some danger to the carriage, we got up a narrow and hilly lane, at the top of which the best inn in the village is situated, which we however found bad enough. Sir Humphry begged me immediately to go to the fisherman's at the other side of the lake, and see what he had. I found in his tank only very large carp and some small specimens of Silurus glanis. This latter fish is found in this and one or two more of the Austrian lakes. The fisherman told me that it here sometimes grows to a great size, and that the last year he and his fellow-fisherman had caught one that weighed upwards of two hundred pounds. I chose the smallest carp, one of five pounds, and a little Silurus, and was then rowed back to Veldes by the fisherman. The lake was beautifully tranquil and clear, and in the shade of the mountains, for the evening was already set in, resembled an extensive surface of black polished marble, only ruffled by the paddle of the canoe which bore us across it. We had part of the fish dressed for supper, and we found the carp far preferable to the Silurus, for the flesh of the latter is flabby and insipid.

30th. At one o'clock in the morning George called me to Sir Humphry, who told me that he felt very ill. At four he begged I would order horses to quit Veldes as soon as possible, but none could be procured till seven, and then only a pair of cart horses. Sir Humphry in the meanwhile applied leeches, and found himself considerably relieved. At seven o'clock we left Veldes, but, as if fated to be unfortunate in this village, our peasant-postilion drove us against the projecting roof of a small house, which however did no further damage than that of dashing the lamps to pieces. We at last got clear of Veldes, and without further accident soon reached Safnitz, where we found post horses which took us to Krainburg by one o'clock, and from thence to Laibach by four, where we took up our old quarters at Detella's inn.

31st August-7th October. Sir Humphry continued very unwell for two days, but on the third went out shooting as he used to do formerly. The ennui of Laibach is terrible, for Sir Humphry sees nobody, and is daily occupied in shooting or fishing, and it is only when the rain keeps him at home that he dictates to me the additions and corrections for "Salmonia," or continues his Irish Tale, "The last of the O'Donohoes," which he finished on the 13th of September. The second edition of "Salmonia" was not finished till the 25th, and I added six little views to it, which Sir Humphry begged I would draw for him; the first three are from his description, and the remainder from sketches I have taken on our journey. After "Salmonia" had been safely despatched to the English Embassy at Vienna, Sir Humphry determined upon making a little tour to Trieste, and there to examine the electrical phœnomena presented by the Torpedo, or Electrical Ray, and we accordingly left Laibach on the 6th of October, in the afternoon, in a little carriage drawn by Sir Humphry's two ponies, for he bought another shortly after our arrival at Laibach. We only went on to Oberlaibach, where we spent the night. Not far from this small village the river Laibach issues, for the last time, from its subterraneous passage.

7th. Early this morning I went with two students from Munich, whom I met on their road to Adelsberg, to see the source of the river. At the end of a romantic glen, surrounded by fine rocks and wood, the river oozes out of the hill, forming a large pond, which falls over a natural dam in front, and is then joined, a few hundred yards below, by another subterraneous stream, and they together form a tolerably large river. Parting here from my Munich companions, I returned to Oberlaibach, when I found Sir Humphry was already gone out shooting, but he shortly returned, and having shot nothing, we set out for Planina. Immediately upon leaving Oberlaibach we ascended a very long and steep hill, the surface of which was everywhere perforated with large conical pits, much resembling funnels, affording a striking example of that species of country called by geologists funnel land. Arrived at the top of the hill we found ourselves in a wide fertile valley, through which we saw the Laibach winding slowly, till on reaching the end of the valley it disappears in the fields, and after pursuing its subterraneous course through the mountain, again rises to the surface near Ober-Laibach. We stopped to bait the horses at Loitsch, and then drove on through the valley to Planina, a dirty village, where we passed the night in a miserable inn.