_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 (1_s._ 8_d._ English) made my guide a happy man, and the evening was passed in recounting to Sir Humphry the adventures of the day.