Tirol

“ Forestry also employs a certain proportion of the population, but the felling of trees is carried on wastefully, though less so than in former years. A few minerals are found in the district, but in this department the salt works of Hall, near Innsbruck, take the first place. In southern Tirol, silk-spinning is still one of the principal industries, while good local wines are produced near Meran and Botzen. There are also some factories of preserved fruits and tobacco. But, save in the towns, Tirol is above all a pastoral land. ”

“ Beyond these hills there is always to be seen the range of high Alps, which we left to themselves. They indeed bar the issue from this pass, so that the traveller has continually to return to the course of the stream, and to emerge again at some turn or other. This county of Tirol, which yields no revenue except from the mountains, is worth three hundred thousand florins a year to the archduke, more than he gets from all the rest of his dominions. ”

“ The county of Tirol was generally held by a cadet line of the Austrian house, the count being almost an independent ruler. But the last princeling of this kind died in 1665, since which date Innsbruck and Tirol have been governed from Vienna. In 1552 Maurice of Saxony surprised and nearly took Innsbruck, almost capturing the emperor Charles V. himself, who escaped owing to a mutiny among Maurice’s troops. In the patriotic war of 1809, Innsbruck played a great part and suffered much, while in 1848, at the time of the revolution in Vienna, it joyfully received the emperor Ferdinand. ”

“ The capital is Innsbruck, while other important towns are Trent, Botzen and Rovereto.
The present very irregular shape of the district is due to historical causes. The original Tirol consisted of part of the middle Inn valley and of the uppermost portion (the Vintschgau) of the Adige valley. In 1500, by inheritance from the counts of Görz, the Pusterthal and upper Drave valley (east) were added; in 1505 the lower portion of the Zillerthal, with the Inn valley from its entrance to Kufstein, and the Kitzbühel region (north-east) were all won from Bavaria ”

“ The glacier scenery of the northern slope of the Venediger and the southern of the Glockner group is the finest in Tirol, whilst the Glockner itself is built on great lines, has the qualities of a true giant, and affords some climbing of a high order. If the reader, however, will consent to descend from these superior considerations to others of a more practical character, his attention may be called to the fact that, in this many-hutted district, facilities are afforded to a climber which he will not often find equalled elsewhere except in one or two minor Tirolese groups. ”

“ With that Theodoric took his leave, and along with him went Hildebrand the Sage, and Wittich the Wigand, and the strong Wolfhart, and King Lareyn too, of whom Theodoric made his court-fool in his palace at Verona. [73]
[Contents]
THE NICKEL37 OF THE RÖHRERBÜCHEL.
From the fourteenth to the sixteenth, in some few places down to the seventeenth, centuries the mountains of Tirol were in many localities profitably worked in the search after the precious metals; many families were enriched; and the skill of the Tirolese miners passed into a proverb throughout Europe. ”

“ Tirol sends 25 representatives to the Austrian parliament at Vienna. Locally it is ruled by an Imperial governor (the Statthalter) who resides at Innsbruck, where, too, meets annually the local legislature or Diet (the Landtag) , composed (according to the constitution of 1861) of 68 members; the archbishop of Salzburg, the bishops of Trent and Brixen, and the rector of the university of Innsbruck sit in person, while the great ecclesiastical corporations send four deputies, the chambers of commerce of Innsbruck, Trent and Rovereto each one, the nobles ten, the towns 13, and the peasants 34. ”

“ There is a university at Innsbruck, but primary education, though compulsory, does not attain any very high degree of excellence, as in summer the schools are closed, for all hands are then required in the fields or on the mountain pastures. The picturesque local costumes have nearly altogether disappeared, save in the Passeyerthal, near Meran, while the increasing crowds of summer visitors have largely spoilt the simplicity of the natives. Ecclesiastically, Tirol is ruled bgthe archbishop of Salzburg and his two suffragans, the bishops of rent and of Brixen. ”

“ The greatest part of the flat country is subject to the elector of Bavaria; the city of Augsburg is protected by the constitution of the German empire; the Grisons are safe in their mountains, and the country of Tirol is ranked among the numerous provinces of the house of Austria.
The wide extent of territory which is included between the Inn, the Danube, and the Save,—Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Lower Hungary, and Sclavonia,—was known to the ancients under the names of Noricum and Pannonia. ”

“ There is a natural challenge in the sweep of a great ridge falling through some thousand unconquered feet to the pastures below. There is only an artificial challenge in a “new” route some thousand feet in height separated only by a few yards of cliff from an “old” route. We do not wish to depreciate British climbing, which has its own fascination and its own value; but, if it calls for greater cragsmanship, it demands infinitely less mountain craft than the conquest of a difficult Alpine route.
And what is true of British rock-climbing is even more true of Tirol. ”

“ Yet, as a matter of fact, several important mountain groups are situated on one or other side of the watershed of the Alps, and form almost independent ranges, being only connected with the main chain by a kind of peninsula: such are the Dauphine Alps, the Eastern and Western Graians, the entire Bernese Oberland, the Todi, Albula and Silvretta groups, the Ortler and Adamello ranges, and the Dolomites of south Tirol, not to speak of the lower Alps of the Vorarlberg, Bavaria and Salzburg. ”

“ The approach to Innsbruck, whether one come to it by railway or by road from the west, north, east or south, is picturesque and even wonderfully beautiful. Most English and American travellers, however, we imagine, come to the old-time capital of Tyrol via Zurich and the Arlberg railway, with its marvellous tunnel all but six and a half miles in length, above which tower snow-clad peaks and glaciers. This route provides a wonder-world of delight, a succession of deep gorges lying at the foot of towering mountains covered on their summits with a mantle of spotless and eternal snow. ”

“ Approaching from the west we get the first view of the Tyrol after passing through the Arlberg tunnel,—the fourth largest in Europe. All the valleys are crowned by gleaming peaks, the pastures look vividly green, and the little huts and farms absurdly neat. Through towering mountains 6000 feet or more, over the mighty single arch of the Tresanna bridge we pass to Landeck and the upper valley of the Inn. To the south glisten the glaciers of Wildspitze and Weisskugel, rising above the Oetztal valley before we sweep downward to Innsbruck. ”

“ And in such old-world towns as Innsbruck (of many historical memories) , beautiful Salzburg, vi charming Bregenz, Botzen, and Meran the traveller with more artistic, literary, or antiquarian tastes will delight.
That Tyrol deserves to be better known few who have once come under the spell of its charms of scenery, and the frank hospitality and friendliness of its people, or have wandered amidst its lovely valleys and mountains, will deny. ”

“ The valley is at its broadest where the city stands, allowing a wide prospect and charming views from the slopes of St. 74 Nicolaus and Mariahilf across the river to the Berg Isel, and the wooded sides of the Mittelgebirge, with here and there a tiny village with outstanding spire perched high on the mountain side, or set amid the plain. The valley lies east and west of Innsbruck with the river flowing eastward like a silver ribbon, amid cultivated fields of fertile alluvial soil, threading its way through the gradually narrowing valley to Kufstein and thence through Bavaria to the Danube. ”

“ Innsbruck and every trace of the wide valley and environing hills across it have suddenly vanished, and one finds one's self in the midst of wide extending and restfully green upland pastures, with a vista of the charmingly situated little villages of Natters and Mutters, across the Sill Gorge (which here is almost imperceptible) with their church steeples, green tinged and red turreted, shining in the clear Alpine air, and giving to the scene just that touch of colour which an artist loves. ”

“ And then from the tiny churches of the mountain side and valley one hears the Angelus ringing forth with a peaceful sound; or if one be approaching Innsbruck itself, then the mellow tones of the greater bell of Wilten float upward from the valley and come to one borne on the still evening air. Under such circumstances of beauty and in the impressive solitude of the forest ways one must be, indeed, unimpressionable if one fails to feel something of the spirit and love of Tyrol, and of restful peace which has enslaved so many hearts throughout the country's history. ”

“ In leaving Tyrol by way of beautiful Bregenz, washed as it is by the waters of one of the most delightful of Swiss lakes, one carries with one a last impression which is fragrant with the memories of a hospitable race, charming scenery, and innumerable things of historic, artistic, and antiquarian interest. There is, indeed, no other gate through which one would rather leave this "Land within the Mountains," which, as yet unspoiled by crowds of tourists and general sophistication and the deterioration which arises therefrom, lures one to return to it again and again. ”

“ Another large and vastly important accession was now made to his realms. The Tyrol, which, in its natural features, may be considered but an extension of Switzerland, is a territory of about one hundred miles square, traversed through its whole extent by the Alps. Lying just south of Austria it is the key to Italy, opening through its defiles a passage to the sunny plains of the Peninsula; and through those fastnesses, guarded by frowning castles, no foe could force his way, into the valleys of the Tyrol. ”

“ Where the lovely Piller-See now lies, with its green rippling waters about one and a half miles long by three-quarters wide, close to the village of St. Ulrich, there used to stand one of the most beautiful and most fertile Alps of the whole Tyrol, belonging formerly to several peasants, who pastured large herds of animals upon it. They were rich in cows, and grass, and had their beautiful Alp besides to depend upon; so they were the happiest and wealthiest peasants in all the world. ”

“ Muriel gave a surprised assent.
"Then do not neglect the Tyrol. They call it the Austrian Tyrol, but it is really the only real Tyrol. Come to Innsbruck by the way of Zurich. That will bring you along the Waldersee, and so, too, you pass Castle Lichtenstein and come across the border at just beyond the ruins of Gräphang. You will see genuine mountains then, gigantic, snow-capped, with forests as dense as—as what you call a hairbrush—black, impenetrable. To the very tops of some the train climbs; it trembles over abysses. ”

“ Innsbruck is generally the first objective of the man who visits the Tyrol, and only when he has arrived there does he begin to think how he is going to jump off. Innsbruck is in itself a fascinating town, with picturesque streets ending in mountain heights crowned with glittering snow and appearing near enough to be reached with a well-directed stone. The town stands in a cross-stream of continental traffic, for it is on the Berlin-Rome and the Paris-Vienna-Constantinople lines, and most people who have penetrated Europe at all have come across it on one or the other. ”

“ Any traveller who does not intend to climb mountains and get off beaten tracks, must in the Tyrol be prepared to follow certain well-defined routes. Of the entrances to the country we have already167 spoken. One of the main passes is that of the Brenner, running north and south, along which the Berlin-Rome line passes. This goes down to Roveredo, and soon gains the plains of Italy. Another great valley, roughly crossing this at right angles, is the valley of the Inn, which runs from Switzerland to Kufstein, and so out to Bavaria. ”

“ So her winter passed away, her first winter with Andreas; she was learning fast, both with eye and with ear, all that Italy and its masters could possibly teach her.
As spring returned, they went northward through Lombardy and the Brenner once more on their way to Munich. Her own Tyrol looked more beautiful than ever as they passed, with its unmelted snows lying thick on the mountains. But, save for a night at Innsbruck, they might not stop there. Yet, even after that short lapse of time in southern cities, oh, how different, how altered little Innsbruck seemed to her! ”

“ If you follow my advice, whatever else you do you will take care to see the Finstermunz Pass, than which nothing in the whole world can be more beautiful. I rather wonder myself that the Tyrol has not drawn more of our holiday folk, Alpine Club and all, from Switzerland. The Orteler Spitz and the glaciers of his range are as fine, and I should think as dangerous, as anything in the Swiss Alps—the lower Alps in the Tyrol are quite equal to their western sisters ”

“ The Carnic or Carinthian Alps are another range in the north of Carniola, and the Julian Alps lie in a south-easterly direction, running through Carniola to Dalmatia.
All the beautiful mountainous scenery in this part of the Empire, including the Tyrol, is known to those who love natural scenery, and the Tyrol itself, with the Dolomites, rivals Switzerland in the number of holiday-makers attracted by it. The country about Salzburg is less known outside the inhabitants of Austria themselves, but the enterprise of the Austrian State railways is opening it up. ”