Ilanz,  twenty  miles  above  Coire,  was  the
capital  of  the  Oberbund.  Eleven  miles  farther
on,  at  the  entrance  to  the  village  of  Trons,  is
the  sycamore  under  which  the  oath  was  ad-
ministered to  the  members  of  the  league  by  the
abbot  of  Disentis.  The  abbey  still  stands  on  a
terrace  above  Disentis,  where  two  torrents  meet
to  form  the  Vorder  Rhein.  It  was  founded,  they
say,  by  an  Irishman  in  the  year  614,  and  must
have  been  the  beginning  of  civilisation  in  this
wild  region.  It  presents  an  imposing  air  but
it  is  not  the  venerable  fabric  raised  by  the
missionary,  for  that  was  burnt  long  ago  ;  and
it  has  now  been  converted  into  a  college  and  a
technical  institute.  From  Disentis  it  is  eighteen
miles  over  the  fortified  Oberalp  Pass  to  Ander-
matt  in  the  canton  Uri.
The  Grisons  still  holds  its  own  as  the  principal
winter  resort  in  Switzerland  for  those  in  search

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Winter  in  the   Alps

of  health  and  of  the  rudest  forms  of  amusement.
Davos  had  been  long  "  indicated "  by  the
faculty  as  a  sanatorium,  before  the  lusty  tribe
of  skaters  and  skiers  poured  into  the  valley  and
warmed  the  hearts  of  the  invalids  with  their
jollity  and  vigour.  The  English  skating  club
was  founded  at  Davos  in  1889.  Since  that  time
the  little  town  has  grown  beyond  recognition ;
it  grew,  as  Addington  Symonds  tells  us,  under  his
.  very  eyes.  That  great  writer  could  not  fairly
complain  now  that  life  there  was  monotonous.
