considered as a feat performed in the early days of railway-making is a positive marvel. Sixteen thousand men were employed on the making, and the blasting of rock-work was mistaken at Vienna for the cannon of an army of insurgents! [Illustration: STYRIA: THE GRIMMING, FROM PÜRGG] Villach is a town which forms an excellent centre, being on the lines connected with Vienna, Venice, Botzen, and Meran. From here there are views of the glacier-covered Ankogel and other mountains in the Seebach valley. Through the Karawanken Alps we come down into the atmosphere of the Mediterranean, and find everything more advanced and smiling than on the northern side. Here we are in Carniola. The line crosses the Save valley by a viaduct 165 metres long, runs through a tunnel, and eventually reaches Veldes--another health resort--with a castle standing high above a lake. Other tunnels follow, and at last we come to the Wocheiner See, lying in a deeply cut cleft and most wonderfully situated. This gives its name to the last of the Alpine tunnels, that through the Julian Alps, and then we arrive at the most difficult and impressive part of the new railway, where the engineering feats make us hold our breath. Through the Isonzo valley we pass, with the river of that name flowing deep-green and curiously bright among water-carved white rocks. The river is crossed by a viaduct not once only, but again, and the second time by what is the largest stone railway bridge in the world at Salcano, 36 metres above the water. Tunnel after tunnel follows, until we reach Gorz, the capital of the principality of Gorz and Gradiska, the houses are grouped round the castle on its hill, and the place enjoys renown as a winter resort on account of the mildness of its climate. It is not until we are through the Opcina tunnel that we emerge to see the panorama of the Adriatic.