Penny Magazine

No. 220 - THE PENNY MAGAZINE - Sep. 5, 1835

TYROL.--No. III.

THE WATERFALL OF GOLLING.
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THE river Salza, or Salzach, rises in the mountains of the Tyrol,--but it is in Austria Proper that it runs the greater part of its course, at first pursuing a westerly direction, parallel with the Noric Alps, and then flowing northward at no great distance from the Bavarian frontier, until it joins the River Inn, which forms the north-eastern boundary of Bavaria.

The tourist who is already familiar with Switzerland would find much to delight and interest him if, after lingering some time in the Tyrol, he were to track the Salza from its source on Mount Brenner to its junction with the Inn, especially as this is not a beaten track with tourists. The valleys of the Tyrol are more extensive and magnificent than those of Switzerland,--seventy or eighty miles long, and sometimes eight to ten broad. The memorials of another age are there more frequently mingled with the beauties of natural scenery than in Switzerland, where castles and ruins are seldom observed. In Switzerland the sublime is oftener excited; but Mr. Inglis, one of the most recent travellers in the Tyrol, doubts whether, in the latter country, the love of the beautiful and the picturesque is not more frequently gratified.

The valley of the Salza is extensive, and the river is rendered impetuous by passing alternately through ravines and mountain defiles. The climate near the source is severe, and the snow lies there for several months in the year. About June the heat becomes very great, and the sirocco occasionally penetrates even to these regions; but it seldom lasts more than a few hours, and though sensibly felt, its effects are greatly lessened, and its power is chiefly shown in melting the snows and causing a sudden flood. The Salza begins to be navigable at Hallein, about twenty miles above the Inn. At five miles from its junction it passes by Salzburg, celebrated for its salt-works. The Waterfall of Golling is in the upper part of its course, a few miles from Hallein, near a mountain which rises 2572 feet above the level of the sea. Notwithstanding its grandeur, and the bolt and romantic scenery which surround it, it is comparatively little known, owing to its not lying in the usual path of tourists. The stream, as is shown in our view, has perforated the rock in its descent, and falls in a sort of curtain over the lower part of it into the channel at the foot. The annexed view was taken on the spot.