26 RAMBLES IN WESTERN SWITZERLAND 



Interlaken ; and from Meyringen will either journey northwards, by 

 Luzern and Basle, into Germany, or turn southwards again towards 

 Italy. And these people will be satisfied, and think they have seen 

 Switzerland, and will talk, not only of the lofty and magnificent 

 mountains, but also of the habits, manners, and appearance, of the 

 people, little aware that the annual influx of thousands of human 

 beings, of all sorls and kinds, has completely destroyed the real na- 

 tional character in those districts which alone they and the multitude 

 visit. It is in consequence of this limited knowledge that we hear 

 people complain of the national character of the Swiss being deteri- 

 orated, and of their having become a dishonest people, wholly given 

 up to the cheating of travellers, especially Englishmen ; and that the 

 once innocent, simple inhabitants, do little else than prey upon the 

 ' unsuspecting stranger, who, in his turn, has become the innocent, the 

 interesting, and the injured. When, however, any one desires to 

 amuse himself with foreign travel, and is not thoroughly satisfied 

 before starting that the English language and the habits of English- 

 men are the only things worthy of his attention and admiration, he may 

 find, even at the present day, and that, too, in Switzerland, a simple- 

 minded, intelligent race, little accustomed to strangers, and little 

 injured by their contact — a race whose love of country is yet unim- 

 paired, and who, if need be, would stand up and die in defence of 

 their mountain home and their liberty. In order to discover the very 

 existence of this real Swiss feeling, it is necessary, however, to put 

 ofi' the thick warm coat of prejudice, which the too fortunate En- 

 glishman is rather apt to indulge in, even in his summer excursions. 

 The people must not have their prejudices shocked by the exhibition 

 of ours when we go as strangers among them ; and we must put up 

 with many little discomforts, and often real annoyances, which, in the 

 well-regulated hotels on most of the continental high roads, would 

 never be endured. For instance, good or even tolerable dinners, 

 decent solitary beds, quiet evenings, un-loquacious inn-keepers, 

 speaking intelligible French, or even, as is often the case, English : 

 these are things left behind when we quit the ordinary travelled 

 route ; and, in fact, one who cannot trust to himself, with a knapsack 

 on his back, a compass and map in his pocket, and a pair of stout 

 legs and shoes to match, had better not look for amusement where 

 he, perhaps, might only find annoyance, and where the difficulties and 

 dangers are not sufficient to add excitement to the objects of in- 

 terest. 



However, presuming that my narrative may be more tempting than 



