^T. 28.] JOURNAL. 245 



ous ever-changing aspects of the mountains and lake 

 as it cleared up ! Saw the steamboat at a distance, 

 and hastened to the foot of the mountain, when it 

 soon became evident enough that the boat did not in- 

 tend to touch there ; so we took a boat and went out 

 to meet it. But although we drew very near them as 

 they passed, they did not choose to take the slightest 

 notice of us, and I was obliged, in the middle of the 

 lake, to consider what should be done in such a pre- 

 dicament. I had no intention of awaiting the return 

 of the steamboat and going with her to Lucerne, 

 thence to begin the route to-morrow ; and for a few 

 moments I was a little bothered. But fortunately a 

 pedestrian like me is not at the mercy of steamboats 

 and stagecoaches ; and the high satisfaction one feels 

 at his comparative independence is one of the great 

 pleasures of this mode of locomotion, and goes far to 

 compensate for the fatigue. I reflected that I might 

 not find the courier at Fluellen, and in that case should 

 have a prodigious journey, and moreover that I had 

 clearly saved the money I should have paid. So, 

 learning on hasty inquiry that a blind mountain path 

 led from the opposite shore into the canton of Unter- 

 walden to Staiiz, etc., from whence I knew I could 

 reach the Grimsel, and if I chose St. Gotthard, and 

 that it was the nearest way to the Grindelwald and 

 all the finest part of Switzerland, I ordered the 

 boat to take me to that shore, where I was accordingly 

 left to shift for myself as well as I could. But then 

 came on one of the ills that flesh is heir to, most espe- 

 cially in traveling, I wanted my dinner ! I stopped 

 at a cottage, the only one in the vicinity, but found 

 no one but a little girl, who stared at me as if she had 

 never seen a civilized being ; saw no chance of getting 



