SECRETARY'S REPORT. 323 



walnuts, grow in endless profusion, and so do chestnuts. Tlie 

 wild blackberries also were very abundant. At Ivrca we saw 

 the beginning of the canals which take out the water for irri- 

 gation far down on the plains around Novara. Here we are 

 again in the midst of Piedmont, under the jurisdiction of Victor 

 Emanuel. What a funny mistake we made at the little old 

 town of Chivasso, where we had been advised to stop at the 

 Hotel clella Moro, which we misunderstood, and went inquiring 

 about, after dark, and on foot, for the Hotel de V Aniore. 



The next morning we were off for Lago Maggiore, one of the 

 loveliest lakes in the world. I wish I had space to describe 

 the little paradise on the Boromean islands. It seemed, as we 

 approached it, almost like an enchanted palace. We are now 

 turned again towards the Alps, and fast approaching the valley 

 of the Ticino, or the Tessin, as it is often called, which leads 

 up to the pass of the St. Gothard, one of the grandest and 

 loftiest mountain passes in Switzerland. Stopping the night at 

 the genuine old feudal town of Bellinzona, we journeyed the 

 whole day after with an open carriage to ourselves up through 

 this enchanting pass, as far as the foot of the mountain. It 

 baffles description. With lofty peaks, on either side piercing 

 the clouds, myriads of dashing torrents falling from untold 

 ' lieights, in snowy whiteness at our feet, and a foaming rushing 

 river on the side of the road, the journey was ever varied, and 

 full of new and constant charms. 



In travelling through the valleys of Switzerland, a large 

 number of goats are seen grazing on the sides of the mountains 

 or coming into the villages at night and leaving them iii the 

 morning. Many of these animals are stall fed, or kept in the 

 valleys all the year round. Many others are driven in large 

 flocks to the sterile mountain pastures every morning, while a 

 third class are kept on the mountains through the summer. 

 Those that are stall fed give large quantities of milk. We 

 stopped for the night at a little village called Faido, at the foot 

 of the St. Gothard. Soon a flock of about four hundred of 

 these animals, most, if not all, of them having bells, entered tlic 

 village in charge of a goatherd and his dogs. Their udders 

 were very largely distended with milk, and they would probably 

 give from one to two quarts apiece, a good yield for so small au 

 animal. Each knew where to go for its night's lodging. In 



