The Strange Cliff Dwellers 



Peter Antony Mattli 

 Uri, Switzerland — now a volunteer in the American Army 



There is a certain valley in the Alps of Switzerland, a strip of 

 land surrounded by a chain of mountains; and one of these 

 mountains forms a wall, which makes a sheer drop of some 1500 ft. 

 to the fields below. Now this wall has been rent apart from top 

 to bottom by some prehistoric convulsion or upheaval, forming 

 a rather narrow but very deep and dark gorge or chasm. 



Some years ago this abyss used to be the home of a bird of an 

 enormous size, about whose identity then was a great deal of 

 speculation and curiosity among the folks down in the valley. 

 We often saw it during the summer evenings sitting up there on 

 the cliff. It looked, for all the world like a great dog. Sometimes 

 it would lift its wings, sail into space and disappear among the 

 mountains on the other side. People who had been near it said, 

 that it didn't make the least bit of noise when flying. To little 

 boys it represented a real terror. They feared it very much 

 partly on account of its weird call and partly also for the things 

 that folks said about it. 



Many of the folks insisted that it was a giant eagle and a gaint 

 eagle, as all mountaineers know, is a rather serious proposition. 

 It has a wing spread of 10 feet or more, and is therefore consider- 

 ably larger than the condor, and though almost, if not entirely, 

 extinct now, is still held responsible for many a crime ; and accord- 

 ing to good authorities, it deserves the blackest of reputations. 

 These birds, so it is claimed, did a great deal of damage in their 

 day. They carried off many a lamb and many a baby goat was 

 lost in the mountains, never to be found again. 



Not only did they carry off smaller game, but they also attacked 

 larger animals that were too heavy to be carried off. Their 

 method of singling out goats in the clefts and beating them down 

 with their wings is well known. It is interesting to note in this 

 connection that the goats know very well how to take care of 

 themselves and usually avoid the bird by running together, forming 

 into a solid bunch. 



Now, of course, nobody knew for sure that the bird in the cliff 

 was an eagle. There were people who maintained that he was not. 

 They claimed that eagles do not fly noislessly, that they do not 



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