LIFE m THE ALPS. 809 



Here we live on the friendliest terms with both the 

 priests and the people. 



Switzerland is made up of a number of cantons, 

 which are subdivided into communes, each possessing 

 its own president and council, and making its own local 

 laws. The communal laws are, however, subject to the 

 revision of the cantonal government. We live, for in- 

 stance, in the commune of Naters. The sale of the land 

 on which our chalet stands was first agreed to by the 

 vote of the assembled burghers of the commune ; but 

 their vote had to be afterwards ratified by the * high 

 government ' of Sion, the chief town of the canton. 

 Naters, the name of the commune, is also the name of 

 its principal village. 



I had the honour this year of being unanimously 

 elected an honorary burgher of the commune. This 

 confers upon me certain rights and privileges not pre- 

 viously enjoyed. I can pasture cows upon the alps — a 

 name given by the inhabitants, not to the snow-capped 

 mountains, but to the grassy slopes stretching far below 

 the snows. I am also entitled to a certain allowance of 

 fuel from the pine-woods. Finally, I can build a chalet 

 on the communal ground. Prizing, however, the good- 

 will of the people more than these material advan- 

 tages, if I at all avail myself of my newly acquired 

 rights and privileges, it will be to a very moderate 

 extent. 



The well-known Bel Alp Hotel stands some two or 

 three hundred feet below our cottage. The name fi Bel ' 

 is derived from a little hamlet of huts planted in the 

 midst of grassy pastures, or alps, abcut half an hour 

 distant from the hotel. The ancient name of the alp 

 on which we have built our nest is Lusgen Alp, and 

 this is the name that we have given to our cottage. I 

 have called it a chalet, but it is by no means one of the 



