10 



CHAPTER II. 



APPBOACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 



HE only who has dwelt in the mountains, or has wan- 

 dered for a time over their sides and through their 

 valleys, who has entered the simple but comfortable 

 cottages, and chatted familiarly with the peasantry in 

 their own peculiar dialect about their occupations and 

 their pastimes ; such a one only can form a notion of 

 the feeling of delight which is experienced when at 

 length a sudden turn in the road shows him the mighty 

 forms striving upwards to the sky, their peaks, may be, 

 gleaming brightly with a covering of snow, or, if the 

 air be clear and it still be summer weather, appearing 

 with that beautiful deep blue tint which forms the 

 distance in the South. There is something so cheering 

 and gladdening in the sight ! It calls to mind familiar 

 greetings and rough but hearty welcomings, pleasant 

 returnings homeward from the chase, and song and the 

 merry dance. Already with the mind's eye is seen the 

 wide view from the mountain-top ; you again snuff the 



