

APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 13 



cloud in the sky, and the sun lights up the woodland 

 slopes, and makes their sober brown and gold look 

 quite gay and festal on this lovely autumnal morning. 

 And there is Tegernsee, its broad expanse of water 

 as waveless as the air, and as clear and lucid too. A 

 single boat is moving lazily across from a cottage on 

 the opposite shore, and you wonder how so young a 

 girl as she who is rowing can get such a cumbrous 

 craft to move along even thus quickly. The broad 

 brim of her green hat shades the upper part of her 

 face ; but that only makes the brightness of her black 

 eyes the more apparent, and round her head are twined 

 the braids of her long thick hair, just as it is worn by 

 the women of the Tyrol. The silken kerchief crossed 

 over her full bosom is tucked in her boddice ; and if 

 the mieder* does seem too tight, it is rather from the 

 swelling luxuriance of eighteen summers, than from 

 any effort made in plying her rude pair of oars. She 

 always had a friendly smile for you on entering her 

 boat ; though, as it seemed, she was not without her 

 little stock of sorrow; for as I one day rowed by a 



* Mieder is the stiff boddice of silk or velvet worn by the women. 

 It is either richly embroidered, or, in some parts, a silver chain is 

 passed like a lace from one side to the other, and fastened with hooks 

 of silver. Indeed much luxury is often displayed in the dress of 

 these country lasses. The cap (Riegel Haube) of the Munich girls, 

 for example, contains a considerable quantity of the precious metal. 

 The men too, in the low-lands especially, are given to display in their 

 buttons. A rich peasant may often be seen with a long row of these 

 down the front of his coat, one overlapping the other, each being 

 formed of a broad silver coin of two groats value ; on his waistcoat 

 the same. On the frieze joppe of the mountaineer, however, there is 

 no opportunity for such display. 



