18 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



note to the more sober ones, as though the heart were 

 gradually recovering from its sudden fit of ecstasy. 

 But it is only for a moment; and again it is heard 

 mounting higher, heard louder than before, and faintly 

 echoed back from the opposite mountain. No, that 

 was not an echo, it was a Sennerinn from those dis- 

 tant huts yonder answering the other. 



It may be thought that the rough uncultivated na- 

 ture of these peasants, placed as they are year after 

 year amid the same scenes, and following the same 

 unvarying occupations, will not be much influenced 

 by the appearances of external nature; and that to 

 suppose them to be so is rather a poetic fancy than 

 plain sober fact. But I am not of this opinion : I 

 believe that, unconsciously, they are impressed by 

 the sublime scenery around them : they enjoy it dif- 

 ferently from the man of more refined mind, but 

 the result is perhaps nearly the same, only different 

 in degree and quality ; in both the principal feature 

 being enjoyment, though more sensuous in the one 

 than in the other. And that they do enjoy it to 

 the full to the full according to their capacity is 

 evident from their manner, their looks, and their con- 

 versation. They live surrounded by grandeur, and 

 glory, and magnificence. Wonders happen around 

 them ; nor do they pass unheeded, for it is these that 

 break the monotony of their life. We too are encom- 

 passed by wonders, but in the strife and turmoil we 

 have no time to stop and marvel ; while they, separated 

 for months from the world and its wearing cares, keep 



