1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



171 



Men, in Switzerland, seem to be of very little 

 importance, so that if you hire a mule i costs 

 no more to have a man go with it than to have 

 the mule without the man. There had been a 

 heavy rain for a day or two previous, and the 

 mountain path was wet and slippery. Four pic- 

 turesque looking Swiss singers, who were on their 

 way to give a concert at Leuk, started in company 

 with us ou foot, and entertained us with an occa- 

 sional note, somewhere between a song and a 

 howl, and with divers calls to each other which 

 helped to wake the numerous echoes that sleep 

 among the hills. Slowly we crept along the wind- 

 ing path up the face of the mountain, wrapped 

 in all the coats and shawls we could muster, oc- 

 casionally raising an umbrella when "the storm 

 grew fast and furious." Soon the rain turned to 

 snow, and the whole scene changed to a winter 

 landscape, drear and desolate. We came, after 

 about two hours ascent, to a level, where were 

 two or three huts, and fifty or sixty cattle. The 

 cattle seemed surprised at this visit of winter in 

 August, and were roaming about apparently in 

 search of something better than snow for food. 

 The ground on the top of this ascent, although 

 it was between high ridges, was covered with snow 

 to the depth of four or five inches. We soon 

 came to a halting place, near a small lake or 

 pond, Avhere is a sort of hotel. The prevailing 

 fashion in Switzerland is to build house and barn 

 under one roof, and here the mules were led into 

 one apartment, the guides entered another, and 

 we, the aristocracy of the party, took a third. It 

 seems to be the custom for the guides and mule- 

 teers to eat and drink at every place where any 

 supplies can be procured, and although we had 

 been but a little more than two hours on the way, 

 I found them all at their table, which was well 

 supplied with bread and cheese and wine, eating 

 OS if they had fasted for a week. These people 

 pay from six to ten cents a bottle for their wine, 

 and they eat nothing but bread and cheese. Meat 

 is a luxury reserved for us foreigners, for Avhich 

 we pay the most extravagant prices. In the 

 matter of wine, our education has improved daily. 

 The light wines of the country seem really to 

 be the best drink that can be used. Nobody could 

 take enough of them to intoxicate, and in the cli- 

 mate of Switzerland, which is very warm in the 

 valleys, it quenches thirst far better than the 

 snow water which runs from the hills. Travellers, 

 however, especially Americans, who think they 

 must have the best that the land affords, pay 

 dearly for their education. I concluded, early in 

 our travels, that the wine at one franc, or twenty 

 cents a bottle, was just as good as that at four or 

 five times that price. Some of the party, how 

 ever, were not satisfied, but insisted that there 

 was a marked difference, so I challenged any one 



of them to distinguish between two kinds, one of 

 which cost just four times aa much as the other. 

 The challenge was accepted, and the bottles pro- 

 cured. Our friend turned his back, and I passed 

 him two glasses of Avine, which he tasted alter- 

 nately, and then very confidently announced that 

 the one in his right hand was far superior to the 

 other. The fact was, however, that both glasses 

 came out of the same bottle ! And our friend 

 was, to use a slang phrase, decidedly "sold." 

 Upon fairly trying the two bottles, however, we 

 could scarcely discern any difference, and on call- 

 ing the landlord, he said the highest priced wine 

 had been bottled many years, and the other was 

 draw"n from a cask, but that originally they cost 

 the same. It is not generally supposed that light 

 wines improve by much age, and there is no rea- 

 son why they should more than cider. 



These M'ines, to which I refer, have not appar- 

 ently half the strength of common cider, although 

 they are pure juice of the grape. A single glass 

 of port or sherry contains more of the intoxicat- 

 ing principle than a pint of this common wine, 

 and English beer, which seems to me the worst 

 beverage ever invented, has more stupefaction in 

 a bottle of it, than could be found in a whole 

 vineyard of Swiss wines. The Swiss, have how- 

 ever, a cheap kind of white brandy which they 

 use, and which produces the same effect as New 

 England rum, that is to say, intoxication and 

 misery. 



After an hour's rest, we again mounted and 

 soon came to a larger lake of a mile or more in 

 extent. Here the wind blew furiously, and the 

 snow was whirled in drifts across our path to the 

 depth of two feet, in some places. After about an 

 hour, we were told by the guides to dismount, as 

 nobody is alloAved to ride down that side of the 

 pass. 



We had, by the way, met an English gentle- 

 man and lady making the whole passage on foot, 

 and the lady, with her dress tucked up, and her 

 Alpenstock in hand, was facing the snow-storm 

 rather more manfully than would be jjleasant to 

 most ladies, though from observation, it Avould 

 seem that l".dies on these expeditions frequently 

 endure the hardship and fatigue fully as well as 

 the men. 



The descent from the Gemmi towards Louk is 

 wonderful indeed. Standing at the bottom and 

 looking back, you behold a ledge of rocks, some 

 two thousand feet in height, not one smooth face, 

 but divided as it were into several round towers, 

 and in the midst a deep gorge which seems to sjjlit 

 the mountain in twain, but winds suddenly out of 

 view, leaving only the precipices on each side in 

 sight ; up this rock, perpendicular for the most 

 part, and actually leaning forward in many places, 

 a path has been cut, winding and zigzaging about 



