314 LIFE IN THE ALPS. 



remained unaccounted for. During all this time the 

 animals were without food, and, indeed, were given up 

 for lost. Nearly two hundred of them, however, were 

 afterwards driven down to the Bel Alp alive. I saw 

 them arrive after their long fast, and they seemed per- 

 fectly brisk and cheerful. Some of them were entirely 

 hare of wool, the covering having been eaten off their 

 backs by their famishing companions. I have been, 

 assured that the sheep which indulged in this nutriment 

 all died, balls of undigested wool being found in their 

 stomachs afterwards. Avalanches were frequent at the 

 time here referred to, and by them numbers of sheep on 

 the lower slopes were swept away. 



It is only those burghers who are comparatively 

 well off that ascend to the higher grazing grounds. 

 Even they seem to find the struggle for existence a 

 hard one. Two or three cows and a few sheep or goats 

 constitute, in well-to-do cases, the burgher's movable 

 wealth, while the land privately owned is divided into 

 very small parcels. 



The peasants' huts, built, for the most part, of pine- 

 logn, richly coloured by the oxidising action of the sun, 

 are not always as wholesome as they might be. The 

 upper part of every hut is divided into two dwelling- 

 rooms, one for sleeping, and the other for cooking and 

 other purposes. The single sleeping-room is sometimes 

 occupied by a numerous family, space being obtained 

 by placing one bed above another, like the bertha 

 in a ship. There is no chimney, the smoke escaping 

 through apertures in the roof. 



In our neighbourhood, the roofs are usually formed 

 of flags obtained from a rock capable of cleavage. 

 The sleeping-room is always over the cowshed, this 

 position being chosen for the sake of warmth. Through 

 chinks in the floor, the sleepers not only obtain warmth. 



