CHAPTER II. 



APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 



He only who lias dwelt in the mountains, or has wan- 

 dered for a time over their sides, and through their val- 

 leys, — who has entered the simple but comfortable cot- 

 tages, 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, gleam- 

 ing 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, — pleasantreturnings home- 

 ward 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 pure bracing air ; 

 and the shout and the Jodler* of the shepherd-boy or 

 Sennerinni already resound in your ears. 



* Jodler. The peculiar song of all mountaineers, the high notes 

 being always a falsetto. The Brothers Rainer, formerly in England, 

 sing it in perfection. 



f Senner — Sennerinn. Dairyman — dairymaid. 



