APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 15 



It may be thought that the rough uncultivated nature 

 of these peasants, placed as they are year after year amid 

 the same scenes, and following the same unvarying occu- 

 pations, 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 differently 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 be- 

 ing 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 conversation. They live 

 surrounded by grandeur, and glory, and magnificence. 

 Wonders happen around them ; nor do they pass un- 

 heeded, for it is these that break the monotony of their 

 life. We too are encompassed 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 their minds fresher and more suscep- 

 tible to outward impressions. Knowing nothing of con- 

 ventions, nor hardened or pressed down by want, they 

 are, both mentally and bodily, more healthy and more 

 vigorous. The purity of the air gives elasticity to the 

 heart as well as to the limbs, and their simple diet is 

 most surely not without a happy influence. Meat they 

 never taste, and their sole drink is milk or water. Their 

 pleasures are of the simplest kind : song is for them at 

 once an occupation and a pastime, and when on the 

 mountains, you are sure to hear some solitary watcher 

 over his herd beguiling the lonesome hours with a mouth- 

 harmonicon, or filling the air with one of their happy 



