-KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

with far more interest and instruction, and read, I 
am certain, with far greater pleasure. 
Whilst we are now transcribing the remarks 
of this amiable man, the fields are echoing to 
the sounds of the gun. Every bird that is 
deemed “curious,” is being slaughtered; 
every benumbed little pensioner asking for 
shelter, mangled. Brave — kind—noble 
“Sportsmen” and “ Naturalists !” 

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON MAGAZINE. 
Part 7. Piper & Co. 
This wonderfully cheap, and as admirably 
conducted periodical, goes a-head. Both its 
illustrations and matter are full of interest. 
As we like to preserve the general cha- 
racter of OUR JOURNAL, it will be seen that, 
in making our extracts from new and other 
works, we study the subjects selected—so as 
to bring them, as much as possible, within 
our peculiar province. NATURE is our de- 
light. In no pursuit, apart from this loved 
mother of ours, can we take pleasure. 
The subjoined are from an article entitled 
“The Domestic Animals of Switzerland,” 
which is penned in an amiable spirit that 
should reach every honest heart. The writer 
carries out our views of love and affection to 
a nicety :— \ 
GOATS AND CHILDREN IN SWITZERLAND. 
When the cows are sent to the mountains, the 
inhabitants of the villages obtain their supplies of 
butter and milk from the goats. Each family 
generally possesses one or more of these useful 
animals. After they are milked in the morning, 
which is at the break of day, they are turned out 
of their dormitories ; which, for cows as well as 
goats, are in most cases under the roof of the 
dwelling-house, but behind it. At the sound of 
the Alpine horn, of their own accord they wend 
their way to the main street of the village. When 
gathered together, seemingly by instinct, an in- 
valid cowherd or one of their biggest boys takes 
charge of them, and drives them beyond the 
meadows, as far as. the first belt of firs, where 
they feed during the day. 
The route of this little army, amounting fre- 
quently to one or two hundred goats, of every 
description and color, with the tinkling of so many 
bells (for they are belled for the same purpose as 
the cows), winding their way up the mountain- 
side, is one of the picturesque sights of a Swiss 
valley. But the fun is, to watch their return as 
the shades of the evening close in. You will see 
them hastening with playful impatience, running 
down the mountain, each one vying with his 
neighbor. As they draw nigh their home, they 
will frisk and skirmish one another with their 
horns, in order to gain the front rank. At the 
outskirts of the village they are met by a troop 
of little creatures, who always sally forth to meet 
their bearded companions. 
Children not more than three or four years old 
will run into the middle of the flock, and lay hold 
of their pets by the neck. Before they do s0, 
however, many of them are trundled over by a 


341 
friendly push of the horn. But, in spite of this, 
the little bipeds will walk off victorious over their 
four-footed friends, and, with their arms around 
their necks, conduct them to their quarters for the 
night. Those who are domiciled at the entrance 
of the village, if the door is not open for their ad- 
mission, will stand bleating till it is; while others 
set off at a canter up the various lanes and by- 
ways to the chal¢t, where they are housed for the 
night. When they arrive at the door of their 
owner, they are generally rewarded with a hand- 
ful of salt, for which the goat has an extraordinary 
penchant. This, together with the instinct which 
tells them that the time of milking is come, will 
probably account for their unmannerly conduct as 
they approach their resting-place. 
We have said these animals have a peculiar 
longing for salt. Sometimes it happens that you 
meet, high up in the mountains, with a company 
who have fairly strayed from their owners, and 
have herded with the steinbocks or chamois, yet 
found in the higher Alps bordering on the Mer de 
Glace. Astonishing is the affection which these 
creatures manifest for the society of man. Whe- 
ther it arises from the care taken of them, or from 
their having been made pets of by the children, I 
know not; but, certain it is, they will follow you 
for miles as you climb the mountain-pass, or pass 
on to the review of the most rugged and stupen- 
dous rocks. No matter your remonstrances ; on 
they will come, with all the intrusion of another 
Paul Pry. Kven blows are of no avail; so the 
best plan for the traveller is, to submit to their 
society at once. When they do so, they will find 
it of the closest description ; pressing against your 
legs, and leaving nothing undone to attract your 
attention. 
They seemed invariably to follow us wherever 
we went. When we stopped, they stopped ;. and 
whenever we proceeded, they pressed on also. 
Thus doing, they reminded me of a game which, 
when a boy, I have many a time played at, and 
which, I believe, is called ‘“ Follow my leader.” 
One would have thought, in following us so 
closely as they did, the taste for splendid scenery 
had been imparted ; for it mattered not—the more 
dangerous the place we would climb, the more 
readily would they follow us. It could not be that 
they were in search of pasture, because they 
had strayed from good and verdant meadows on 
to the barren rocks and their icy glaciers. 
Probably, their wonderful predilection for salt 
may account for all this ostensible affection—a 
luxury which experience has taught them is to. 
be found only in the society of man, and to gra- 
tify which they think no trouble too great to be 
incurred. Whether instinct teaches them to take 
it medicinally, as it is said the horse, the cow, 
and the sheep do, I do not know; I should, how- 
ever, conceive they do, although some assert they 
use it as a sort of saline dram-drinking. It always 
delights me to reflect on the natural and feeling 
manner in which the Swiss treat their domestic 
animals: instead of the brutal kick or the stunning 
blow, they use nothing but kindness, of which the 
animal itself seems susceptible. Besides this, the 
gentle treatment of their animals by this pri- 
mitive people, has an effect on the disposition of 
their children. The child who is permitted to 
torture a fly, will not scruple as he grows older to 
LLL aa aca cree ST PE EE eT TES 
