THE FIR TRIBE. 



337 



the lower end of the slide cried out to the one 

 above him^ " lachez,'" (let go). The cry was re- 

 peated from one to another, and reached the 

 top of the slide in three minutes. The work- 

 man at the top then cried out to the one below 

 him, il vient " (it comes) ; and the tree was 

 instantly launched down the slide, preceded by 

 the cry, which was repeated from post to post. 

 As soon as the tree had reached the bottom, 

 and plunged into the lake, the cry of lachez " 

 was repeated as before, and a new tree was 

 launched in a similar manner. By these means 

 a tree descended every five or six minutes. 

 The velocity with which the trees descended is 

 almost inconceivable ; the descent of eight miles 

 was usually made in six minutes, but in wet 

 weather it was frequently effected in three, 

 being at the rate of a hundred and eighty miles 

 an hour ! Perhaps the best way of conveying 

 an idea of this amazing velocity is to state, that 

 a spectator standing by found it quite impossible 

 to give two successive strokes with his stick to 

 any, even the longest, tree, as it passed him. 

 The logs entered the lake with so much force that 

 many of them seemed to penetrate its waters to 

 the very bottom. Much of the timber of Mount 

 Pilate was thus brought to market ; but the 

 expense attending the process rendered it im- 

 possible for the speculator to undersell the Baltic 

 merchant, after the arrival of peace had opened 

 the market for his timber, and so the slide of 

 Alpnach fell into ruin. 



An interesting description has been given by 

 Howison of the mode of bringing timber to mar- 

 ket in the heart of Russia, A Russian proprietor 



II. z 



