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diff --git a/22377.txt b/22377.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44503a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/22377.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5316 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rollo in Switzerland, by Jacob Abbott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rollo in Switzerland + +Author: Jacob Abbott + +Release Date: August 23, 2007 [EBook #22377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND *** + + + + +Produced by D. Alexander, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND, + + BY + + JACOB ABBOTT. + + + NEW YORK: + SHELDON & CO., 667 BROADWAY, + and 214 & 216 MERCER ST., + Grand Central Hotel. + 1873. + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by JACOB ABBOTT, + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of + Massachusetts. + + + + + [Illustration: ROLLO'S IN EUROPE.] + + ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE. + + ORDER OF THE VOLUMES. + + ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. + ROLLO IN PARIS. + ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND. + ROLLO IN LONDON. + ROLLO ON THE RHINE. + ROLLO IN SCOTLAND. + ROLLO IN GENEVA. + ROLLO IN HOLLAND. + + + + + [Illustration: MONT BLANC.] + + + PRINCIPAL PERSONS OF THE STORY. + + ROLLO; twelve years of age. + + MR. and MRS. HOLIDAY; Rollo's father and mother, travelling + in Europe. + + THANNY; Rollo's younger brother. + + JANE; Rollo's cousin, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Holiday. + + MR. GEORGE; a young gentleman, Rollo's uncle. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--GETTING A PASSPORT, 11 + + II.--CROSSING THE FRONTIER, 31 + + III.--BASLE, 49 + + IV.--THE DILIGENCE, 60 + + V.--RIDE TO BERNE, 72 + + VI.-THE VALLEY OF THE AAR, 85 + + VII.--INTERLACHEN, 101 + + VIII.--LAUTERBRUNNEN, 118 + + IX.--THE WENGERN ALP, 136 + + X.--GOING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, 168 + + XI.--GLACIERS, 181 + + XII.--ROLLO A COURIER, 196 + + XIII.--CONCLUSION, 220 + + + ENGRAVINGS. + + MONT BLANC, (FRONTISPIECE.) PAGE + + THE COTTAGE, 10 + + THE PREFECTURE OF POLICE, 25 + + IN THE CAB, 40 + + THE DILIGENCE AT THE OFFICE, 77 + + THE DILIGENCE ON THE ROAD, 81 + + THE LAKE SHORE, 97 + + VICINITY OF INTERLACHEN, 100 + + THE MOUNTAIN GIRL, 147 + + THE FALL, 173 + + THE CREVASSE, 182 + + THE NARROW PATH, 189 + + ASCENT OF MONT BLANC, 193 + +[Illustration: THE COTTAGE. _See page 81_] + + + + +ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +GETTING A PASSPORT. + + +The last day that Rollo spent in Paris, before he set out on his journey +into Switzerland, he had an opportunity to acquire, by actual +experience, some knowledge of the nature of the passport system. + +Before commencing the narrative of the adventures which he met with, it +is necessary to premise that no person can travel among the different +states and kingdoms on the continent of Europe without what is called a +passport. The idea which prevails among all the governments of the +continent is, that the people of each country are the subjects of the +sovereign reigning there, and in some sense belong to him. They cannot +leave their country without the written permission of the government, +nor can they enter any other one without showing this permission and +having it approved and stamped by the proper officers of the country to +which they wish to go. There are, for example, at Paris ministers of all +the different governments of Europe, residing in different parts of the +city; and whoever wishes to leave France, to go into any other kingdom, +must first go with his passport to the ministers of the countries which +he intends to visit and get them to put their stamp upon it. This stamp +represents the permission of the government whose minister affixes it +that the traveller may enter the territory under their jurisdiction. +Besides this, it is necessary to get permission from the authorities of +Paris to leave the city. Nobody can leave France without this. This +permission, too, like the others, is given by a stamp upon the passport. +To get this stamp, the traveller must carry or send his passport to the +great central police office of Paris, called the prefecture of police. +Now, as the legations of the different governments and the prefecture of +police are situated at very considerable distances from each other about +the city, and as it usually takes some time to transact the business at +each office, and especially as the inexperienced traveller often makes +mistakes and goes to the wrong place, or gets at the right place at the +wrong hour, it usually requires a whole day, and sometimes two days, to +get his passport all right so as to allow of his setting out upon his +journey. These explanations are necessary to enable the reader to +understand what I now proceed to relate in respect to Rollo. + +One morning, while Rollo and Jennie were at breakfast with their father +and mother, Rollo's uncle George came in and said that he had concluded +to go and make a little tour in Switzerland. "I shall have three weeks," +said he, "if I can get away to-morrow; and that will give me time to +take quite a little run among the mountains. I have come now to see if +you will let Rollo go with me." + +"Yes, sir," said Rollo, very eagerly, and rising at once from his chair. +"Yes, sir. Let me go with him. That's exactly the thing. Yes, sir." + +"Have you any objection?" said Mr. Holiday, quietly, turning towards +Rollo's mother. + +"No," said Mrs. Holiday, speaking, however, in a very doubtful +tone,--"no; I don't know that I have--any great objection." + +Whatever doubt and hesitation Mrs. Holiday might have had on the subject +was dispelled when she came to look at Rollo and see how eager and +earnest he was in his desire to go. So she gave her definitive consent. + +"How long do you think you will be gone?" said Mr. Holiday. + +"Three weeks, nearly," replied Mr. George. "Say twenty days." + +"And how much do you suppose it will cost you?" asked Mr. Holiday. + +"I have made a calculation," said Mr. George; "and I think it will cost +me, if I go alone, about twenty-five francs a day for the whole time. +There would, however, be a considerable saving in some things if two go +together." + +"Then I will allow you, Rollo," replied Mr. Holiday, looking towards +Rollo, "twenty-five francs a day for this excursion. If you spend any +more than that, you must take it out of your past savings. If you do not +spend it all, what is left when you come back is yours." + +"Yes, sir," said Rollo. "I think that will be a great plenty." + +"Twenty-five francs a day for twenty days," continued Mr. Holiday, "is +five hundred francs. Bring me that bag of gold, Rollo, out of my +secretary. Here is the key." + +So Rollo brought out the gold, and Mr. Holiday took from it twenty-five +Napoleons. These he put in Rollo's purse. + +"There," said Mr. Holiday, "that's all I can do for you. For the rest +you must take care of yourself." + +"How long will it take you to pack your trunk?" said Mr. George. + +"Five minutes," said Rollo, promptly, standing up erect as he said it +and buttoning his jacket up to his chin. + +"Then put on your cap and come with me," said Mr. George. + +Rollo did so. He followed Mr. George down stairs to the door, and they +both got into a small carriage which Mr. George had waiting there and +drove away together towards Mr. George's hotel. + +"Now, Rollo," said Mr. George, "I have got a great deal to do to-day, +and there are our passports to be stamped. I wonder if you could not +attend to that." + +"Yes," said Rollo, "if you will only tell me what is to be done." + +"I don't myself know what is to be done," said Mr. George. "That's the +difficulty. And I have not time to find out. I have got as much as I can +possibly do until four o'clock; and then the office of the prefecture of +police is closed. Now, if you can take the passports and find out what +is to be done, and _do_ it, then we can go to-morrow; otherwise we must +wait till next day." + +"Well," said Rollo, "I'll try." + +"You will find the passports, then, on my table at the hotel. I am going +to get out at the next street and take another carriage to go in another +direction. You can keep this carriage." + +"Very well," said Rollo. + +"You may make inquiries of any body you please," said Mr. George, +"except your father and mother. We must not trouble your father with any +business of any kind till he gets entirely well; and your mother would +not know any thing about it at all. Perhaps the master of the hotel can +tell you. You had better _ask_ him, at any rate." + +Here Mr. George pulled the string for the carriage to stop, as they had +arrived at the corner of the street where he was to get out. The +coachman drew up to the sidewalk and stopped. Mr. George opened the door +and stepped out upon the curbstone, and then said, as he shut the +door,-- + +"Well, good by, Rollo. I hope you will have good luck. But, whatever +happens, keep a quiet mind, and don't allow yourself to feel perplexed +or troubled. If you don't succeed in getting the passports ready to-day +we can attend to them to-morrow and then go the next day, which will +answer nearly as well." + +Then, directing the coachman to drive to the hotel, Mr. George walked +rapidly away. + +When Rollo reached the hotel he got the key of his uncle George's room, +at the porter's lodge, and went immediately up to see if the passports +were there. He found them, as his uncle had said, lying on the table. + +"Now," said Rollo, "the first thing I'll do is to find Carlos and see if +he will go and help me get the passports stamped."[1] + +So, taking the passports in his hand, he went along the corridor till he +came to the door leading to the apartments where Carlos lodged. There +was a bell hanging by the side of the door. Rollo pulled this cord, and +presently the courier came to the door.[2] Rollo inquired for Carlos, +and the courier said that he would go and get him. In the mean time the +courier asked Rollo to step in and take a seat. So Rollo went in. The +room that he entered was a small one, and was used as an antechamber to +the apartment; and it was very neatly and pleasantly furnished for such +a purpose. There were a sofa and several chairs, and maps and pictures +on the walls, and a table with writing materials on it in the centre. +Rollo sat down upon the sofa. In a few minutes Carlos came. + +"Look here!" said Rollo, rising when Carlos came in. "See these +passports! We're going to get them stamped. Will you go with me? I have +got a carriage at the door." + +Here Rollo made a sort of whirling motion with his hand, advancing it +forward at the same time as it rolled, to indicate the motion of a +wheel. This was to signify to Carlos that they were going in a carriage. + +All that Carlos understood was, that Rollo was going somewhere, and that +he wished him, Carlos, to go too. He seemed very much pleased with his +invitation, and went eagerly back into the inner apartments. He returned +in a very few minutes with his cap in his hand, evidently all ready to +go. + +"Now," said Rollo, as they went out of the antechamber together, "the +first thing is to go and ask the master of the hotel what we are to do." + +There was a very pleasant little room on the lower floor, on one side of +the archway which formed the entrance into the court of the hotel from +the street, that served the purpose of parlor, sitting room, counting +room, and office. Thus it was used both by the master of the hotel +himself and by his family. There was a desk at one side, where the +master usually sat, with his books and papers before him. At the other +side, near a window, his wife was often seated at her sewing; and there +were frequently two or three little children playing about the floor +with little wagons, or tops, or other toys. Rollo went to this room, +occupying himself as he descended the stairs in trying to make up a +French sentence that would ask his question in the shortest and simplest +manner. + +He went in, and, going to the desk, held out his passports to the man +who was sitting there, and said, in French,-- + +"Passports. To Switzerland. Where to go to get them stamped?" + +"Ah," said the master of the hotel, taking the passports in his hand. +"Yes, yes, yes. You must get them stamped. You must go to the Swiss +legation and to the prefecture of police." + +Here Rollo pointed to a piece of paper that was lying on the desk and +made signs of writing. + +"Ah, yes, yes, yes," said the man. "I will write you the address." + +So the man took a piece of paper and wrote upon the top of it the words +"prefecture of police," saying, as he wrote it, that every coachman knew +where that was. Then, underneath, he wrote the name of the street and +number where the Swiss legation was; and, having done this, he gave the +paper to Rollo. + +Rollo took the memorandum, and, thanking the man for his information, +led Carlos out to the carriage. + +"Come, Carlos," said he; "now we are ready. I know where to go; but I +don't know at all what we are to do when we get there. But then we shall +find some other people there, I suppose, getting their passports +stamped; and we can do as they do." + +Rollo had learned to place great reliance on the rule which his uncle +George had given for his guidance in travelling; namely, to do as he saw +other people do. It is, in fact, a very excellent rule. + +Carlos got into the carriage; while Rollo, looking upon the paper in +order to be sure that he understood the words right, said, "To the +prefecture of police." + +The coachman said, "Yes, yes;" and Rollo got into the coach. The +coachman, without leaving his seat, reached his arm down and fastened +the door and then drove away. + +He drove on through various crowded streets, which seemed to lead in +towards the heart of the city, until at last the carriage came to the +river. Rollo and Carlos looked out and saw the bridges, and the parapet +wall which formed the river side of the street, with the book stalls, +and picture stalls, and cake and fruit booths which had been established +along the side of it, and the monstrous bathing houses which lay +floating on the water below, all gayly painted and adorned with flags +and little parterres of flowers; and the washing houses, with their long +rows of windows, down close to the water, all filled with women, who +were washing clothes by alternately plunging them in the water of the +river and then banging them with clubs. These and a great many other +similar objects attracted their attention as they rode along. + +If the reader of this book has the opportunity to look at a map of +Paris, he will see that the River Seine, in passing through the town, +forms two channels, which separate from each other so as to leave quite +a large island between them. This island is completely covered with +streets and buildings, some of which are very ancient and venerable. +Here is the great Cathedral Church of Notre Dame; also the vast hospital +called Hotel Dieu, where twelve thousand sick persons are received and +taken care of every year. Here also is the prefecture of police--an +enormous establishment, with courts, quadrangles, ranges, offices, and +officers without number. In this establishment the records are kept and +the business is transacted relating to all the departments of the police +of the city; so that it is of itself quite a little town. + +The first indication which Rollo had that he had arrived at the place +was the turning in of the coach under an arch, which opened in the +middle of a very sombre and antique-looking edifice. The carriage, after +passing through the arch, came into a court, where there were many other +carriages standing. Soldiers were seen too, some coming and going and +others standing guard. The carriage passed through this court, and then, +going under another arch between two ponderous iron gates, it came into +another court, much larger than the first. There were a great many +carriages in this court, some moving in or out and others waiting. +Rollo's carriage drove up to the farthest corner of the court; and there +the coachman stopped and opened the door. Rollo got out. Carlos followed +him. + +"Where do you suppose we are to go, Carlos?" said he. "Stop; I can see +by the signs over the doors. Here it is. "Passports." This must be the +place. We will go in here." + +Rollo accordingly went in, Carlos timidly following him. After crossing +a sort of passage way, he opened another door, which ushered him at once +into a very large hall, the aspect of which quite bewildered him. There +were a great many desks and tables about the hall, with clerks writing +at them, and people coming and going with passports and permits in their +hands. Rollo stepped forward into the room, surveying the scene with +great curiosity and wonder, when his attention was suddenly arrested by +the voice of a soldier, who rose suddenly from his chair, and said,-- + +"Your cap, young gentleman." + +Rollo immediately recollected that he had his cap on, while all the +other people in the room were uncovered. He took his cap off at once, +saying to the soldier at the same time, "Pardon, sir," which is the +French mode of making an apology in such cases. The soldier then resumed +his seat, and Rollo and Carlos walked on slowly up the hall. + +Nobody took any notice of them. In fact, every one seemed busy with his +own concerns, except that in one part of the room there were several +benches where a number of men and women were sitting as if they were +waiting for something. + +Rollo advanced towards these seats, saying to Carlos,-- + +"Carlos, let us sit down here a minute or two till we can think what we +had better do. We can sit here, I know. These benches must be for any +body." + +As soon as Rollo had taken his seat and began to cast his eyes about the +room, he observed that among the other desks there was one with the +words, "for foreigners," upon it, in large, gilt letters. + +"Carlos," said he, pointing to it, "that must be the place for us. We +are foreigners: let us go there. We will give the passports to the man +in that little pew." + +So Rollo rose, and, followed by Carlos, he went to the place. There was +a long desk, with two or three clerks behind it, writing. At the end of +this desk was a small enclosure, where a man sat who looked as though he +had some authority. People would give him their passports, and he would +write something on them and then pass them over to the clerks. Rollo +waited a moment and then handed his passports in. The man took them, +looked over them and then gave them back to Rollo, saying something in +French which Rollo did not understand, and immediately passed to the +next in order. + +"What did he say?" said Rollo, turning to Carlos. + +[Illustration: THE PREFECTURE OF POLICE.] + +"What's the reason he won't take your passports?" said Carlos. + +Although Rollo did not understand what the official said at the time of +his speaking, still the words left a trace upon his ear, and in +thinking upon them he recalled the words "American legation," and also +the word "afterwards." While he was musing on the subject, quite +perplexed, a pleasant-looking girl, who was standing there waiting for +her turn, explained to him--speaking very slow in French, for she +perceived that Rollo was a foreigner--as follows:-- + +"He says that you must go first and get your passports stamped at the +American legation and afterwards come here." + +"Where is the American legation?" said Rollo. + +"I don't know," said the girl. + +"Then I'll make the coachman find it for me," said Rollo. "Come, Carlos; +we must go back." + +So saying, he thanked the girl for her kindness, and the two boys went +out. As he was going out Rollo made up a French sentence to say to the +coachman that he must drive to the American legation, and that he must +find out where it was himself. He succeeded in communicating these +directions to the coachman, and then he and Carlos got into the carriage +and drove away. + +The coachman had some difficulty in learning where the American legation +was, which occasioned some delay. Besides, the distance was +considerable. It was nearly two miles to the place from the prefecture +of police; so that it was some time before the carriage arrived there. +In fact, Rollo had a very narrow escape in this stage of the affair; for +he arrived at the American legation only about five minutes before the +office was to be closed for the day. When he went to the porter's lodge +to ask if that was the place where the office of the American legation +was held, the woman who kept the lodge, and who was standing just +outside the door at the time, instead of answering, went in to look at +the clock. + +"Ah," said she, "you are just in time. I thought you were too late. +Second story, right-hand door." + +"There's one thing good about the American legation, Carlos," said +Rollo; "and that is, that they can talk English, I suppose." + +This was, indeed, a great advantage. Rollo found, when he went into the +office of the legation, that the secretary not only could talk English, +but that he was a very kindhearted and agreeable man. He talked with +Rollo in English and with Carlos in Spanish. Both the boys were very +much pleased with the reception they met with. The necessary stamps were +promptly affixed to the passports; and then the boys, giving the +secretary both an English and a Spanish good by, went down stairs to the +carriage again. They directed the coachman to drive as quick as possible +to the Swiss legation, showing him the address which Rollo's uncle had +given them. They then got into the carriage, and the coachman drove +away. + +"Now, Carlos," said Rollo, "we are all right; that is, if we only get to +the Swiss legation before it is shut up." + +"He said he had been in Madrid," rejoined Carlos. "He was there three +months." + +"I believe," added Rollo, "that uncle George said it did not close till +three; and it is only two now." + +"And he knew the street my father lived in very well," said Carlos. + +Very soon the carriage stopped at the place which the coachman said was +the Swiss legation. Rollo got out and went to the porter's lodge with +the passports in his hand. The woman in charge knew at once what he +wanted, and, without waiting to hear him finish the question which he +began to ask, directed him "to the second story on the right." + +Rollo went up the staircase till he came to the door, and there pulled +the cord. + +A clerk opened the door. Rollo held out the passports. + +"Enter there," said the clerk, in French, pointing to an inner door. + +Rollo went in and found there a very pleasant little room, with cases of +books and papers around it, and maps and plans of Switzerland and of +Swiss towns upon the wall. The clerk took the passports and asked the +boys to sit down. In a few minutes the proper stamps were affixed to +them both and the proper signatures added. The clerk then said that +there was the sum of six francs to pay. Rollo paid the money, and then +he and Carlos went down stairs. + +They now returned to the prefecture of police. They went in as they had +done before, and gave the passports to the man who was seated in the +little enclosure in the foreigner's part of the room. He took them, +examined the new stamps which had been put upon them, and then said, +"Very well. Take a seat a little minute." + +Rollo and Carlos sat down upon one of the benches to wait; but the +little minute proved to be nearly half an hour. They were not tired of +waiting, however, there was so much to amuse and interest them going on +in the room. + +"I am going to watch and see what the foreigners do to get their +passports," said Rollo, in an undertone, to Carlos; "for we must do the +same." + +In thus watching, Rollo observed that from time to time a name was +called by one of the clerks behind the desk, and then some of the +persons waiting on the seats would rise and go to the place. After +stopping there a few minutes, he would take his passport and carry it +into an inner room to another desk, where something was done to it. Then +he would bring it out to another place, where it was stamped once or +twice by a man who seemed to have nothing else to do but to stamp every +body's passport when they came out. By watching this process in the case +of the others, Rollo knew exactly what to do when _his_ name was called; +so that, in about half an hour from the time that he went into the +office, he had the satisfaction of coming out and getting into his +carriage with the passports all in order for the journey to Switzerland. + +When he got home and showed them to Mr. George, his uncle looked them +over carefully; and, when he found that the stamp of the police was duly +affixed to them both,--knowing, as he did, that those would not be put +on till all the others were right,--he said,-- + +"Well, Rollo, you've done it, I declare. I did not think you were so +much of a man." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Carlos was a Spanish boy, who was residing at this time at +the same hotel with Mr. George. The manner in which Rollo became +acquainted with him is related in Rollo in Paris. Carlos did not +understand English, nor Rollo Spanish; but when they were together they +usually kept talking all the time, each in his own way.] + +[Footnote 2: A courier is a travelling servant and guide.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CROSSING THE FRONTIER. + + +On the morning when Mr. George and Rollo were about setting out for +Switzerland, Rollo, having got every thing ready himself half an hour +before the time, took out his map of Europe and asked his uncle George +what route they were going to take. Mr. George was busy at that time +putting the last things into his trunk and making ready to lock it up +and strap it; so he could not come to Rollo to show him the route, but +was obliged to describe it. + +"Have you found Paris?" said he. + +"Yes," said Rollo; "I have got my finger on it." + +"In the first place, then," said Mr. George, "there is a railway that +goes east from Paris a hundred miles across France to Strasbourg on the +Rhine. See if you can find Strasbourg on the Rhine." + +"Yes," said Rollo; "here it is." + +"Then," said Mr. George, "we take another railway and go south, up the +Rhine, towards Switzerland." + +"_Down_ the Rhine," said Rollo, correcting his uncle; "it is _down_." + +"No," rejoined Mr. George. "It is down on the map; that is, it is down +the page; but it is really _up_ the river. The Rhine flows to the north. +It collects the waters of a hundred glaciers in Switzerland and carries +them north into the North Sea." + +"Well," said Rollo. + +"This railway," continued Mr. George, "will take us up from Strasbourg, +along the bank of the Rhine, to Basle, which is in Switzerland, just +across the frontier. It is there, I suppose, that we shall have to show +our passports; and then we shall know if you got them stamped right." + +"I did get them stamped right, I am very sure," said Rollo. + +"Boys are generally very sure that what they do is done right," rejoined +Mr. George. + +Soon after this Mr. George and Rollo took their seats in the carriage, +which had been for some time standing ready for them in the court yard +of the inn, and drove to the Strasbourg station. + +Rollo was greatly interested and excited, when he arrived at the +Strasbourg station, to see how extensive and magnificent it was. The +carriage entered, with a train of other carriages, through a great iron +gate and drew up at the front of a very spacious and grand-looking +building. Porters, dressed in a sort of uniform, which gave them in some +degree the appearance of soldiers, were ready to take the two trunks and +carry them in. The young gentlemen followed the porters, and they soon +found themselves ushered into an immense hall, very neatly and prettily +arranged, with great maps of the various railways painted on the walls +between the windows on the front side, and openings on the back side +leading to ticket offices or waiting rooms. There were seats along the +sides of this hall, with groups of neatly-dressed travellers sitting +upon them. Other travellers were walking about, attending to their +baggage or making inquiries of the porter or policemen. Others still +were standing at the openings of the ticket offices buying their +tickets. What chiefly struck Rollo's attention, however, and impressed +his mind, was the air of silence, order, and decorum which prevailed and +which gave to the station an aspect so different from that of an +American station. It is true, the hall was very large, and there were a +great many people in it going and coming; but they all walked decorously +and quietly,--they spoke in an undertone,--and the presence of so many +railway officials in their several uniforms, and of police officers with +their badges, and here and there a soldier on guard, gave to the whole +scene quite a solemn and imposing appearance. + +Rollo gazed about the apartment as he came in, surveying the various +objects and groups that presented themselves to his view, until his eye +rested upon a little party of travellers, consisting of a lady and two +boys, who were standing together near a low railing, waiting for the +gentleman who was with them to come back from the ticket office with +their tickets. What chiefly attracted Rollo's attention, however, was a +pretty little dog, with very long ears, and black, glossy hair, which +one of the children held by a cord. The cord was attached to the dog's +neck by a silver collar. + +Rollo looked at this group for a few minutes--his attention being +particularly occupied by the dog,--and then turned again towards his +uncle, or rather towards the place where his uncle had been standing; +but he found, to his surprise, that he was gone. + +In a moment, however, he saw his uncle coming towards him. He was +clasping his wallet and putting it in his pocket. + +"Uncle George," said he, "see that beautiful little dog!" + +"Yes," said Mr. George. + +"I wish I had such a dog as that to travel with me," said Rollo. "But, +uncle George where are we to get our tickets?" + +"I've got mine," said Mr. George. "When I come to a railway station I +always get my ticket the first thing, and look at the pretty little dogs +afterwards." + +So saying, Mr. George took a newspaper out of his pocket and began to +walk away, adding, as he went,-- + +"I'll sit down here and read my newspaper till you have got your ticket, +and then we will go into the waiting room." + +"But, uncle George," said Rollo, "why did not you get me a ticket when +you got yours?" + +"Because," said Mr. George, "among other reasons, I did not know which +class carriage you wished to go in." + +"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo, surprised. "I must go in the same +carriage that you do of course." + +"Not of course," said Mr. George. "I have got a ticket in the first +class; and I should like to have your company in my car very much if you +choose to pay the price for a first-class ticket. But if you choose to +take a second or a third-class ticket you will save, perhaps, half your +money." + +So saying, Mr. George went away and left Rollo to himself. + +This was the way that Mr. George always treated Rollo when he was +travelling with him. He left him to act for himself and to take care of +himself in almost all the emergencies that occurred. He did this, not +because he wished to save himself the trouble of taking care of a boy, +but because he thought it was much better for boys early to learn to +take care of themselves. + +The manner in which Mr. George thus threw the responsibility upon Rollo +seemed sometimes to be a little blunt. One would suppose, in some of +these cases, from the way in which he spoke and acted, that he did not +care at all what became of Rollo, so coolly and with such an air of +unconcern did he leave him to his own resources. In fact, Rollo was +frequently at such times a little frightened, or at least perplexed, and +often, at first, felt greatly at a loss to know what to do. But, on +reflecting a little upon the subject, he usually soon succeeded in +extricating himself from the difficulty; and then he was always quite +proud of having done so, and was pleased with his uncle George for +having given him the opportunity. So Mr. George, having learned by +experience that Rollo liked, on the whole, to be treated in this way, +always adopted it; and in carrying it out he sometimes spoke and acted +in such a way as might, under other circumstances have appeared somewhat +stern. + +The idea of taking a second-class car for himself in order to save a +portion of his money, while his uncle went in one of the first-class, +took Rollo's imagination strongly, and he was half inclined to adopt it. + +"On the whole," said he to himself, "I will not do it to-day; but I will +some other day. And now I wonder which is the ticket office for +Strasbourg." + +So saying, Rollo looked about the room and soon found the proper place +to apply for his ticket. He procured a ticket without any difficulty, +asking for it in French, with a pronunciation which, if it was not +perfectly correct, was at least perfectly intelligible. As soon as he +had received his ticket and had taken up his change he went to the bench +where his uncle George was sitting and said that he was ready. + +"Well," said Mr. George, "then we'll go. I like to travel with a boy +that is capable of taking care of himself and is willing to be treated +like a man." + +Saying these words, Mr. George rose from his seat, and, after attending +properly to the baggage, he and Rollo passed through a door guarded by a +man in uniform, who required them to show him their tickets before he +would allow them to pass, and then entered a spacious apartment which +was reserved as the waiting room for the first-class passengers. This +room was beautifully finished and richly adorned, and the splendid sofas +and ottomans which were ranged about the sides of it were occupied by +well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, carrying shawls, greatcoats, and +small travelling bags upon their arms, and exhibiting other similar +indications of their being travellers. Mr. George and Rollo took seats +at a vacant place upon one of the sofas. In a few minutes an officer +came and informed the company, in a very respectful manner, that the +train was ready; whereupon they all rose from their seats and walked out +upon the platform where the train was waiting. Here there were several +railway servants, all dressed in uniform, whose business it was to +conduct the passengers to the several cars, or carriages, as they call +them, and open the doors. These carriages were entirely different in +their construction from the long and open cars used in America, which +form but one compartment, that extends through the whole length of the +car. The French cars were like three elegant carriages, joined together +in such a manner that, though the three formed but one car, they were +still entirely distinct from each other. The seats in these carriages +were very spacious, and they were richly stuffed and lined, so that they +formed soft and luxurious places of repose. The railway porter opened +one of the doors and admitted Mr. George and Rollo, and when they had +entered he closed it again. + +"Ah," said Rollo, seating himself upon the soft cushion on one of the +seats, "is not this superb? I am _very glad_ I did not take a +second-class car." + +"And yet the second-class cars in France are very comfortable and very +respectable," said Mr. George, "and they are very much cheaper." + +"How much should we have saved," asked Rollo, "in going to Strasbourg, +if we had taken a second-class car?" + +"I don't know, precisely," said Mr. George. "We should have saved a +great deal." + +The train now began to move; and, soon after it left the station, Mr. +George took out his newspaper again and began to read. It was a copy of +a very celebrated newspaper, called the London Times. Mr. George had +another London paper which was full of humorous engravings. The name of +it was Punch. Mr. George gave the Punch to Rollo, thinking that the +pictures and caricatures in it might perhaps amuse him; but Rollo, after +turning it over a moment, concluded that he should prefer to amuse +himself by looking out the window. + +[Illustration: IN THE CAR.] + +Rollo saw a great many beautiful views and witnessed a great many +strange and striking scenes as he was whirled onward by the train across +the country from Paris towards Strasbourg. We cannot, however, stop to +describe what he saw, but must hasten on to the Swiss frontier. The +travellers arrived at Strasbourg in the evening. They spent the night at +a hotel; and the next morning they took another railway which led along +the bank of the Rhine, up the river, towards Switzerland. The country +was magnificent. There was the river on one side, and a range of +mountains rising sublimely in the interior on the other. The mountains +were at a distance of several miles from the river; and the country +between was an extremely fertile and luxuriant plain, covered with +villages, castles, parks, pleasure grounds, gardens, and cultivated +fields, which presented every where most enchanting pictures of rural +beauty. This province is called Alsatia. + +The terminus of the railway was at the city of Basle, which lies just +within the confines of Switzerland. A short distance before reaching the +gates of Basle, the train stopped at what seemed at first to be a +station. It was, however, only the custom house, where the trunks and +passports were to be examined. + +"What are we to do here," asked Rollo. + +"_I_ am going to do what I see other people do," replied Mr. George. +"You can do whatever you please." + +At this moment a guard, dressed, like all the other railway servants, +in a sort of uniform, opened the door of the car in which Mr. George and +Rollo were sitting, and said in a very respectful manner, in French,-- + +"The custom house, gentlemen." + +Mr. George observed that the passengers were getting out from all the +other cars; so he stepped out too, and Rollo followed him. + +When they reached the platform they observed that a company of porters +were employed in carrying all the trunks and baggage from the cars to +the custom house, and that the passengers were going into the custom +house too, though by another door. Mr. George and Rollo went in with +them. They found an office within, and a desk, where one or two +secretaries sat and examined the passports of the travellers as they +successively presented them. As fast as they were examined they were +impressed with a new stamp, which denoted permission for the travellers +to pass the Swiss frontier. The several travellers, as fast as their +passports were examined, found right, and stamped, were allowed to pass +between two soldiers through a door into another hall, where they found +all the trunks and baggage arranged on a sort of counter, which extended +around the centre of the room, so as to enclose a square place within. +The custom-house officers who were to examine the baggage were within +this enclosure, while the travellers who owned the baggage stood +without. These last walked around the counter, looking at the trunks, +boxes, bundles, and carpet bags that covered it, each selecting his own +and opening the several parcels, in order that the officers within might +examine them. + +The object of examining the trunks of passengers in this way is, to +ascertain that they have not any _goods_ concealed in them. As a general +thing, persons are not allowed to take _goods_ from one country to +another without paying a tax for them. Such a tax is called technically +a _duty_, and the avails of it go to support the government of the +country which the goods are carried into. Travellers are allowed to take +with them all that is necessary _for their own personal use, as +travellers_, without paying any duty; but articles that are intended for +sale as merchandise, or those which, though intended for the traveller's +own use, are not strictly _personal_, are liable to pay duty. The +principle is, that whatever the traveller requires for his own personal +use, _in travelling_, is not liable to duty. What he does not so require +must pay duty, no matter whether he intends to use it himself or to sell +it. + +Many travellers do not understand this properly, and often get into +difficulty by not understanding it, as we shall see in the sequel. + +Mr. George and Rollo went into the baggage room together, showing their +passports as they passed through between the soldiers. They then walked +slowly along the room, looking at the baggage, as it was arranged upon +the counter, in search of their own. + +"I see _my_ trunk," said Mr. George, looking along at a little distance +before him. "There it is." + +"And where do you suppose mine is?" asked Rollo. + +"I have not the least idea," said Mr. George. "I advise you to walk all +around the room and see if you can find it; and when you find it, get it +examined." + +Rollo, taking this advice, walked on, leaving Mr. George in the act of +taking out his key in order to open his trunk for the purpose of +allowing an officer to inspect it as soon as one should be ready. + +Rollo soon found his trunk. It was in a part of the room remote from his +uncle's. Near his trunk was a very large one, which the officers were +searching very thoroughly. They had found something in it which was not +personal baggage and which the lady had not declared. Rollo could not +see what the article was which the officers had found. It was something +contained in a pretty box. The lady had put it into the bottom of her +trunk. The officers had taken it out, and were now examining it. The +lady stood by, seemingly in great distress. + +Rollo's attention, which had begun to be attracted by this scene, was, +however, almost immediately called off from it by the voice of another +officer, who pointed to his trunk and asked him if it was his. + +"Is that yours?" said the officer, in French. + +"Yes," replied Rollo, in the same language, "it is mine;" and so saying, +he proceeded to take out his key and unlock the trunk. + +"Have you any thing to declare?" asked the man. + +Rollo looked perplexed. He did not know what the officer meant by asking +him if he had any thing to declare. After a moment's hesitation he +said,-- + +"I don't know; but I will go ask my uncle." + +So Rollo went to the place where he had left his uncle George, and +accosted him by saying,-- + +"They want to know if I have any thing to _declare_. What do they mean?" + +"They mean whether you have any goods in your trunk that are liable to +pay duty. Tell them no." + +So Rollo went back and told the officer that he had not any thing to +declare. He then opened his trunk; but the officer, instead of examining +it, shut down the lid, saying, "Very well;" and by means of a piece of +chalk he marked it upon the top with some sort of character. A porter +then took the trunk and carried it back to the train. + +Rollo perceived that the difficulty about the lady's baggage had been +settled in some way or other, but he feared it was settled in a manner +not very satisfactory to the lady herself; for, as the porters took up +her trunk to carry it back, she looked quite displeased and out of +humor. + +Rollo went back to the place where he had left his uncle George, and +then they went together out to the platform. Here Rollo found the lady +who had had difficulty about her baggage explaining the case to some +friends that she found there. She seemed to be very indignant and angry, +and was telling her story with great volubility. Rollo listened for a +moment; but she spoke so rapidly that he could not understand what she +said, as she spoke in French. + +"What does she say?" he asked, speaking to Mr. George. + +"She says," replied Mr. George, "that they were going to seize something +that she had in her trunk because she did not declare it." + +"What does that mean?" said Rollo. + +"Why, the law is," said Mr. George, "that when people have any thing in +their trunks that is dutiable, if they _declare_ it, that is, +acknowledge that they have it and show it to the officers, then they +have only to pay the duty, and they may carry the article in. But if +they do not declare it, but hide it away somewhere in their trunks, and +the officers find it there, then the thing is forfeited altogether. The +officers seize it and sell it for the benefit of the government." + +"O, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George, "that is what they do; and it is right. If +people wish to bring any thing that is subject to duty into any country +they ought to be willing to pay the duty, and not, by refusing to pay, +make other people pay more than their share." + +"If one man does not pay his duty," rejoined Rollo, "do the others have +to pay more?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George, "in the end they do. At least I suppose so. +Whatever the amount of money may be that is required for the expenses of +government, if one man does not pay his share, the rest must make it up, +I suppose." + +"They did not look into my trunk at all," said Rollo. "Why didn't they? +I might have had ever so many things hid away there." + +"I suppose they knew from the circumstances of the case," said Mr. +George, "that you would not be likely to have any smuggled goods in your +trunk. They saw at once that you were a foreign boy, and knew that you +must be coming to Switzerland only to make a tour, and that you could +have no reason for wishing to smuggle any thing into the country. They +scarcely looked into _my_ trunk at all." + +While Mr. George and Rollo had been holding this conversation they had +returned to their places in the car, and very soon the train was in +motion to take them into the town. + +Thus our travellers passed the Swiss frontier. In half an hour +afterwards they were comfortably established at a large and splendid +hotel called the Three Kings. The hotel has this name in three +languages, English, French, and German, as people speaking those several +languages come, in almost equal numbers, to Switzerland. Thus when you +leave the station you may, in your directions to the coachman, say you +wish to go to the Three Kings, or to the Trois Rois, or to the Drei +Koenige, whichever you please. They all mean the same hotel--the best +hotel in Basle. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +BASLE. + + +The city of Basle stands upon the banks of the Rhine, on the northern +frontier of Switzerland. The waters of the Rhine are gathered from +hundreds of roaring and turbid torrents which come out, some from vast +icy caverns in the glaciers, some from the melting debris of fallen +avalanches, some from gushing fountains which break out suddenly through +crevices in the rocks or yawning chasms, and some from dark and +frightful ravines on the mountain sides, down which they foam and tumble +perpetually, fed by vast fields of melting snow above. The waters of all +these torrents, being gathered at last into one broad, and deep, and +rapid stream, flow to a vast reservoir called the Lake of Constance, +where they repose for a time, or, rather, move slowly and insensibly +forward, enjoying a comparative quiescence which has all the +characteristics and effects of repose. The waters enter this reservoir +wild and turbid. They leave it calm and clear; and then, flowing +rapidly for one hundred miles along the northern frontier of +Switzerland, and receiving successively the waters of many other streams +that have come from hundreds of other torrents and have been purified in +the repose of other lakes extending over the whole northern slope of +Switzerland, they form a broad and rapid river, which flows swiftly +through Basle, and then, turning suddenly to the northward, bids Basle +and Switzerland farewell together. + +"And then where does it go?" said Rollo to Mr. George when his uncle had +explained this thus far to him. + +"Straight across the continent to the North Sea," said Mr. George. + +Thus the whole northern slope of Switzerland is drained by a system of +waters which, when united at Basle, form the River Rhine. + +The morning after Mr. George and Rollo arrived at Basle they were +looking out upon the River Rhine from the windows of the hotel. + +"What a swift river!" said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. + +"And how blue the water is!" continued Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "The water of the streams which come from the +Swiss mountains is turbid at first and very gray from the grinding up +of the rocks in the _moraines_ and glaciers and by the avalanches." + +"What is a moraine?" asked Rollo. + +"I will explain it to you one of these days," said Mr. George, "when you +come to see one." + +"And a glacier," said Rollo; "what is that?" + +"I will explain that to you, too, some other time," said Mr. George, +"but not now; for the breakfast will come in in a minute or two." + +"Well," said Rollo, "I can hear while I am eating my breakfast." + +"That may be," replied Mr. George; "but I cannot lecture very well while +I am eating _my_ breakfast." + +Rollo laughed. "I did not think of that," said he. + +"What queer boats!" continued Rollo, looking out again upon the river. +"And there is a long bridge leading over to the other side. May I go out +and walk over on that bridge after breakfast?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George, "you may go any where you please." + +"But suppose I should get lost," said Rollo. "What should I do then?" + +"I don't know," said Mr. George, "unless you should ask somebody to tell +you the way to the Three Kings." + +"But perhaps they would not understand English," said Rollo. + +"Then you must say _Trois Rois_,[3a] +which is the French name for the hotel," rejoined Mr. George. + +"But perhaps they would not understand French," said Rollo. + +"No," replied Mr. George; "I think it probable they would not; for +people talk German generally in this part of Switzerland. In that case +you must ask the way to _Drei Koenige_."[3b] + +Here the waiter came in with the breakfast. It consisted of a pot of +coffee, another of boiled milk, an omelette, some excellent cakes, and +some honey. There was a long table extending up and down the room, which +was a very large and handsome apartment, and there were besides several +round tables in corners and in pleasant places near the windows. The +breakfast for Mr. George and Rollo was put upon one of the round tables; +and, in sitting down to it, Rollo took pains to place himself in such a +manner that he could look out the window and see the water while he was +eating. + +"What a dreadful river that would be to fall into!" said Rollo. "It runs +so swift and looks so angry!" + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "It runs swift because the descent is very +great. Switzerland is very high; and the water, in running from it, +flows very swiftly." + +"I did not know that Switzerland was all high," said Rollo. "I knew that +the mountains were high; but the valleys must be low." + +"No," said Mr. George; "it is all high. The bottoms of the valleys are +higher than the tops of the mountains in many other countries. In going +into Switzerland, we go up hill nearly all the way; and so, even when we +are at the bottom of the deepest valleys in Switzerland, we are up very +high. There is Chamouni, for example, which is a deep valley near the +foot of Mont Blanc. The bottom of that valley is six or seven times as +high as the top of the Palisades on the North River." + +"O, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "and it is so with all the Swiss valleys; and, +accordingly, the water that comes down through them has a great descent +to make in getting to the sea. Thus there are a great many falls, and +cascades, and rapids; and, even in those places where the rivers run +smoothly, the current is very swift and very strong." + +While Mr. George and Rollo were eating their breakfast the attention of +Rollo was occupied partly by the prospect of the river as he saw it +through the open window, and partly by the various groups of travellers +who were constantly coming into the room, or going out, or taking their +breakfasts in little parties at the tables. Some who had finished their +breakfasts were looking at maps and guide books which they had spread +out before them on the tables. The room was very large, and very +beautiful; and, as it was lighted on the back side by a row of wide and +lofty windows which looked out upon the river, it wore a very bright and +cheerful expression. At one end of it were glass doors, which led into +another room very similar to this, as it likewise had windows looking +out upon the river. This room was used as a sort of sitting room and +reading room. There was a table in the centre, with newspapers, some +French, some English, and some German, lying upon it. Rollo determined +to go into this room as soon as he had finished his breakfast to see who +was there and what they were doing. + +"Rollo," said Mr. George, after a short pause, "do you wish to travel in +Switzerland intelligently or blindly?" + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Rollo. + +"Why, do you wish to understand something of the general features of the +country first, so as to know always, as we go travelling on, where you +are, and where you are going, and what you are to expect to see, or +would you rather not trouble yourself at all about this, but take things +as they come along, and enjoy them as you see them, without thinking or +caring what is to come next." + +"Which is the best way?" asked Rollo. + +"Either is a very good way," replied Mr. George. "There is a pleasure in +understanding and anticipating, and there is also a pleasure in +wondering what is to come next and meeting with surprises. You can take +your choice." + +Rollo reflected a moment, and then he said that he thought he should +like best to understand. + +"Very well," said Mr. George. "Then I will explain to you the general +features of Switzerland. Switzerland--or at least that portion of it +which is the chief scene of the rambles of tourists and +travellers--consists substantially of a long and deep valley, extending +from east to west through the centre, and bordered by a range of +mountains on each side. The range of mountains on the northern side of +this valley is, of course, towards Germany; the one on the southern +side is towards Italy. On the north side of the northern range of +mountains is a broad slope of land, extending a hundred miles towards +the German frontier. On the southern side of the southern range of +mountains is a steep and narrow slope, extending to the Italian +frontier. + +"Thus we may say," continued Mr. George, "that Switzerland consists +substantially of a broad northern slope of land and a narrow southern +slope, with a deep valley between them. Do you understand this?" + +"Yes," said Rollo. "If I had some damp sand, and a little wooden shovel, +I think I could make it." + +"People do make models of the Swiss valleys and mountains," said Mr. +George. "In fact, they have maps of Switzerland, embossed with all the +mountains in relief; and I wish very much that we had one here to look +at." + +"There is one here," said Rollo, his face brightening up very luminously +as he spoke. "I saw it hanging up in the gallery, and I did not know +what it was. It must be that. I'll go and show it to you after +breakfast." + +"I am very glad," said Mr. George. "I wished to see one very much. We +will go and see it immediately after breakfast. But now let me tell you +a little more about the country. You must not imagine that the northern +slope, as I called it, is one smooth and uniform surface of descending +land. There are mountains, and valleys, and lakes, and precipices, and +waterfalls, and every other variety of mountain scenery scattered all +over it, making it a most picturesque and romantic region. It is, +however, on the whole, a slope. It begins with comparatively smooth and +level land on the north and it terminates in a range of lofty mountain +crests on the south; and you have to go over this crest somewhere, by +some of the steep and difficult passes that cross it, to get into the +central valley. We are on the margin of this slope now. When we leave +here and strike into the heart of Switzerland we shall be gradually +ascending it. I am going first to a place called Interlachen, which is +in a deep valley far up this slope, just under the ridge of mountains. +Interlachen is surrounded, in fact, by mountains, and a great many +pleasant excursions can be made from it. We shall stop there a few days +and make excursions, and then cross over by some of the mountain passes +into the valley." + +"Well," said Rollo, in a tone of great satisfaction. "I shall like that; +I should like to go over a mountain pass. Shall we go in a carriage, or +on horseback." + +"That depends upon which of the passes we take," said Mr. George. "Some +of them are carriage roads, some are bridle paths; and you ride over on +mules or horses. Others are too steep and dangerous to ride over in any +way. You have to go on foot, climbing up zigzag paths cut out of the +rock, and over great patches of snow that horses and mules would sink +into." + +"Let's go in one of those," said Rollo, straightening himself up. + +"Sometimes the path becomes narrower and narrower," continued Mr. +George, "until it is finally lost among the rocks, and you have to +clamber around the point of some rocky cliff a thousand feet in the air, +with scarcely any thing but the jagged roughness of the rocks to cling +to." + +"Yes, sir," said Rollo, eagerly. "Yes, sir. Let's go there. That's just +the kind of road I want to go in." + +"Well, we'll see," said Mr. George. "The first thing is to go to +Interlachen. That is in the heart of the mountains, and very near the +passes which lead over into the valley. When we get there we will study +the guide book and the maps and determine which way to go." + +"And after you get into the valley," said Rollo, "shall you go across +it, and go over the mountains on the other side, into Italy?" + +"I don't know," said Mr. George. "Perhaps we shall not have time. I may +think it is best to spend the time in rambling about among the mountains +and glaciers near the head of the valley, where I believe is to be found +the most stupendous scenery in all Switzerland." + +The breakfast was now nearly finished, though the process of eating it +had been a good deal impeded by the conversation, so large a share of it +having fallen to Mr. George. Mr. George, however, explained to Rollo +that their first day's journey from Basle would be south, towards Berne, +the capital of the country--a city which was situated near the centre of +the northern slope which Mr. George had described. + +"Do we go by a railway?" asked Rollo. + +"No," said Mr. George; "by a diligence." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3a-3b: Mr. George, in speaking these words, did not pronounce +them as you would suppose from the manner in which they are written. He +pronounced them very much as if they were spelled Tru-ah Ru-ah. In the +same manner, the German words, Drei Koenige, he pronounced as if they +were spelled Dhrai Ker-nig-ger.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DILIGENCE. + + +A diligence is a sort of stage coach used in France and Switzerland, and +generally on the continent of Europe. It is constructed very +differently, however, from an American stage coach, being divided into +four distinct compartments. Rollo had seen a diligence in Paris, and so +he could understand very easily the conversation which ensued between +himself and his uncle in respect to the seats which they should take in +the one in which they were to travel to Berne. In order, however, to +enable the reader of this book to understand it, I must here give a +brief description of this kind of vehicle. The engraving on page 77 is a +very faithful representation of one of them. There are three windows in +the side of it. Each of these windows leads to a different compartment +of the coach. In addition to these three compartments, there is, over +the foremost of these, on the top of the coach, another, making four in +all. This compartment on the top is called the _banquette_. + +These coaches are so large that they have a conductor. The man who +drives sometimes sits on a small seat placed in front of the banquette, +and sometimes he rides on one of the horses. In either case, however, he +has nothing to do but to attend to his team. The passengers and the +baggage are all under the conductor's care. + +The compartment immediately beneath the banquette, which is the front +compartment of the body of the coach, is called the _coupe_. The coupe +extends across the whole coach, from one side to the other; but it is +quite narrow. It has only one seat,--a seat facing the horses,--with +places upon it for three passengers. There are windows in front, by +which the passengers can look out under the coachman's seat when there +is a coachman's seat there. The doors leading to the coupe are in the +sides. + +The compartment immediately behind the coupe is called the _interior_. +It is entirely separate from the coupe. There are two seats, which +extend from one side of the coach to the other, and have places upon +them for three passengers each, making six in all. The three passengers +who sit on one of these seats must, of course, ride with their backs to +the horses. The doors leading to the interior are in the sides. In fact, +the interior has within exactly the appearance of a common hackney +coach, with seats for six passengers. + +Behind the interior is the fourth compartment, which is called the +_rotonde_. It is like a short omnibus. The door is behind, and the seats +are on the sides. This omnibus compartment is so short that there is +only room for three people on each side, and the seats are not very +comfortable. + +Very genteel people, who wish to be secluded and to ride somewhat in +style, take the coupe. The seats in the coupe are very comfortable, and +there is a very good opportunity to see the country through the front +and side windows. The price is much higher, however, for seats in the +coupe than in any other part of the diligence. + +The mass of common travellers generally take places in the interior. The +seats there are comfortable, only there is not a very good opportunity +to see the country; for there are only two windows, one on each side, in +the top of the door. + +People who do not care much about the style in which they travel, but +only desire to have the best possible opportunity to view the country +and to have an amusing time, generally go up to the banquette. The +places here are cheaper than they are even in the interior, and very +much cheaper than they are in the coupe. + +The cheapest place of all, however, is in the rotonde, which is the +omnibus-like compartment, in the end of the diligence, behind. This +compartment is generally filled with laborers, soldiers, and servants; +and sometimes nurses and children are put here. + +The baggage is always stored upon the top of the diligence, behind the +banquette, and directly over the interior and the rotonde. It is packed +away very carefully there, and is protected by a strong leather +covering, which is well strapped down over it. All these things you see +plainly represented in the engraving. + +We now return to the conversation which was held between Rollo and Mr. +George at the close of their breakfast. + +"I have got some letters to write after breakfast," said Mr. George, +"and I should like to go directly to my room and write them. So I wish +you would find out when the diligence goes next to Berne, and take +places in it for you and me." + +"Well," said Rollo, "I will; only how shall I do it? Where shall I go?" + +"I don't know any thing about it," replied Mr. George. "The guide book +says that there is a diligence from Basle to Berne; and I suppose there +is an office for it somewhere about town. Do you think you can find +it?" + +"I'll try," said Rollo. "But how do we take seats in it? Is there a book +for us to write our names in, with the place where they are to call for +us?" + +"I do not know any thing about it," said Mr. George. "All I know is, +that I want to go to Berne with you some way or other in the diligence, +and I wish to have you plan and arrange it all." + +"Well," said Rollo, "I will, if I can find out. Only tell me what places +I shall take." + +"I don't care particularly about that," replied Mr. George; "only let it +be where we can see best. It must be either in the coupe or in the +banquette. We can't see at all, scarcely, in the other compartments." + +"Well," said Rollo, "I should like to be where I can see. But would you +rather it would be in the coupe, or in the banquette?" + +"That is just as you please," replied Mr. George. "There are some +advantages in being in the banquette." + +"What are they?" asked Rollo. + +"There are four advantages," replied Mr. George. "First, it is up very +high, and is all open, so that you have a most excellent chance to see." + +"Yes," said Rollo. "I shall like that." + +"The second advantage," said Mr. George, "is, that it costs less. The +places in the banquette are quite cheap." + +"Yes," said Rollo. "I like that. So we can save some of our money." + +"The third advantage," continued Mr. George, "is, that we have a great +deal better opportunity to hear talking there. There are usually five +persons in that part of the coach--the coachman, the conductor, and +three passengers. That is, there will be one passenger besides you and +me. He will probably be talking with the conductor part of the time, and +the conductor will be talking with the coachman, and we shall be amused +by hearing what they say." + +"But there are _six_ persons in the interior," said Rollo, "to talk." + +"True," replied Mr. George; "but, then, they are usually not so sociable +there as they are up on the banquette. Besides, the noise of the wheels +on the hard gravel roads is so loud there that we cannot hear very well. +Then, moreover, when we stop to change horses, the hostlers and +postilions come out, and our coachman and conductor often have a great +deal of amusing conversation with them, which we can hear from the +banquette; but we could not hear it, or see the process of harnessing +and unharnessing, from the interior, nor even very well from the +coupe." + +"Well," said Rollo. "I like that. But that makes only three advantages. +You said there were four." + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "But as to the fourth, I do not know whether you +will consider it an advantage or not." + +"What is it?" said Rollo. "I've no doubt but I shall." + +"Why, in getting up and down to and from the banquette you will have a +great deal of hard climbing to do." + +"Yes," said Rollo. "I shall like that. They are all advantages--very +great advantages indeed." + +So Rollo fully determined in his own mind that he would take places on +the banquette. He thought that there was one disadvantage in that part +of the coach; and that was, that in case of storm the rain would drive +in directly upon them; but he found in the end that an excellent +provision was made against this contingency. + +The young gentlemen had now finished their breakfasts; and so they rose +and went out to what Rollo called the gallery, to see the embossed map +of Switzerland which he said that he had seen hanging there. The plan of +this hotel was very peculiar. In the centre of it was a very large, +open hall, almost like a court, only it was covered above with a roof +and lighted by a skylight. Around this hall there was, in each story, an +open gallery, with a railing on one side, over which you could look down +to the floor below; and on the other side, at short intervals, there +were doors leading to the various apartments. Between these doors, and +against the walls, were hanging maps, plans, pictures, and other +embellishments, which gave to these galleries a very attractive +appearance. Here and there, too, on the different stories, there were +sofas or other seats, with persons sitting upon them. Some were sewing, +and some were attending children who were playing near. At the two ends +of the hotel there were broad staircases connected with these galleries +and leading from one to the other. Besides the galleries there were long +corridors, extending each way from the centre of the building to ranges +of apartments situated in the wings. The hotel, in fact, was very +spacious, and it was very admirably arranged. + +Rollo conducted Mr. George to the third story; and there, hanging +against the wall, he found the embossed map of Switzerland which he had +described. Mr. George and Rollo took this map down from its nail, and, +seating themselves upon a settee which was near, they held it before +them and examined it very attentively for some time. Mr. George showed +Rollo the great central valley of Switzerland, with the ranges of +mountains on each side of it. He showed him, too, the great slope of +land which extended over the whole northern part of Switzerland. It was +bounded on the north by the River Rhine and the frontier, and on the +south by the great range of mountains which separated it from the +valley. He showed him, too, the numerous lakes which were scattered over +the surface of it. + +"You see," said he, "that the waters which come out from the glaciers +and the snow fields, and down through the chasms and ravines in the +mountain sides, flow on till they come to some valley or place of +comparatively low land; and they spread all over this depression, and +flow into it more and more until they fill it up and make a lake there. +When the lake is full the surplus waters run off clear wherever they +find a channel." + +"Is that the way the lakes are formed?" asked Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "You will see that it is so when we get up to +them." + +"_Up_ to them?" said Rollo. "You mean down to them." + +"No," said Mr. George. "The lakes are up quite high. Many of them are +far up the sides of the mountains. The water, in leaving them, runs very +rapidly, showing that there is a great descent in the land where they +are flowing. Sometimes, in fact, these streams and rivers, after they +leave the lakes, form great cataracts and cascades in getting down to +the level country below. + +"But now," continued Mr. George, "I must go to my writing, and you may +see what you can do about the diligence." + +So Mr. George went away towards his room, leaving Rollo to hang up the +embossed map and then to determine how he should go to work to ascertain +what he was to do. + +Rollo found less difficulty than he had anticipated in procuring places +in the diligence. He first inquired of the clerk, at the office of the +hotel. The clerk offered to send a porter with him to show him the way +to the diligence office; but Rollo said that he would prefer to go +himself alone, if the clerk would tell him in what part of the town it +was. + +So the clerk gave Rollo the necessary direction, and Rollo went forth. + +He found the diligence office very easily. In fact, he recognized the +place at once when he came near it, by seeing several diligences +standing before it along the street. He entered under an archway. On +entering, he observed several doors leading to various offices, with +inscriptions over each containing the names of the various towns to +which the several diligences were going. At length he found BERNE. + +Rollo did not know precisely in what way the business at such an office +was to be transacted; but he had learned from past experience that all +that was necessary in order to make himself understood in such cases +was, to speak the principal words that were involved in the meaning that +he was intending to convey, without attempting to make full and complete +sentences of them. In cases where he adopted this mode of speaking he +was accustomed usually to begin by saying that he could not speak French +very well. + +Accordingly, in this instance he went to the place where the clerk was +sitting and said,-- + +"I do not speak French very well. Diligence to Berne. Two places. +Banquette." + +"Yes, yes," said the clerk. "I understand very well." + +The clerk then told him what the price would be of two seats on the +banquette, and Rollo paid the money. The clerk then made out and signed +two very formal receipts and gave them to Rollo. + +Rollo walked back towards the hotel, studying his receipts by the way; +but he could not understand them, as they were in the German language. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +RIDE TO BERNE. + + +At length the time arrived for the departure of our two travellers from +Basle. A porter from the hotel carried their trunks to the diligence +office, while Rollo and Mr. George walked. When they got to the place +they found the diligence in the archway, and several men were employed +in carrying up trunks and carpet bags to the top of it and stowing them +away there. In doing this they ascended and descended by means of a long +step ladder. The men took Mr. George's trunk and Rollo's and packed them +away with the rest. There were several persons who looked like +passengers standing near, waiting, apparently, for the diligence to be +ready. + +Among them were two children, a girl and a boy, who seemed to be about +Rollo's age. They were plainly but neatly dressed. They were sitting on +a chest. The boy had a shawl over his arm, and the girl had a small +morocco travelling bag in her hand. + +The girl looked a moment at Rollo as he came up the archway, and then +cast her eyes down again. Her eyes were blue, and they were large and +beautiful and full of meaning. There was a certain gentleness in the +expression of her countenance which led Rollo to think that she must be +a kindhearted and amiable girl. The boy looked at Rollo too, and +followed him some time with his eyes, gazing at him as he came up the +archway with a look of interest and curiosity. + +It was not yet quite time for the diligence to set out. In fact, the +horses were not yet harnessed to it; and during the interval Rollo and +Mr. George stood by, watching the process of getting the coach ready for +the journey, and contrasting the appearance of the vehicle, and of the +men employed about it, and the arrangements which they were making, with +the corresponding particulars in the setting off of a stage coach as +they had witnessed it in America. While doing this Rollo walked about +the premises a little; and at length, finding himself near the two +children on the chest, he concluded to venture to accost the boy. + +"Are you going in this diligence?" said he, speaking in French. + +"Yes," replied the boy. + +"So am I," said Rollo. "Can you speak English?" + +"Yes," said the boy. He spoke the yes in English. + +"Are you going to Berne?" asked Rollo. + +"I don't know," said the boy. + +The girl, who had been looking at Rollo during this conversation, here +spoke, and said that they _were_ going to Berne. + +"We are going in that diligence," said she. + +"So am I," said Rollo. "I have got a seat on the banquette." + +"Yes," rejoined the boy. "I wished to have a seat on the banquette, so +that I could see; but the seats were all engaged before my father went +to the office; so we are going in the coupe; but I don't like it half so +well." + +"Nor I," said the girl. + +"Where is your father?" asked Rollo. + +"He is gone," replied the boy, "with mother to buy something at a shop a +little way from here. Lottie and I were tired, and so we preferred to +stay here. But they are coming back pretty soon." + +"Are you all going to ride in the coupe?" said Rollo; "because, there +will not be room. There is only room for three in the coupe." + +"I know it," said Lottie; "but then, as two of us are children, father +thought that we could get along. Father had a plan for getting Adolphus +a seat in the interior; but he was not willing to go there, because, he +said, he could not see." + +Just at this moment the father and mother of Adolphus and Lottie came up +the archway into the court yard where the diligence was standing. The +horses had been brought out some minutes before and were now nearly +harnessed. The gentleman seemed to be quite in a hurry as he came up; +and, seeing that the horses were nearly ready, he said,-- + +"Now, children, get in and take your places as soon as possible." + +So they all went to the coach, and the gentleman attempted to open the +door leading to the coupe. It was fastened. + +"Conductor," said he, speaking very eagerly to the conductor, who was +standing near, "open this door!" + +"There is plenty of time," said the conductor. "There is no need of +haste." + +However, in obedience to the request of the gentleman, the conductor +opened the door; and the gentleman, helping his wife in, first, +afterwards lifted the children in, and then got in himself. The +conductor shut the door. + +"Come, uncle George," said Rollo, "is not it time for us to get up to +our places?" + +"No," said Mr. George. "They will tell us when the proper time comes." + +So Mr. George and Rollo remained quietly standing by the side of the +diligence while the hostlers finished harnessing the horses. Rollo +during this time was examining with great interest the little steps and +projections on the side of the coach by which he expected that he and +Mr. George were to climb up to their places. + +It turned out in the end, however, that he was disappointed in his +expectation of having a good climb; for, when the conductor was ready +for the banquette passengers to take their places, he brought the step +ladder and planted it against the side of the vehicle, and Mr. George +and Rollo went up as easily as they would have gone up stairs. + +When the passengers were seated the step ladder was taken away, and a +moment afterwards the postilion started the horses forward, and the +ponderous vehicle began to move down the archway, the clattering of the +horses' hoofs and the lumbering noise of the wheels sounding very loud +in consequence of the echoes and reverberations produced by the sides +and vaulting of the archway. As soon as the diligence reached the street +the postilion began to crack his whip to the right and left in the most +loud and vehement manner, and the coach went thundering on through the +narrow streets of the town, driving every thing from before it as if it +were a railway train going express. + +[Illustration: THE DILIGENCE AT THE OFFICE.] + +"Uncle George," exclaimed Rollo, "they have forgotten the conductor!" + +Rollo was, in fact, quite concerned for a few minutes lest the conductor +should have been left behind. He knew where this official's proper seat +was; namely, at the left end of the banquette--that is, at the right +hand, as seen in the engraving; and as he was not there, and as he knew +that all the other seats were full, he presumed, of course, that he had +been left behind. He was relieved of these fears, however, very soon; +for, to his great astonishment, he suddenly perceived the head of the +conductor coming up the side of the coach, followed gradually by the +rest of his body as he climbed up to his place. Rollo wondered how he +could manage to get on and climb up, especially as the coach was at this +time thundering along a descending portion of the street with a speed +and uproar that was terrific. + +Rollo, though at first very much astonished at this performance of the +conductor, afterwards ceased to wonder at it; for he found that the +conductor could ascend and descend to and from his seat at any time +without any difficulty, even while the horses were going at the top of +their speed. If the snapper of the coachman's whip got caught in the +harness so that he could not liberate it, as it often did on the road, +the conductor would climb down, run forward to the horses, set the +snapper free, fall back to the coach, catch hold of the side and climb +up, the coachman cracking his whip as soon as it was freed, and urging +on his horses to a gallop, without troubling himself at all to consider +how the conductor was to get up again. + +But to return to the story. When Rollo found that the conductor was safe +he amused himself by looking to the right and left into the windows of +the houses at the second story. His seat was so high that he could do +this very easily. Many of these windows were open, and persons were +sitting at them, sewing or reading. At some of them groups of children +were standing. They were looking out to see the diligence go by. The +street was so narrow that Rollo found himself very near these persons as +he passed by. + +"A little nearer," said he to his uncle George, "and I could shake hands +with them." + +In a very few minutes the coach passed under a great arched gateway +leading through the wall of the city, and thence over a sort of +drawbridge which spanned the moat. Immediately afterwards it entered a +region of smooth, green fields, and pretty rural houses, and gardens, +which presented on every side very charming pictures to the view. + +"Now, uncle George," said Rollo, "won't we have a magnificent ride?" + +Rollo was not disappointed in his anticipations. He found the ride to +Berne a very magnificent one indeed. The road was smooth and hard as a +floor. From side to side it was flat and level, and all the ascents +which it made were so gradual that the horses trotted on at their full +speed, without any cessation, sweeping around long and graceful curves, +which brought continually into view new landscapes, each one, as it +seemed, more varied and beautiful than the one which had preceded it. +From his lofty seat on the banquette Rollo looked abroad over a very +wide extent of country; and when the coach stopped at the villages or +post houses to change horses, he could look down with great advantage +upon the fresh teams as they were brought out and upon the groups of +hostlers and post boys employed in shifting the harness. He could hear, +too, all that they said, though they generally talked so fast, and +mingled their words with so much laughter and fun, that Rollo found that +he could understand but little. + +[Illustration: THE DILIGENCE ON THE ROAD.] + +Rollo was particularly struck, as he was whirled swiftly along the road, +by the appearance of the Swiss houses. They were very large, and were +covered with a very broad roof, which extended so far over the walls on +every side as to appear like a great, square, broad-brimmed hat. +Under this roof were platforms projecting from the house, one on each +story, like piazzas. These piazzas were very broad. They were bordered +by balustrades on the outer edge, and were used for sheds, store houses, +and tool rooms. There were wood piles, wagons, harrows, and other +farming implements, bundles of straw, and stones piled up here and there +upon them. In fact, the Swiss cottager has his house, and barn, and +sheds, and outhouses all under one roof; and what there is not room for +within he stores without upon these platforms. + +These houses were situated in the midst of the most beautiful fields and +gardens, the whole forming a series of very charming landscapes. The +view, too, as seen in many places along the road, was bounded at the +south by a long line of snow-covered mountains, which glittered +brilliantly in the sun and imparted an inexpressible fascination to the +prospect. + +The diligence arrived at the city of Berne near night, and Mr. George +and Rollo remained in that city until the next day at noon. Rollo was +extremely interested in walking about the streets in the morning. In +almost all the streets of Berne the second stories of the houses are +extended over the sidewalks, the superincumbent masonry being supported +by massive square pillars, built up from the edge of the sidewalk +below, and by arches above. Of course, in going along the sidewalk the +passenger is sheltered by the roof above him, and in the worst weather +he can go all over the city without being exposed to the rain excepting +at the street crossings. This arrangement is a very convenient one, +certainly, for rainy weather; but it gives the streets a very gloomy and +forbidding appearance at other times. + +Still Rollo was very much amused in walking along under these arcades; +the more so because, in addition to the shops in the buildings +themselves, there were usually stalls and stands, between and around the +pillars, filled with curious things of all sorts, which were for sale; +so that in walking along he had a display of goods on both sides of him. +These goods consisted of toys, books, pictures, tools, implements, and +curiosities, including a multitude of things which Rollo had never seen +or heard of before. + +Berne is famous for bears. The bear is, in fact, the emblem of the city, +and of the canton, or province, in which Berne is situated. There is a +story that in very ancient times, when Berchtold, the original founder +of the city, was beginning to build the walls, a monstrous bear came out +of the woods to attack him. Berchtold, with the assistance of the men +who were at work with him on the walls, killed the bear. They gloried +greatly in this exploit, and they preserved the skin and claws of the +bear for a long time as the trophy of their victory. Afterwards they +made the bear their emblem. They painted the figure of the animal on +their standards. They made images and effigies of him to ornament their +streets, and squares, and fountains, and public buildings. They stamped +the image of him on their coins; and, to this day, you see figures of +the bear every where in Berne. Carved images of Bruin in every attitude +are for sale in the shops; and, not contented with these lifeless +symbols, the people of Berne for a long time had a pit, or den, similar +to those in the Garden of Plants at Paris, where they kept living +specimens for a long time.[4] This den was just without the gates of the +city. The guide book which Rollo read as he was coming into Berne, to +see what it said about the city, stated that there was one bear in the +garden at that time; and he wished very much to go and see it, but he +did not have a very convenient opportunity. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: See Rollo in Paris for an account of these dens for bears +in the Garden of Plants.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE VALLEY OF THE AAR. + + +After spending several hours in Berne and wondering greatly at the many +strange things which they saw there, Mr. George and Rollo took their +passage in another diligence for Thun, which was a town still farther in +towards the heart of Switzerland on the way to Interlachen. It took only +three or four hours to go to Thun. The town, they found, was small, +compact, surrounded by walls, and very delightfully situated at the end +of a long lake, which extended from that point very far in among the +mountains. There was one thing very remarkable about Thun, at least it +seemed very remarkable to Rollo, although he found afterwards that it +was a common thing in Switzerland; and that was, that the hotels were +all outside the town. + +There was reason in this; for the town--though it was a very curious and +romantic place, with a church on a terraced hill at one end of it, +surrounded with a beautifully ornamented church yard, with seats and +bowers here and there at the corners of it, which overlooked the country +and commanded charming views of the lake and mountains--was still, in +the main, very contracted and confined, and hotels would not be +pleasantly situated in it. A little beyond the town, however, on the +margin of the lake, was a delightful region of gardens and pleasure +grounds, with four or five very handsome hotels among them. Mr. George +and Rollo stopped to dine at one of these hotels. From the windows of it +there were the most brilliant and charming prospects of the lake and the +surrounding mountains on one side, and on the other a view of the town +and of two or three very pretty little steamboats lying at a pier. + +Behind the hotel the land very soon ascended rapidly, the ascent +terminating at last in crags and precipices which towered at a vast +height above. Among these heights Rollo saw a sort of pavilion, built on +a small projecting point of a hill, four or five hundred feet, perhaps, +above the hotel. + +"Do you think any body can get up there?" said he to his uncle George. + +They were standing, when Rollo said this, on the back piazza of the +hotel--a very beautiful place, looking out upon green lawns and +gardens. + +"Certainly," said Mr. George. "They would not have built such a lookout +as that without making a way to get to it." + +"Then let's go up there," said Rollo, "and see what we can see." + +"Very well," said Mr. George; "lead the way, and I will follow." + +"Well, come," said Rollo, moving on. "I am not sure that I can find the +way; but I'll try." + +So saying, Rollo chose from among several broad and smooth gravel walks +which he saw diverging from the house in various directions, among the +groves and copses of shrubbery that ornamented the grounds behind it, +the one which seemed to turn most nearly in the right direction; and, +running along before, he was soon out of sight of the hotel. The path +meandered gracefully among shrubs, and flowers, and pretty green +openings a little way, and then began to ascend the hill, sometimes in a +winding course and sometimes by zigzags. There were seats placed here +and there at proper points for rest. At length both Rollo and Mr. George +were surprised to find coming suddenly into view a small building, which +stood in a very romantic and picturesque spot about half way up the +hill, which proved, on examination, to be a little chapel. It was an +Episcopal chapel, built here by the proprietor of the hotel for the +accommodation of his English guests on Sundays. There are a great many +English travellers in Switzerland, more perhaps from that nation than +from any other, and the English people are very much pleased with the +opportunity to worship God, when in foreign lands, according to the +rites and usages of their own national church. Americans, on the other +hand, when travelling, generally prefer to attend churches in which the +worship is conducted according to the usages of the people in whose +country they chance to be. + +After looking at the little English chapel as long as they wished, our +two travellers went on up the path. The ascent soon became very steep, +and the way led through close woods, which allowed of no opportunity to +see, except that now and then a brief glimpse was obtained of the hotel, +with the gardens and grounds around it, and the gentlemen and ladies +walking upon the piazza in the rear of it. + +After about a quarter of an hour of hard climbing up a wild and romantic +but very smooth and well made path the two young gentlemen reached the +pavilion. Here a boundless and most magnificent prospect was opened +before them. Rollo was bewildered with astonishment and delight; and +even Mr. George, who was usually very cool and quiet on such occasions, +seemed greatly pleased. I shall not, however, attempt to describe the +view; for, though a fine view from an elevated point among lakes and +mountains is a very exciting thing actually to witness and enjoy, it is +by no means an interesting thing to describe. + +"What a magnificent prospect!" said Rollo. + +Rollo, as he said this, was looking down at the more near and distinctly +detailed objects which were to be seen directly below him at the bottom +of the hill, towards the right--such as the hotels, the gardens, the +roads, the pier, the steamboats, and the town. The attention of Mr. +George, however, was attracted by the more grand and sublime features of +the view which were to be seen in the other direction--the lake, the +forests, and the mountains. The mountains that were near were darkened +by the groves of evergreens that clothed their sides, and some of them +were made more sombre still by the shadows of floating clouds; while +over these there towered the glittering summits of more distant ranges, +white with everlasting snow. + +"How cold they look!" said Mr. George; "how icy cold!" + +"How little they look! how very little! See, uncle George," said Rollo, +pointing; "they are really good large steamboats, and you would think +they were only playthings." + +"There are some men walking along the road," continued Rollo, "just like +little dots." + +"See the banks of snow on that mountain, Rollo!" said Mr. George. "They +look like drifts of dry, light snow, as they shine in the sun on a +bitter cold winter day." + +"Why doesn't it melt?" asked Rollo. + +"Because it is up so high," said Mr. George. "As you go up in the air +from the surface of the earth the air grows colder and colder, until at +last, when you get up to a certain height, it is cold enough to freeze." + +"Is it so every where?" asked Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "If you were to put some water into a vial and +tie it to the tail of a kite, and send it up into the air _high enough_, +the water would freeze, and when it came down you would find the water +turned into ice." + +"Should I?" asked Rollo. "Would it if I were to send the kite up in +America?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George, "any where, all over the earth." + +"I mean to try it," said Rollo. + +"You can't try it very well," replied Mr. George; "for you could not +easily send a kite up high enough. It would take a very long time." + +"How long?" asked Rollo. + +"Why, that depends upon what part of the earth it is that you make the +experiment in," replied Mr. George. "At the equator, where the sun is +very hot, you would have to go up very high. In temperate regions, as in +Switzerland or in most parts of America, you would not have to go up so +high; and farther north, near the pole, it is only necessary to go up a +very little way." + +"And how high must we go up in Switzerland?" asked Rollo. + +"About eight or nine thousand feet, I believe," said Mr. George. "Some +of the Alpine summits are sixteen thousand feet high; and so the ice and +snow lie upon the upper portions of them all the time." + +The young gentlemen remained some time longer in the pavilion, gazing +upon the stupendous scenery around them, and looking down the lake which +lay before them in the bottom of a deep and narrow valley and extended +in among the mountains much farther than they could see. + +"We are going along that lake," said Rollo "are we not?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "it is the Lake of Thun." + +"We are going in one of the steamboats that are lying at the pier, are +we not?" said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "unless you would prefer going along the shore." + +"Is there a road along the shore?" asked Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "there are two, I believe, one on each side of +the lake. These roads run along at the foot of the mountains, far +enough, however, above the level of the lake to enable us to enjoy +excellent views of it. But we cannot see the mountains from it as well +as we can from the lake itself." + +"Then," said Rollo, "if we go by the road we can see the lake best; and +if we go by the steamboat we can see the mountains best." + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "that is the state of the case, exactly." + +"Then I think we had better go by the boat," said Rollo; "for I would +rather see the mountains." + +"So would I," rejoined Mr. George. "Besides, there will be plenty of +occasions on which we shall be obliged to go by land; therefore we had +better go by water when we can, in order to have a variety. And, if we +are going in the steamer, we must go back to the hotel; for it is almost +time for the steamer to sail." + +So Mr. George led the way, and Rollo followed, down the path by which +they had come up. As they thus walked down they continued the +conversation which they had commenced in the pavilion. + +"What shall we come to when we get to the end of the lake?" asked Rollo. +"Does the lake reach to the end of the valley?" + +"No," said Mr. George. "The valley is about fifty miles long, I suppose, +and this lake is only about fifteen miles long; but there is another in +the same valley a little farther on. The valley is the valley of the +Aar. That is the name of the stream which flows through it. It is one of +the most remarkable valleys in Switzerland. I have been studying it in +the guide book and on the map. It is about fifty miles long, and it +winds in a serpentine manner between two lofty ranges of mountains, so +steep and high that it is not possible to make any road over them." + +"None at all?" asked Rollo. + +"No," replied Mr. George. "They cannot make any road--nothing but bridle +paths. The mountains, too, that border the valley along the sides close +across at the head of it; so that if you go up the valley at all you +cannot get out of it without climbing over the mountains; unless, +indeed, you are willing to come back the same way that you went." + +"I would rather climb over the mountains," said Rollo. + +"So would I," said Mr. George. "The beginning of this valley," continued +Mr. George "is in the very heart of the most mountainous part of +Switzerland, and the River Aar commences there in prodigious cascades +and waterfalls, which come down over the cliffs and precipices or gush +out from enormous crevices and chasms, and make quite a river at the +very beginning." + +"Can we go there and see them?" said Rollo. + +"Yes," replied Mr. George; "I mean to go and see them. The place is +called Meyringen. The cascades and waterfalls at Meyringen are +wonderful. One of them, the guide book says, makes dreadful work in +times of flood. It comes out from a great chasm in the rocks in the face +of a precipice at a vast height from the ground; and, in times of flood, +it brings down such a mass of sand, gravel, stones, rubbish, and black +mud as sometimes to threaten to overwhelm the village." + +"Is there a village there?" asked Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "the village of Meyringen. This waterfall comes +down out of the mountain just back of the village; and they have had to +build up an immense wall, a quarter of a mile long and twenty or thirty +feet high, to keep the torrent of mud and sand out of the streets. Once +it broke through and filled up the church four feet deep all over the +floor with mud, and gravel, and stones. Some of the stones were bigger +than your head." + +Rollo was very much interested in hearing this account of the Fall of +Alpbach,--for that was the name of this unmanageable cataract,--and +expressed a very strong desire to go to Meyringen and see it. + +"We will go," said Mr. George. "It lies at the head of the valley of the +Aar, which we are now entering. The River Aar, after being formed by +these cataracts and cascades, flows through the valley, making two long +lakes in its course. This Lake of Thun is the second one. The other is +the Lake of Brienz. The upper end of the Lake of Thun is a few miles +only from the lower end of the Lake of Brienz; and Interlachen is +between the two." + +[Illustration: THE LAKE SHORE.] + +About an hour after this conversation our two travellers might have been +seen sitting together upon the deck of the little steamer which was +paddling its way merrily along the lake, and occupying themselves in +viewing and talking about the extraordinary spectacle presented by +the slopes of the mountains which bordered the lake on either side, and +which seemed to shut the lake in, as it were, between two immense walls +of green. + +Rollo was extremely interested, as he sailed along, in viewing these +mountain slopes, exploring the landscape carefully in every part, +studying out all the objects of interest which it contained--the +forests, the cultivated fields, the great Swiss cottages, the +pasturages, the little chalets, the zigzag paths leading up and down, +and all the other picturesque and striking characteristics of a Swiss +landscape. + +The slopes were very beautiful, and densely inhabited; and they were +really very steep, though they looked much steeper than they were, as +all hills and slopes do to a person looking upon them from below and +facing them. + +"It seems," said Rollo to Mr. George, "as if two broad strips of green +country were set up on edge for us to see them as we are sailing along." + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "with all the houses, farms, pasturages, flocks +of sheep, and herds of cattle clinging to the sides of them." + +The chief charm, however, of the views which presented themselves to the +young travellers as they glided along the lake was the glittering +refulgence of the snow-clad peaks which appeared here and there through +openings among the nearer mountains. The view of these peaks was +occasionally obstructed by masses of vapor which were floating along the +tops of the mountain ranges; but still they were seen frequently enough +to fill the minds both of Rollo and Mr. George with wonder and delight. + +After gazing at this scenery for nearly an hour until his curiosity in +respect to it was in some measure satisfied, Rollo began to turn his +attention to his fellow-travellers on board the steamer. These +travellers were seated singly or in groups about the deck of the little +vessel, and they were all tourists, journeying for pleasure. Here was a +small group of young men--students apparently--with knapsacks on their +backs, spyglasses strapped to their sides, and maps and guide books in +their hands. There was a young lady seated with her father, both dressed +for the mountains, and gazing with curiosity and wonder on the views +presented along the shores of the lake. In another place was a family of +parents and children--the father studying a map which he had spread open +upon his knees, the mother sitting by his side, silent and thoughtful, +as if her mind was far away, dwelling, perhaps, upon the little ones +which had been left at home because they were too young to be taken on +such a tour. Some of these people were talking French, some English, and +some German. Rollo looked about upon these various groups for a time, +and then said,-- + +"Are all these travellers going to see the mountains, do you suppose, +uncle George?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "I suppose so. There is very little travelling +in Switzerland except pleasure travelling. I presume they are all going +to see the mountains and the other scenery of the country." + +"I should not think that the ladies could climb up the mountains very +high," said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George, "they can; for in almost all places where people +wish to go there are excellent paths. Where it is too steep for roads +the mountaineers make zigzag paths, not only for travellers, but for +themselves, in order that they may go up and down to their chalets and +pasturages. The people of the country have been making and improving +these paths now for two thousand years or more, and they have got them +at last in very excellent condition; so that, except the steepness, they +are very easy and very comfortable." + +"Why, uncle George," said Rollo, "look!" + +So saying, Rollo pointed his finger out over the water. The mountains +had suddenly and entirely disappeared. The vapors and clouds which they +had seen floating among them half an hour before had become dense and +continuous, and had, moreover, settled down over the whole face of the +country in such a manner as to shut out the mountains wholly from view. +Nothing was to be seen but the water of the lake, with a margin of low +and level but beautiful country along the shores of it. + +In fact, there was nothing but the smallness of the steamer and the +costumes and character of the passengers to prevent Rollo and Mr. George +from supposing that they were steaming it from New York to Albany, up +the North River, in America. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +INTERLACHEN. + + +About eight o'clock on the morning after our travellers arrived at +Interlachen Rollo awoke, and, rising from his bed, he walked to the +window and looked out, expecting to find before him a very grand +prospect of Alpine scenery; but there was nothing of the kind to be +seen. + +Before the house was a garden, with a broad gravel walk leading out +through it to the road. On each side of this walk were parterres of +shrubbery and flowers. There were also two side approaches, wide enough +for roads. They came from the main road through great open gates, at a +little distance to the right and left of the hotel. The main road, which +was broad and perfectly level, extended in front of the house; and two +or three Swiss peasants, in strange costume, were passing by. Beyond +were green and level fields, with fruit and forest trees rising here and +there among them, forming a very rich and attractive landscape. The sky +was covered with clouds, though they were very fleecy and bright, and in +one place the sun seemed just ready to break through. + +"I thought Interlachen was among the mountains," said Rollo to himself; +"and here I am in the middle of a flat plain. + +"I will go and see uncle George," he continued after a moment's pause, +"and ask him what it means." + +So Rollo opened the door of his room and went out into what in America +would be called the entry, or hall. He found himself in a long corridor +paved with stone, and having broad stone staircases leading up and down +from it to the different stories. In one place there was a passage way +which led to a window that seemed to be on the back side of the hotel. +Rollo went there to look out, in order to see what the prospect might be +in that direction. + +He saw first the gardens and grounds of the hotel, extending for a short +distance in the rear of the building, and beyond them he obtained +glimpses of a rapidly running stream. The water was very turbid. It +boiled and whirled incessantly as it swept swiftly along the channel. + +"Ah," said Rollo, "that is the River Aar, I suppose, flowing through +Interlachen from one lake to the other. I thought I should see it +somewhere here; but I did not know whether it was before the hotels or +behind them." + +A short distance beyond the stream Rollo saw the lower part of a +perpendicular precipice of gray rock. All except the lower part of this +precipice was concealed by the fogs and clouds, which seemed to settle +down so low upon the landscape in all directions as to conceal almost +every thing but the surface of the ground. + +"I wonder how high that precipice is," said Rollo to himself. + +"I wonder whether I could climb up to the top of it," he continued, +still talking to himself, "if I could only find some way to get across +the river? There must be some way, I suppose. Perhaps there is a +bridge." + +Rollo then turned his eye upward to look at the clouds. In one place +there seemed to be a break among them, and the fleecy masses around the +break were slowly moving along. The place where Rollo was looking was +about the middle of the sky; that is, about midway between the horizon +and the zenith.[5] While Rollo was looking at this break, which seemed, +while he looked at it, to brighten up and open more and more, he saw +suddenly, to his utter amazement, a large green tree burst into view in +the midst of it, and then disappear again a moment afterwards as a fresh +mass of cloudy vapor drifted over. Rollo was perfectly bewildered with +astonishment. To see a green tree, clear and distinct in form and bright +with the beams of the sun which just at that instant caught upon it, +breaking out to view suddenly high up among the clouds of the sky, +seemed truly an astonishing spectacle. Rollo had scarcely recovered from +the first emotion of his surprise before the clouds parted again, wider +than before, and brought into view, first a large mass of foliage, which +formed the termination of a grove of trees; then a portion of a smooth, +green field, with a flock of sheep feeding upon it, clinging apparently +to the steep slope like flies to a wall; and finally a house, with a +little blue smoke curling from the chimney. Rollo was perfectly beside +himself with astonishment and delight at this spectacle; and he +determined immediately to go and ask his uncle to come and see. + +He accordingly left the window and made all haste to his uncle's door. +He knocked. His uncle said, "Come in." Rollo opened the door. His uncle +was standing by the window of his room, looking out. This was on the +front side of the hotel. + +"Uncle George!" said Rollo, "Uncle George! Come and look out with me at +the back window. There is a flock of sheep feeding in a green field away +up in the sky!" + +"Come and look here!" said Mr. George. + +So Rollo went to the window where Mr. George was standing, and his +astonishment at what he saw was even greater than before. The clouds had +separated into great fleecy masses and were slowly drifting away, while +through the openings that appeared in them there were seen bright and +beautiful views of groves, green pasturages, smiling little hamlets and +villages, green fields, and here and there dark forests of evergreen +trees, with peaks of rocks or steep precipices peeping out among them. +At one place, through an opening or gap in the nearer mountains, there +could be seen far back towards the horizon the broad sides and towering +peak of a distant summit, which seemed to be wholly formed of vast +masses of ice and snow, and which glittered with an inexpressible +brilliancy under the rays of the morning sun. + +"That is the Jungfrau,"[6] said Mr. George. + +"That great icy mountain?" said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. + +"Can we get up to the top of it?" asked Rollo. + +"No," said Mr. George. "People tried for more than a thousand years to +get to the top of the Jungfrau before they could succeed." + +"And did they succeed at last?" asked Rollo. + +"Yes," replied Mr. George. "You see there is a sort of goatlike animal, +called the _chamois_,[7] which the peasants and mountaineers are very +fond of hunting. These animals are great climbers, and they get up among +the highest peaks and into the most dangerous places; and the hunters, +in going into such places after them, become at last very expert in +climbing, and sometimes they become ambitious of surpassing each other, +and each one wishes to see how high he can get. So one time, about +twenty-five years ago, a party of six of these hunters undertook to get +to the top of the Jungfrau, and at last they succeeded. But it was a +dreadfully difficult and dangerous operation. It was fifteen miles' +steep climbing." + +"Not steep climbing all the way," said Rollo. + +"No," said Mr. George, "I suppose not all the way. There must have been +some up-and-down work, and some perhaps tolerably level, for the first +ten miles; but the last five must have been a perpetual scramble among +rocks and ice and over vast drifts of snow, with immense avalanches +thundering down the mountain sides all around them." + +"I wish I could go and see them," said Rollo. + +"You can go," replied Mr. George. "There is a most excellent chance to +see the face of the Jungfrau very near; for there is another mountain +this side of it, with a narrow valley between. This other mountain is +called the Wengern Alp. It is about two thirds the height of the +Jungfrau, and is so near it that from the top of it, or near the top, +you can see the whole side of the Jungfrau rising right before you and +filling half the sky, and you can see and hear the avalanches thundering +down the sides of it all day long." + +Rollo was quite excited at this account, and was very eager to set off +as soon as possible to go up the Wengern Alp. + +"How do we get there?" asked he. + +"You see this great gap in the near mountains," said Mr. George, +pointing. + +"Yes," said Rollo. + +"That gap," continued Mr. George, "is the mouth of a valley. I have been +studying it out this morning in my guide book. There is a good carriage +road leading up this valley. It is called the valley of the Luetschine, +because that is the name of the river which comes down through it. In +going up this valley for the first two or three miles we are going +directly towards the Jungfrau." + +"Yes," said Rollo. "That I can see very plainly." + +This was indeed very obvious; for the Jungfrau, from the windows of the +hotel, was seen through the great gap in the near mountains which Mr. +George had pointed out as the mouth of the valley of the Luetschine. In +fact, had it not been for that gap in the near mountains, the great +snow-covered summit could not have been seen from the hotels at all. + +"We go up that valley," continued Mr. George, "about three miles, and +then we come to a fork in it; that is, to a place where the valley +divides into two branches, one turning off to the right and the other to +the left. Directly ahead there is an enormous precipice, I don't know +how many thousand feet high, of bare rock. + +"One of these branch valleys," continued Mr. George, "leads up to one +side of the Wengern Alp and the Jungfrau, and the other to the other +side. We may take the right-hand valley and go up five or six miles to +Lauterbrunnen, or we may take the left-hand branch and go up to +Grindelwald. Which way do you think we had better go?" + +"I do not know," said Rollo. "Can we get up to the Wengern Alp from +either valley?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "We can go up from one of these valleys, and +then, after stopping as long as we choose on the Alp, we can continue +our journey and so come down into the other, and thus see them both. One +of the valleys is famous for two great glaciers that descend into it. +The other is famous for immense waterfalls that come down over the +precipices at the sides." + +"Let us go first and see the waterfalls," said Rollo. + +"Well," said Mr. George, "we will. We shall have to turn to the right in +that case and go to Lauterbrunnen. When we get to Lauterbrunnen we shall +have to leave our carriage and take horses to go up to the Wengern Alp. +The way is by a steep path, formed in zigzags, right up the sides of the +mountains." + +"How far is it?" asked Rollo. + +"I don't know precisely," said Mr. George; "but it is a good many miles. +It takes, at any rate, several hours to go up. We can stop at the +Wengern Alp as long as we please and look at the Jungfrau and the +avalanches, and after that go on down into the valley of Grindelwald on +the other side, and so come home." + +"But how can we get our carriage?" asked Rollo. + +"O, they send the carriage back, I believe," said Mr. George, "from +Lauterbrunnen to the great precipice at the fork of the valley." + +Mr. George, having thus finished his account of the topography of the +route to the Wengern Alp, went away from the window and returned to the +table where he had been employed in writing some letters just before +Rollo had come in. Rollo was left at the window. He leaned his arms upon +the sill, and, looking down to the area below, amused himself with +observing what was going on there. + +There were several persons standing or sitting upon the piazza. +Presently he heard the sound of wheels. A carriage came driving up +towards the door. A postilion was riding upon one of the horses. There +were two servants sitting on the box; and there was a seat behind, where +another servant and the lady's maid were sitting. The carriage stopped, +the door was opened, and a lady and gentleman with two boys, all dressed +like travellers, got out, and were ushered into the house with great +civility by the landlord. The baggage was taken off and carried in, and +then the carriage was driven away round the corner. + +This was an English nobleman and his family, who were making the tour of +Switzerland, and were going to spend a few days at Interlachen on the +way. + +As soon as the bustle produced by this arrival had subsided, Rollo's +attention was attracted by a very sweet musical sound which seemed to be +produced by something coming along the road. + +"What can that be, I wonder?" said he to himself. + +Then in a little louder tone, but without turning round,-- + +"Uncle George, here is some music coming. What do you think it is?" + +Mr. George paused a moment to listen, and then went on with his writing. + +The mystery was soon solved; for, in a few moments after Rollo had +spoken, he saw a large flock of goats coming along. These goats all had +bells upon their necks,--or at least a great many of them were so +provided,--and these bells, having a soft and sweet tone, produced, when +their sounds were blended together, an enchanting harmony. The goats +walked demurely along, driven by one or two goatherds who were following +them, and soon disappeared behind the trees and shrubbery. Very soon +after their forms had disappeared from view the music of their bells +began to grow fainter and fainter until it ceased to be heard. + +"It was a flock of goats going by," said Rollo. + +Rollo next heard voices; and, turning in the direction whence the sounds +proceeded, he saw a party of young men coming up towards the door of the +hotel along the gravelled avenue. This was a party of German students +making the tour of Switzerland on foot. They had knapsacks on their +backs, and stout walking sticks and guide books in their hands. They +came up talking and laughing together, full of hilarity and glee; and +yet some of them seemed very tired. They had walked six miles that +morning, and were now going to stop at this hotel for breakfast. Rollo +listened to their conversation; but, as it was in the German language, +he could not understand one word that they were saying. + +"Dear me!" said he; "I wish that every body would talk either French or +English." + +As soon as the students had passed on into the inn Rollo heard another +carriage coming. He looked and found that it was a _char a banc_. A char +a banc is a small, one-horse carriage, which looks upon the outside very +much like what is called a carryall in America, only it is much +narrower. It differs very much, however, from a carryall within; for it +has only a seat for two persons, and that is placed sideways, with the +end to the horses. You ride in it, therefore, sideways, as you do in an +omnibus, only in an omnibus there are two seats, one on each side, and +the door is at the end; whereas in the char a banc there is a seat only +on one side, and the door is opposite to it on the other. The seat is +large and comfortable, being very much like a short sofa. Some people, +therefore, describe a char a banc as a sofa placed endwise on wheels. + +The char a banc stopped before the door of the hotel; and the coachman, +getting down from his seat in front, opened the door. A very +dignified-looking gentleman stepped out; and, after standing a moment on +the piazza to give some directions about his portmanteau, he went into +the office of the hotel. + +Rollo, looking down from the window of his uncle George's room, could +see all these things very plainly; for the roof which protected the +piazza from the rain was up at the top of the hotel, and therefore did +not interfere with his view. + +After having made the above-described observations from the window, +Rollo began to think that he would like to go down below to the door, +where he thought he could see what was going on to better advantage. + +"Uncle George," said he, "when are you going down to breakfast?" + +"In about half an hour," said Mr. George. "I have got another letter to +write." + +"Then I believe I will go down now," said Rollo, "and wait there till +you come." + +"Very well," said Mr. George; "and please order breakfast, and then it +will be all ready when I get my letter finished." + +"What shall I order?" asked Rollo. + +"I don't know," said Mr. George. "I don't know what it is the fashion to +have for breakfast here. Ask them what they have got, and then choose +for yourself and me." + +So Rollo, putting on his cap, went down stairs. + +He stood for a little time on the piazza, looking at the strange dresses +of the people that were sitting or standing there and listening to the +outlandish sounds of the foreign languages which they were speaking. At +a little distance out upon the gravel walk, near the shrubbery, were a +party of guides waiting to be hired for mountain excursions. Some of +these guides were talking with travellers, forming plans, or agreeing +upon the terms on which they were to serve. Rollo, after observing these +groups a little time, walked along the piazza towards a place where he +saw an open door in another large building, which, being connected with +the piazza, evidently belonged to the hotel. In fact, it was a sort of +wing. As there were people going in and out at this door, Rollo thought +that he could go in too. + +He accordingly walked along in that direction. Before he reached the +door he came to a place which, though open to the air, was covered with +a roof, and was so enclosed by the buildings on three sides as to make +quite a pleasant little nook. It was ornamented by various shrubs and +flowers which grew from tubs and large pots arranged against the sides +of it. There were several tables in this space, with chairs around them, +and one or two parties of young men were taking their breakfast here. + +"This will be a good place for uncle George and me to have our +breakfast," said Rollo to himself, "and we can see the Jungfrau all the +time while we are eating it." + +Rollo then went on into the open door. He found himself ushered into a +very large and beautiful drawing room. There were a great many sofas +arranged around the sides of it, on which parties of ladies and +gentlemen were sitting talking together; while other gentlemen, their +hats in their hands, were standing before them or walking about the +floor. There was no carpet; but the floor was formed of dark wood +highly polished, and was very beautiful. There was a fireplace in one +corner of this room; but there was no fire in it. No fire was necessary; +for it was a warm and pleasant morning. + +On the front side of the room was a row of windows looking out towards +the road. On the back side was a door opening to another large room, +where Rollo saw a table spread and several people sitting at it eating +their breakfast. + +"Ah," said Rollo, "there is the dining room! I will go in there and see +what we can have for breakfast." + +So he walked through the drawing room and entered the room beyond. He +found that this inner room was quite a spacious apartment; and there +were one or two long tables extending the whole length of it. + +There were various separate parties sitting at these tables taking +breakfast. Some were just beginning. Some had just ended. Some were +waiting for their breakfast to be brought in. Near where Rollo was +standing two gentlemen were seated at the table, with a map of +Switzerland spread before them; and, instead of being occupied with +breakfast, they were planning some excursion for the day. + +Rollo looked out a vacant place at the table and took his seat. A waiter +came to him to know what he would have. + +"I want breakfast for two," said Rollo, "my uncle and myself. What have +you got for us?" + +The waiter repeated a long list of very nice things that he could give +Rollo and his uncle for breakfast. From among these Rollo chose a beef +steak, some hot rolls and butter, some honey, and some coffee. The +waiter went out to prepare them. + +In about ten minutes Mr. George came down. He took his seat by the side +of Rollo; and very soon afterwards the waiter brought in what had been +ordered. Rollo liked the breakfast very much, especially the honey. + +It is very customary to have honey for breakfast in Switzerland. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: The zenith is the point in the heavens that is directly +over our heads.] + +[Footnote 6: Pronounced _Yoongfrow_.] + +[Footnote 7: Pronounced _shamwawh_.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LAUTERBRUNNEN. + + +"Come, uncle George," said Rollo, "make haste. We are all ready." + +Rollo was sitting in a char a banc when he said this, at the door of the +hotel. He and his uncle were going to make an excursion up the valley of +the Luetschine to Lauterbrunnen, and thence to ascend the Wengern Alp, in +order to see the avalanches of the Jungfrau; and Rollo was in haste to +set out. + +"Come, uncle George," said he, "make haste." + +Mr. George was coming out of the hotel slowly, talking with the +landlord. + +"The guide will take you to Lauterbrunnen," said the landlord, "in the +char a banc; and then he will send the char a banc back down the valley +to the fork, and thence up to Grindelwald to wait for you there. You +will go up to the Wengern Alp from Lauterbrunnen; and then, after +staying there as long as you please, you will keep on and come down to +Grindelwald on the other side, where you will find the carriage ready +for you.[8] But it seems to me that you had better take another horse." + +"No," said Mr. George. "One will do very well." + +Mr. George had a carpet bag in his hand. It contained nightdresses, to +be used in case he and Rollo should conclude to spend the night on the +mountain. He put the carpet bag into the carriage, and then got in +himself. The landlord shut the door, and the coachman drove away. Thus +they set out on their excursion. + +This excursion to the Wengern Alp was only one of many similar +expeditions which Rollo and Mr. George made together while they were in +Switzerland. As, however, it is manifestly impossible to describe the +whole of Switzerland in so small a volume as this, I shall give a +narrative of the ascent of the Wengern Alp as a sort of specimen of +these excursions. I think it better that I should give a minute and +particular account of one than a more vague and general, and so less +satisfactory, account of several of them. + +Rollo had taken the precaution to have the curtains of the char a banc +rolled up, so that he and Mr. George could see out freely on all sides +of them as they rode along. + +The view which was first presented to their observation was that of the +lawns and gardens in the midst of which the hotels were situated. These +grounds were connected together by walks--some straight, others +winding--which passed through bowers and gateways from one enclosure to +the other. In these walks various parties were strolling; some were +gathering flowers, others were gazing at the mountains around, and +others still were moving quietly along, going from one hotel to another +for the purpose of taking a pleasant morning walk or to make visits to +their friends. The whole scene was a bright and very animated one; but +Rollo had not time to observe it long; for the char a banc, after moving +by a graceful sweep around a copse of shrubbery, passed out through a +great gateway in the road, and the hotels and all that pertained to them +were soon hidden from view by the great trees which grew along the +roadside before them. + +The coachman, or rather the guide,--for the man who was driving the char +a banc was the one who was to act as guide up the mountain when they +reached Lauterbrunnen,--turned soon into a road which led off towards +the gap, or opening, in the nearer mountains which Mr. George and Rollo +had seen from the windows of the hotel. The road was very smooth and +level, and the two travellers, as they rode along, had a fine view of +the fields, the hamlets, and the scattered cottages which bordered the +road on the side to which their faces were turned. + +"This char a banc," said Rollo, "is an excellent carriage for seeing the +prospect on _one_ side of the road." + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "but there might be the most astonishing +spectacle in Switzerland on the other side without our knowing any thing +about it unless we turned round expressly to see." + +So saying, Mr. George turned in his seat and looked at that side of the +road which had been behind them. There was a field there, and a young +girl about seventeen years old--with a very broad-brimmed straw hat upon +her head, and wearing a very picturesque costume in other respects--was +seen digging up the ground with a hoe. + +The blade of the hoe was long, and it seemed very heavy. The girl was +digging up the ground by standing upon the part which she had already +dug and striking the hoe down into the hard ground a few inches back +from where she had struck before. + +"Do the women work in the fields every where in Switzerland, Henry?" +said Mr. George. + +The guide's name was Henry. He could not speak English, but he spoke +French and German. Mr. George addressed him in French. + +"Yes, sir," said Henry; "in every part of Switzerland where I have +been." + +"In America the women never work in the fields," said Mr. George. + +"Never?" asked Henry, surprised. + +"No," said Mr. George; "at least, I never saw any." + +"What do they do, then," asked Henry, "to spend their time?" + +Mr. George laughed. He told Rollo, in English, that he did not think he +had any satisfactory answer at hand in respect to the manner in which +the American ladies spent their time. + +"I pity that poor girl," said Rollo, "hoeing all day on such hard +ground. I think the men ought to do such work as that." + +"The men have harder work to do," said Mr. George; "climbing the +mountains to hunt chamois, or driving the sheep and cows up to the upper +pasturages in places where it would be very difficult for women to go." + +"We must turn round every now and then," said Rollo, "and see what is +behind us, or we may lose the sight of something very extraordinary." + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "I heard of a party of English ladies who once +went out in a char a banc to see a lake. It happened that when they came +to the lake the road led along the shore in such a manner that the +party, as they sat in the carriage, had their backs to the water. So +they rode along, looking at the scenery on the land side and wondering +why they did not come to the lake. In this manner they continued until +they had gone entirely around the lake; and then the coachman drove them +home. When they arrived at the hotel they were astonished to find that +they had got home again; and they called out to the coachman to ask +where the lake was that they had driven out to see. He told them that he +had driven them all round it!" + +Rollo laughed heartily at this story, and Henry would probably have +laughed too if he had understood it; but, as Mr. George related it in +English, Henry did not comprehend one word of the narration from +beginning to end. + +In the mean time the horse trotted rapidly onward along the valley, +which seemed to grow narrower and narrower as they proceeded; and the +impending precipices which here and there overhung the road became more +and more terrific. The Luetschine, a rapid and turbid stream, swept +swiftly along--sometimes in full view and sometimes concealed. Now and +then there was a bridge, or a mill, or some little hamlet of Swiss +cottages to diversify the scene. Mr. George and Rollo observed every +thing with great attention and interest. They met frequent parties of +travellers returning from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen--some on foot, +some on horseback, and others in carriages which were more or less +spacious and elegant, according to the rank or wealth of the travellers +who were journeying in them. + +At length they arrived at the fork of the valley. Here they gazed with +astonishment and awe at the stupendous precipice which reared its +colossal front before them and which seemed effectually to stop their +way. + +On drawing near to it, however, it appeared that the valley divided into +two branches at this point, as has already been explained. The road +divided too. The branch which led to the right was the road to +Lauterbrunnen. The one to the left Rollo supposed led to Grindelwald. To +make it sure, he pointed to the left-hand road and said to Henry,-- + +"To Grindelwald?" + +"Yes, sir," said Henry, "to Grindelwald." + +The scenery now became more wild than ever. The valley was narrow, and +on each side of it were to be seen lofty precipices and vast slopes of +mountain land--some smooth and green, and covered, though very steep, +with flocks and herds, and others feathered with dark evergreen forests, +or covered with ragged rocks, or pierced with frightful chasms. Here and +there a zigzag path was seen leading from hamlet to hamlet or from peak +to peak up the mountain, with peasants ascending or descending by them +and bearing burdens of every form and variety on their backs. In one +case Rollo saw a woman bringing a load of hay on her back down the +mountain side. + +The valley, bordered thus as it was with such wild and precipitous +mountain sides, might have had a gloomy, or at least a very sombre, +expression, had it not been cheered and animated by the waterfalls that +came foaming down here and there from the precipices above, and which +seemed so bright and sparkling that they greatly enlivened the scene. +These waterfalls were of a great variety of forms. In some cases a thin +thread of water, like the jet from a fire engine, came slowly over the +brink of a precipice a thousand feet in the air, and, gliding smoothly +down for a few hundred feet, was then lost entirely in vapor or spray. +In other cases, in the depth of some deep ravine far up the mountain, +might be seen a line of foam meandering for a short distance among the +rocks and then disappearing. Rollo pointed to one of these, and then +said to Mr. George,-- + +"Uncle, look there! There is a short waterfall half way up the mountain; +but I cannot see where the water comes from or where it goes to." + +"No," said Mr. George. "It comes undoubtedly from over the precipice +above, and it flows entirely down into the valley; but it only comes out +to view for that short distance." + +"Why can't we see it all the way?" asked Rollo. + +"I suppose," said Mr. George, "it may flow for the rest of the way in +the bottom of some deep chasms, or it may possibly be that it comes +suddenly out of the ground at the place where we see it." + +"Yes," said Rollo. "I found a great stream coming suddenly out of the +ground at Interlachen." + +"Where," asked Mr. George. + +"Right across the river," said Rollo. "I went over there this morning." + +"How did you get over?" said Mr. George. + +"I went over on a bridge," said Rollo. "I took a little walk up the +road, and pretty soon I came to a bridge which led across the river. I +went over, and then walked along the bank on the other side. There was +only a narrow space between the river and the precipice. The ground +sloped down from the foot of the precipice to the water. I found several +very large springs breaking out in this ground. One of them was _very_ +large. The water that ran from it made a great stream, large enough for +a mill. It came up right out of the ground from a great hole all full of +stones. The water came up from among the stones." + +"And where did it go to?" asked Mr. George. + +"O, it ran directly down into the river. The place was rather steep +where it ran down, so that it made a cascade all the way." + +"I should like to have seen it," said Mr. George. + +"Yes," said Rollo; "it was very curious indeed to see a little river +come up suddenly out of the ground from a great hole full of stones." + +Talking in this manner about what they had seen, our travellers went on +till they came to Lauterbrunnen. They found a small village here, in the +midst of which was a large and comfortable inn. There were a number of +guides and several carriages in the yards of this inn, and many parties +of travellers coming and going. The principal attraction of the valley, +however, at this part of it, is an immense waterfall, called the Fall of +the Staubach, which was to be seen a little beyond the village, up the +valley. This is one of the most remarkable waterfalls in all +Switzerland. A large stream comes over the brink of a precipice nearly a +thousand feet high, and descends in one smooth and continuous column for +some hundreds of feet, when it gradually breaks, and finally comes down +upon the rocks below a vast mass of foam and spray. + +Rollo and Mr. George could see this waterfall and a great many other +smaller ones which came streaming down over the faces of the precipices, +along the sides of the valley, as they came up in the char a banc, +before they reached the inn. + +"I don't see how such a large river gets to the top of such a high +hill," said Rollo. + +That this question should have arisen in Rollo's mind is not surprising; +for the top of the precipice where the Staubach came over seemed, in +fact, the summit of a sharp ridge to any one looking up to it from the +valley below; and Rollo did not imagine that there was any land above. +The apparent wonder was, however, afterwards explained, when our +travellers began to ascend the mountain on the other side of the valley +that afternoon to go up to the Wengern Alp. + +The guide drove the char a banc to the door of the inn, and Mr. George +and Rollo got out. They went into the inn and ordered dinner. + +"We are going to see the Staubach," said Mr. George to the waiter, "and +we will be back in half an hour." + +"Very well," said the waiter; "your dinner shall be ready." + +So Mr. George and Rollo came out of the inn again in order to go and see +the waterfall. + +They were beset at the door by a number of young men and boys, and also +by several little girls, some of whom wanted to sell them minerals or +flowers which they had gathered among the rocks around the waterfall; +and others wished to guide them to the place. + +"To the Staubach? To the Staubach?" said they. "Want a guide? Want a +guide?" + +They said this in the German language. Mr. George understood enough of +German to know what they meant; but he could not reply in that language. +So he said, in French,-- + +"No; we do not wish any guide. We can find the way to the Staubach +ourselves. There it is, right before our eyes." + +Mr. George, while he was saying this, was taking out some small change +from his pockets to give to the children. He gave a small coin apiece to +them all. + +Seeing this, the boys who had wished to guide him to the Staubach became +more clamorous than ever. + +"To the Staubach?" said they. "To the Staubach? Want a guide? Want a +guide?" + +Mr. George paid no further attention to them; but, saying "Come, Rollo," +walked on. + +The would-be guides followed him a short distance, still offering their +services; but, finding soon that Mr. George would not have any thing +more to say to them, they gradually dropped off and went back to the inn +to try their fortune with the next arrival. + +Mr. George and Rollo walked on along a narrow road, which was bordered +by queer, picturesque-looking huts and cottages on either hand, with +gardens by the sides of them, in which women and girls were hoeing or +weeding. They met two or three parties of ladies and gentlemen returning +from the Staubach; and presently they came to a place where, close to +the side of the road, was a small shop, before which a party of ladies +and gentlemen had stopped, apparently to look at something curious. + +Mr. George and Rollo went to the place and found that it was a shop for +the sale of carved toys and images such as are made in many parts of +Switzerland to be sold to travellers for souvenirs of their tour through +the country. There were shelves put up on the outside of the shop, each +side of the door, and these shelves were covered with all sorts of +curious objects carved in white or yellow fir, or pine. There were +images of Swiss peasants with all sorts of burdens on their backs, and +models of Swiss cottages, and needle boxes, and pin cases, and match +boxes, and nut crackers, and groups of hunters on the rocks, or of goats +or chamois climbing, and rulers ornamented with cameo-like carvings of +wreaths and flowers, and with the word "Staubach" cut in ornamental +letters. + +Rollo was greatly interested in this store of curiosities, so much so, +in fact, that for the moment all thoughts of the Staubach were driven +from his mind. + +"Let us buy some of these things, uncle George," said he. + +"And carry them over the Wengern Alp?" said Mr. George. + +"Yes," said Rollo. "They won't be very heavy. We can put them in the +carpet bag." + +"Well," said Mr. George, "you may buy one or two specimens if you wish, +but not many; for the guide has got the carpet bag to carry, and we must +not make it very heavy." + +"Or we can send them in the carriage round to Grindelwald," said Rollo, +"and not have to carry them at all." + +"So we can," said Mr. George. + +Rollo accordingly bought two Swiss cottages, very small ones, and a nut +cracker. The nut cracker was shaped like a man's fist, with a hole in +the middle of it to put the nut in. Then there was a handle, the end of +which, when the handle was turned, was forced into the hollow of the +fist by means of a screw cut in the wood, and this would crack the nut. + +While Rollo was paying for his toys he felt a small hand taking hold of +his own, and heard a voice say, in English,-- + +"How do you do?" + +The English "How do you do?" is a strange sound to be heard in these +remote Swiss valleys. + +Rollo turned round and saw a boy look up to him with a smile, saying +again at the same time,-- + +"How do you do?" + +In a moment Rollo recognized the boy whom he had seen at Basle in the +court yard of the diligence office while he had been waiting there for +the horses to be harnessed. His sister Lottie was standing near; and +she, as well as her brother, appeared to be much pleased at seeing Rollo +again. Rollo had a few minutes' conversation with his young friends, and +then they separated, as Rollo went on with his uncle to see the +waterfall; while they, having already been with their father and mother +to see it, went back to the inn. + +Mr. George had recommended to Rollo not to buy too many specimens of the +carving, not only on account of the difficulty of transporting them, but +also because he thought that they would probably find a great many other +opportunities to purchase such things before they had finished their +rambles in Switzerland. He was quite right in this supposition. In fact, +Rollo passed three more stands for selling such things on the way to the +Staubach. + +Mr. George and Rollo continued their walk along the road, looking up +constantly at the colossal column of water before them, which seemed to +grow larger and higher the nearer they drew to it. At length they +reached the part of the road which was directly opposite to it. Here +there was a path which turned off from the road and led up through the +pasture towards the foot of the fall. The entrance to this path was +beset by children who had little boxes full of crystals and other +shining minerals which they wished to sell to visitors for souvenirs of +the place. + +Mr. George and Rollo turned into this path and attempted to advance +towards the foot of the fall; but they soon found themselves stopped by +the spray. In fact, the whole region all around the foot of the fall, +for a great distance, was so full of mist and driving spray that going +into it was like going into a rain storm. Mr. George and Rollo soon +found that they were getting thoroughly wet and that it would not do to +go any farther. + +"And so," said Rollo, in a disappointed tone, "though we have taken the +pains to come all this way to see the waterfall, we can't get near +enough to see it after all." + +Mr. George laughed. + +"I wish we had brought an umbrella," said Rollo. + +"An umbrella would not have done much good," replied Mr. George. "The +wind whirls about so much that it would drive the spray upon us +whichever way we should turn the umbrella." + +"The path goes on a great deal nearer," said Rollo. "Somebody must go +there, at any rate, without minding the spray." + +"Perhaps," said Mr. George, "when the wind is in some other quarter, it +may blow the spray away, so that people can go nearer the foot of the +fall without getting wet. At any rate, it is plain that we cannot go any +nearer now." + +Saying these words, Mr. George led the way back towards the road, and +Rollo followed him. + +After retreating far enough to get again into a dry atmosphere, they +stopped and looked upward at the fall. It seemed an immense cataract +coming down out of the sky. After gazing at the stupendous spectacle +till their wonder and admiration were in some measure satisfied, they +returned to the inn, where they found an excellent dinner all ready for +them. While they were thus employed in eating their dinner, Henry was +engaged in eating his, with at least as good an appetite, in company +with the other guides, in the servants' hall. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 8: See the map at the commencement of the first chapter.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE WENGERN ALP. + + +It was about twelve o'clock when Rollo and Mr. George, having finished +their dinner, came out into the yard of the inn for the purpose of +setting out for the ascent of the mountain. + +"Well, Rollo," said Mr. George, "now for a a scramble." + +Thus far the road which the young gentlemen had travelled since leaving +Interlachen had been quite level and smooth, its course having been +along the bottom of the valley, which was itself quite level, though +shut in on both sides by precipitous mountains. Now they were to leave +the valley and ascend one of these mountain sides by means of certain +zigzag paths which had been made with great labor upon them, to enable +the peasants to ascend and descend in going to and from their hamlets +and pasturages. + +The paths, though very steep and very torturous, are smooth enough for +horses to go up, though the peasants themselves very seldom use horses. +A horse would eat as much grass, perhaps, as two cows. They prefer, +therefore, to have the cows, and do without the horse. And so every +thing which they wish to transport up and down the mountain they carry +on their backs. + +There were various other guides in the yard of the inn besides Henry: +some were preparing apparently for the ascent of the mountain with other +parties; others were bringing up carriages for people who were going to +return to Interlachen. Henry, when he saw Mr. George and Rollo coming +out, asked them if they were ready. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "Bring the horse. You shall ride first, Rollo." + +Mr. George was to have but one horse for himself and Rollo, and they +were to ride it by turns. He thought that both he himself and Rollo +would be able to walk half way up the mountain, and, by having one horse +between them, each could ride half the way. + +Besides, it is less fatiguing, when you have a long and steep ascent to +make, to walk some portion of the way rather than to be on horseback all +the time. + +There was another consideration which influenced Mr. George. Every +additional horse which should be required for the excursion would cost +about two dollars a day, including the guide to take care of him; and, +as Mr. George expected to spend at least two days on the excursion, it +would cost four dollars more to take two horses than to take only one. + +"And I think," said Mr. George to Rollo, after having made this +calculation, "we had better save that money, and have it to buy +beautiful colored engravings of Swiss scenery with when we get to +Geneva." + +"I think so too," said Rollo. + +So it was concluded to take but one horse with them, on the +understanding that each of the travellers was to walk half the way. + +Rollo accordingly, when the horse was brought to the door, climbed up +upon his back with the guide's assistance, and, after adjusting his feet +to the stirrup, prepared to set out on the ascent. His heart was +bounding with excitement and delight. + +When all was ready the party moved on, Rollo on the horse and Mr. George +and Henry walking along by his side. They proceeded a short distance +along the road, and then turned into a path which led towards the side +of the valley opposite to the Staubach. They soon reached the foot of +the slope, and then they began to ascend. The path grew more and more +steep as they proceeded, until at length it became very precipitous; and +in some places the horse was obliged to scramble up, as it were, as if +he were going up stairs. Rollo clung to his seat manfully in all these +places; and he would have been sometimes afraid were it not that, in +every case where there could be even any apparent danger, Henry would +come to his side and keep by him, ready to render assistance at a +moment's notice whenever any should be needed. In this way the party +moved slowly on up the face of the mountain, making many short turns and +windings among the rocks and going back and forth in zigzags on the +green declivities. Sometimes for a few minutes they would be lost in a +grove of firs, or pines; then they would come out upon some rounded +promontory of grass land or projecting peak of rocks; and a few minutes +afterwards they would move along smoothly for a time upon a level, with +a steep acclivity, rough with rocks and precipices on one side, and an +abrupt descent on the other down which a stone would have rolled a +thousand feet into the valley below. + +Of course the view of the valley became more commanding and more +striking the higher they ascended. Rollo wished at every turn to stop +and look at it. He did stop sometimes, the guide saying that it was +necessary to do so in order to let the horse get his breath a little; +for the toil for such an animal of getting up so steep an ascent was +very severe. Rollo would have stopped oftener; but he did not like to be +left behind by his uncle George, who, being active and agile, mounted +very rapidly. Mr. George would often shorten his road very much by +climbing directly up the rocks from one turn of the road to the other; +while the horse, with Rollo on his back, was compelled to go round by +the zigzag. + +At last, after they had been ascending for about half an hour, Mr. +George stopped, at a place where there was a smooth stone for a seat by +the side of the path, to wait for Rollo to come up; and, when Rollo +came, Mr. George took him off the horse to let him rest a little. The +view of the valley from this point was very grand and imposing. Rollo +could look down into it as you could look into the bed of a brook in the +country, standing upon the top of the bank on one side. The village, the +inn, the little cottages along the roadside, the river, the bridges, and +a thousand other objects, all of liliputian size, were to be seen below; +while on the farther side the streaming Staubach was in full view, +pouring over the brink of the precipice and falling in a dense mass of +spray on the rocks at the foot of them. + +Rollo could understand now, too, where the fall of the Staubach came +from; for above the brink of the precipice, where the water came over, +there was now to be seen a vast expanse of mountain country, rising +steep, but not precipitously, far above the summit of the precipice, and +of course receding as it ascended, so as not to be seen from the valley +below. From the elevation, however, to which Rollo had now attained, the +whole of this vast region was in view. It was covered with forests, +pasturages, chalets, and scattered hamlets; and in the valleys, long, +silvery lines of water were to be seen glittering in the sun and +twisting and twining down in foaming cascades to the brink of the +precipice, where, plunging over, they formed the cataracts which had +been seen in the valley below. The Staubach was the largest of these +falls; and the stream which produced it could now be traced for many +miles as it came dancing along in its shining path down among the +ravines of the mountains. + +"I see now what makes the fall of the Staubach," said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. + +"I should like to be on the brink of the precipice where it falls over," +said Rollo, "and look down." + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "so should I. I don't think that we could get +near enough actually to look down, but we could get near enough to see +the water where it begins to take the plunge." + +After resting a suitable time at this place and greatly admiring and +enjoying the view, our party set out again. Rollo proposed that his +uncle should ride now a little way and let him walk; but Mr. George +preferred that Rollo should mount again. There was still nearly another +hour's hard climbing to do and a long and pretty difficult walk of +several miles beyond it, and Mr. George was very desirous of saving +Rollo's strength. It might perhaps be supposed, from the blunt manner in +which Mr. George often threw the responsibility upon Rollo when he was +placed in difficult emergencies and left him to act for himself, that he +did not think or care much for his nephew's comfort or happiness. But +this was by no means the case. Mr. George was very fond of Rollo indeed. +If he had not been fond of him he would not have wished to have him for +his companion on his tour. He was very careful, too, never to expose +Rollo to any real hardship or suffering; and his apparently blunt +manner, in throwing responsibilities upon the boy, only amused him by +making it appear that his uncle George considered him almost a man. + +Mr. George, knowing that the first part of the way from Lauterbrunnen to +the Wengern Alp was by far the most steep and difficult, had accordingly +arranged it in his own mind that Rollo should ride until this steep part +had been surmounted. + +"You may mount again now, Rollo," said he. "I will walk a little longer +and take my turn in riding a little farther on." + +So Rollo mounted; and there was now another hour of steep climbing. The +zigzags were sometimes sharp and short and at others long and winding; +but the way was always picturesque and the views became more and more +grand and imposing the higher the party ascended. At one time, when +Rollo had stopped a moment to let his horse breathe, he saw at a turn of +the path a few zigzags below him a little girl coming up, with a basket +on her back. + +Rollo pointed to her and asked the guide, in French, who that girl was. + +Henry said he did not know. + +Henry, foolishly enough, supposed that Rollo meant to ask what the +girl's name was; and so he said that he did not know. But this was not +what Rollo meant at all. He had no particular desire in asking the +question to learn the child's name. What he wished to know was, what, +according to the customs of the country, would be the probable province +and function of such a sort of girl as that, coming alone up the +mountain in that way with a burden on her back. Henry, if he had +understood the real intent and meaning of the question, could easily +have answered it. The girl lived in a little hamlet of shepherds' huts +farther up the mountain, and had been down into the village to buy +something for her father and mother; and she was now coming home with +her purchases in the basket on her back. All this Henry knew very well; +but, when Rollo asked who the girl was, Henry thought he meant to ask +who she herself was individually; and so, as he did not know her +personally, he could not tell. + +Travellers often get disappointed in this way in asking questions of the +natives of the country in which they are travelling. The people do not +understand the nature and bearing of the question, and they themselves +are not familiar enough with the language to explain what they do mean. + +The guide stood for a minute or two looking intently at the girl as she +slowly ascended the path, especially when she passed the angles of the +zigzag, for there she turned sometimes in such a manner as to show her +face more plainly. + +"No," said he, at length; "I do not know her. I never saw her before. +But I'll ask her who she is when she comes up." + +"Uncle George!" said Rollo, calling out very loudly to his uncle, who +was at some distance above. + +"Ay, ay," said Mr. George, responding. + +Rollo attempted to look up to see where his uncle was standing; but in +doing this he had to throw his head back so far as to bring a fear +suddenly over him of falling from his horse. So he desisted, and +continued his conversation without attempting to look. + +"Here is a girl coming up the mountain with a basket on her back. Come +down and see her." + +"Come up here," said Mr. George, "and we will wait till she comes." + +So Rollo chirruped to his horse and started along again. In a few +minutes he reached the place where his uncle George was standing, and +there they all waited till the little girl came up. + +"Good morning," said the girl, as soon as she came near enough to be +heard. She spoke the words in the German language and with a very +pleasant smile upon her face. + +The peasants in Switzerland, when they meet strangers in ascending or +descending the mountains, always accost them pleasantly and wish them +good morning or good evening. In most other countries, strangers meeting +each other on the road pass in silence. Perhaps it is the loneliness and +solitude of the country and the sense of danger and awe that the +stupendous mountains inspire that incline people to be more pleased when +they meet each other in Switzerland, even if they are strangers, than in +the more cheerful and smiling regions of France and England. + +The guide said something to the girl, but Rollo could not understand +what it was, for he spoke, and the answer was returned, in German. + +"She says her name is Ninette," said Henry. + +Rollo's attention was immediately attracted to the form of the basket +which Ninette wore and to the manner in which it was fastened to her +back. The basket was comparatively small at the bottom, being about as +wide as the waist of the girl; but it grew larger towards the top, where +it opened as wide as the girl's shoulders--being shaped in this respect +in conformity with the shape of the back on which it was to be borne. + +[Illustration: THE MOUNTAIN GIRL.] + +The side of the basket, too, which lay against the back was flat, so as +to fit to it exactly. The outer side was rounded. It was open at the +top. + +The basket was secured to its place upon the child's back and shoulders +by means of two flat strips of wood, which were fastened at the upper +ends of them to the back of the basket near the top, and which came +round over the shoulders in front, and then, passing under the arms, +were fastened at the lower ends to the basket near the bottom. The +basket was thus supported in its place and carried by means of the +pressure of these straps upon the shoulders. + +"Uncle George," said Rollo, "I should like to have such a basket as that +and such a pair of straps to carry it by." + +"What would you do with it," asked Mr. George, "if you had it?" + +"Why, it would be very convenient," said Rollo, "in America, when I went +a-raspberrying. You see, if I had such a basket as that, I could bring +my berries home on my back, and so have my hands free." + +"Yes," said Mr. George, "that would be convenient." + +"Besides," said Rollo, "it would be a curiosity." + +"That's true," replied Mr. George; "but it would be very difficult to +carry so bulky a thing home." + +After some further conversation it was concluded not to buy the basket, +but to ask the girl if she would be willing to sell the straps, or bows, +that it was fastened with. These straps were really quite curious. They +were made of some very hard and smooth-grained wood, and were nicely +carved and bent so as to fit to the girl's shoulders quite precisely. + +Accordingly Mr. George, speaking in French, requested Henry to ask the +girl whether she would be willing to sell the straps. Henry immediately +addressed the girl in the German language, and after talking with her a +few minutes he turned again to Mr. George and Rollo and said that the +girl would rather not sell them herself, as they belonged to her father, +who lived about half a mile farther up the mountain. But she was sure +her father would sell them if they would stop at his cottage as they +went by. He would either sell them that pair, she said, or a new pair; +for he made such things himself, and he had two or three new pairs in +his cottage. + +"Very well," said Mr. George; "let us go on. + +"Which would you rather have," said Mr. George to Rollo, as they resumed +their march, "this pair, or some new ones?" + +"I would rather have this pair," said Rollo. + +"They are somewhat soiled and worn," said Mr. George. + +"Yes," said Rollo; "but they are good and strong; and as soon as I get +home I shall rub them all off clean with sand paper and then have them +varnished, so as to make them look very bright and nice; and then I +shall keep them for a curiosity. I would rather have this pair, for then +I can tell people that I bought them actually off the shoulders of a +little girl who was carrying a burden with them up the Alps." + +In due time the party reached the little hamlet where Ninette lived. The +hamlet consisted of a scattered group of cabins and cow houses on a +shelving green more than a thousand feet above the valley. The girl led +the party to the door of her father's hut; and there, through the medium +of Henry as interpreter, they purchased the two bows for a very small +sum of money. They also bought a drink of excellent milk for the whole +party of Ninette's mother and then resumed their journey. + +As they went on they obtained from time to time very grand and extended +views of the surrounding mountains. Whether they turned their eyes above +or below them, the prospect was equally wonderful. In the latter case +they looked down on distant villages; some clinging to the hillsides, +others nestling in the valleys, and others still perched, like the one +where Ninette lived, on shelving slopes of green pasture land, which +terminated at a short distance from the dwellings on the brink of the +most frightful precipices. Above were towering forests and verdant +slopes of land, dotted with chalets or broken here and there by the gray +rocks which appeared among them. Higher still were lofty crags, with +little sunny nooks among them--the dizzy pasturages of the chamois; and +above these immense fields of ice and snow, which pierced the sky with +the glittering peaks and summits in which they terminated. Mr. George +and Rollo paused frequently, as they continued their journey, to gaze +around them upon these stupendous scenes. + +At length, when the steepest part of the ascent had been accomplished, +Mr. George said that he was tired of climbing, and proposed that Rollo +should dismount and take his turn in walking. + +"If you were a lady," said Mr. George, "I would let you ride all the +way. But you are strong and capable, and as well able to walk as I +am--better, I suppose, in fact; so you may as well take your turn." + +"Yes," said Rollo; "I should like it. I am tired of riding. I would +rather walk than not." + +So Henry assisted Rollo to dismount, and then adjusted the stirrups to +Mr. George's use, and Mr. George mounted into the saddle. + +"How glad I am to come to the end of my walking," said Mr. George, "and +to get upon a horse!" + +"How glad I am to come to the end of my riding," said Rollo, "and to get +upon my feet!" + +Thus both of the travellers seemed pleased with the change. The road now +became far more easy to be travelled than before. The steepest part of +the ascent had been surmounted, and for the remainder of the distance +the path followed a meandering way over undulating land, which, though +not steep, was continually ascending. Here and there herds of cattle +were seen grazing; and there were scattered huts, and sometimes little +hamlets, where the peasants lived in the summer, to tend their cows and +make butter and cheese from their milk. In the fall of the year they +drive the cattle down again to the lower valleys; for these high +pasturages, though green and sunny in the summer and affording an +abundance of sweet and nutritious grass for the sheep and cows that feed +upon them, are buried deep in snows, and are abandoned to the mercy of +the most furious tempests and storms during all the winter portion of +the year. Our travellers passed many scattered forests, some of which +were seen clinging to the mountain sides, at a vast elevation above +them. In others men were at work felling trees or cutting up the wood. +Rollo stopped at one of these places and procured a small billet of the +Alpine wood, as large as he could conveniently carry in his pocket, +intending to have something made from it when he should get home to +America. The woodman, at Henry's request, cut out this billet of wood +for Rollo, making it of the size which Rollo indicated to him by a +gesture with his finger. + +At one time the party met a company of peasant girls coming down from +the mountain. They came into the path by which our travellers were +ascending from a side path which seemed to lead up a secluded glen. +These girls came dancing gayly along with bouquets of flowers in their +hands and garlands in their hair. They looked bright and blooming, and +seemed very contented and happy. + +They bowed very politely to Mr. George and to Rollo as they passed. + +"_Guten abend_," said they. + +These are the German words for "Good evening."[9] + +"_Guten abend_," said both Mr. George and Rollo in reply. + +The girls thus passed by and went on their way down the mountain. + +"Where have they been?" asked Mr. George. + +"They have been at work gathering up the small stones from the +pasturages, I suppose," said Henry. "Companies of girls go out for that +a great deal." + +After getting upon the horse, Mr. George took care to keep _behind_ +Rollo and the guide. He knew very well that if he were to go on in +advance Rollo would exert himself more than he otherwise would do, under +the influence of a sort of feeling that he ought to try to keep up. +While Rollo was on the horse himself, having the guide with him too, Mr. +George knew that there was no danger from this source, as any one who is +on horseback or in a carriage never has the feeling of being left behind +when a companion who is on foot by chance gets before him. Consequently, +while they were coming up the steep part of the mountain, Mr. George +went on as fast as he pleased, leaving Rollo and Henry to come on at +their leisure. But now his kind consideration for Rollo induced him to +keep carefully behind. + +"Now, Rollo," said he, "you and Henry may go on just as fast or just as +slow as you please, without paying any regard to me. I shall follow +along at my leisure." + +Thus Rollo, seeing that Mr. George was behind, went on very leisurely, +and enjoyed his walk and his talk with Henry very much. + +"Did you ever study English, Henry?" said Rollo. + +"No," said Henry; "but I wish I could speak English, very much." + +"Why?" asked Rollo. + +"Because there are so many English people coming here that I have to +guide up the mountains." + +"Well," said Rollo, "you can begin now. I will teach you." + +So he began to teach the guide to say "How do you do?" in English. + +This conversation between Rollo and Henry was in French. Rollo had +studied French a great deal by the help of books when he was at home, +and he had taken so much pains to improve by practice since he had been +in France and Switzerland that he could now get along in a short and +simple conversation very well. + +While our party had been coming up the mountain, the weather, though +perfectly clear and serene in the morning, had become somewhat overcast. +Misty clouds were to be seen here and there floating along the sides or +resting on the summits of the mountains. At length, while Rollo was in +the midst of the English lesson which he was giving to the guide, his +attention was arrested, just as they were emerging from the border of a +little thicket of stunted evergreens, by what seemed to be a prolonged +clap of thunder. It came apparently out of a mass of clouds and vapor +which Rollo saw moving majestically in the southern sky. + +"Thunder!" exclaimed Rollo, looking alarmed. "There's thunder!" + +"No," said Henry; "an avalanche." + +The sound rolled and reverberated in the sky for a considerable time +like a prolonged peal of thunder. Rollo thought that Henry must be +mistaken in supposing it an avalanche. + +At this moment Rollo, looking round, saw Mr. George coming up, on his +horse, at a turn of the path a little way behind them. + +"Henry," said Mr. George, "there is a thunder shower coming up; we must +hasten on." + +"No," said Henry; "that was an avalanche." + +"An avalanche?" exclaimed Mr. George. "Why, the sound came out of the +middle of the sky." + +"It was an avalanche," said the guide, "from the Jungfrau. See!" he +added, pointing up into the sky. + +Mr. George and Rollo both looked in the direction where Henry pointed, +and there they saw a vast rocky precipice peering out through a break in +the clouds high up in the sky. An immense snow bank was reposing upon +its summit. The glittering whiteness of this snow contrasted strongly +with the sombre gray of the clouds through which, as through an opening +in a curtain, it was seen. + +Presently another break in the clouds, and then another, occurred; at +each of which towering rocks or great perpendicular walls of glittering +ice and snow came into view. + +"The Jungfrau," said the guide. + +Mr. George and Rollo gazed at this spectacle for some minutes in +silence, when at length Rollo said,-- + +"Why, uncle George! the sky is all full of rocks and ice!" + +"It is indeed!" said Mr. George. + +It was rather fortunate than otherwise that the landscape was obscured +with clouds when Mr. George and Rollo first came into the vicinity of +the Jungfrau, as the astonishing spectacle of rocks and precipices and +immense accumulations of snow and ice, breaking out as it were through +the clouds all over the sky, was in some respects more impressive than +the full and unobstructed view of the whole mountain would have been. + +"I wish the clouds would clear away," said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "I should like to see the whole side of the +mountain very much." + +Here another long and heavy peal, like thunder, began to be heard. Mr. +George stopped his horse to listen. Rollo and Henry stopped too. The +sound seemed to commence high up among the clouds. The echoes and +reverberations were reflected from the rocks and precipices all around +it; but the peal seemed slowly and gradually to descend towards the +horizon; and finally, after the lapse of two or three minutes, it +entirely ceased. + +The travellers paused a moment after the sound ceased and continued to +listen. When they found that all was still they began to move on again. + +"I wish I could have seen that avalanche," said Rollo. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "I hope the clouds will clear away by the time +we get to the inn." + +It was just about sunset when the party reached the inn. Rollo was +beginning to get a little tired, though the excitement of the excursion +and the effect produced on his mind by the strange aspect of every thing +around him inspired him with so much animation and strength that he held +on in his walk very well indeed. It is true that a great portion of the +mountain scenery around him was concealed from view by the clouds; but +there was something in the appearance of the rocks, in the character of +the vegetation, and especially in the aspect and expression of the +patches of snow which were to be seen here and there in nooks and +corners near the path,--the remains of the vast accumulations of the +preceding winter which the sun had not yet dispelled,--that impressed +Rollo continually with a sentiment of wonder and awe, and led him to +feel that he had attained to a vast elevation, and that he was walking, +as he really was, among the clouds. + +The inn, when the party first came in sight of it, appeared more like a +log cabin in America than like a well-known and much-frequented European +hotel. It stood on a very small plot of ground, which formed a sort of +projection on a steep mountain side, facing the Jungfrau. In front of +the hotel the land descended very rapidly for a considerable distance. +The descent terminated at last on the brink of an enormous ravine which +separated the base of the Wengern Alp from that of the Jungfrau. Behind +the house the land rose in a broad, green slope, dotted with Alpine +flowers and terminating in a smooth, rounded summit far above. The house +itself seemed small, and was rudely constructed. There was a sort of +piazza in front of it, with a bench and a table before it. + +"That is where the people sit, I suppose," said Mr. George, "in pleasant +weather to see the Jungfrau." + +"Yes," said Rollo. + +"For the Jungfrau must be over there," said Mr. George, pointing among +the clouds in the southern sky. + +All doubt about the position of the mountain was removed at the instant +that Mr. George had spoken these words, by another avalanche, which just +at that moment commenced its fall. They all stopped to listen. The sound +was greatly prolonged, sometimes roaring continuously for a time, like a +cataract, and then rumbling and crashing like a peal of thunder. + +"What a pity that the clouds are in the way," said Rollo, "so that we +can't see! Do you think it will clear up before we go away?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "I am very sure it will; for I am determined not +to go away till it does clear up." + +There were one or two buildings attached to the inn which served +apparently as barns and sheds. The door of entrance was round in a +corner formed by the connection of one of these buildings with the +house. Henry led the horse up to this door, and Mr. George dismounted. +The guide led the horse away, and Rollo and Mr. George went into the +house. A young and very blooming Swiss girl received them in the hall +and opened a door for them which led to the public sitting room. + +The sitting room was a large apartment, which extended along the whole +front of the house. The windows, of course, looked out towards the +Jungfrau. There was a long table in the middle of the room, and one or +two smaller ones in the back corners. At these tables two or three +parties were seated, eating their dinners. In one of the front corners +was a fireplace, with a small fire, made of pine wood, burning on the +hearth. A young lady was sitting near this fire, reading. Another was at +a small table near it, writing in her journal. Around the walls of the +room were a great many engravings and colored lithographs of Swiss +scenery; among them were several views of the Jungfrau. On the whole, +the room, though perfectly plain and even rude in all its furniture and +appointments, had a very comfortable and attractive appearance. + +"What a snug and pleasant-looking place!" said Rollo, whispering to Mr. +George as they went in. + +"Yes," said Mr. George. "It is just exactly such a place as I wished to +find." + +Mr. George and Rollo were both of them tired and hungry. They first +called for rooms. The maid took them up stairs and gave them two small +rooms next each other. The rooms were, in fact, _very_ small. The +furniture in them, too was of the plainest description; but every thing +was neat and comfortable, and the aspect of the interior of them was, on +the whole, quite attractive. + +In about fifteen minutes Rollo knocked at Mr. George's door and asked if +he was ready to go down. + +"Not quite," said Mr. George; "but I wish that you would go down and +order dinner." + +So Rollo went down again into the public room and asked the maid if she +could get them some dinner. + +"Yes," said the maid. "What would you like to have?" + +Rollo was considerate enough to know that there could be very little to +eat in the house except what had been brought up in a very toilsome and +difficult manner, from the valleys below, by the zigzag paths which he +and his uncle had been climbing. So he said in reply,-- + +"Whatever you please. It is not important to us." + +The maid then told him what they had in the house; and Rollo, selecting +from these things, ordered what he thought would make an excellent +dinner. The dinner, in fact, when it came to the table, proved to be a +very excellent one indeed. It consisted of broiled chicken, some most +excellent fried potatoes, eggs, fresh and very nice bread, and some +honey. For drink, they had at first water; and at the end of the meal +some French coffee, which, being diluted with boiled milk that was very +rich and sweet, was truly delicious. + +"I have not had so good a dinner," said Mr. George, "since I have been +in Europe." + +"No," said Rollo; "nor I." + +"It is owing in part, I suppose, to the appetite we have got in climbing +up the mountain," said Mr. George. + +Just as the young gentlemen had finished their dinner and were about to +rise from the table, their attention was attracted by an exclamation of +delight which came from one of the young ladies who were sitting at the +fireplace when Mr. George and Rollo came in. + +"O Emma," said she, "come here!" + +Mr. George and Rollo looked up, and they saw that the young lady whose +voice they had heard was standing at the window. Emma rose from her seat +and went to the window in answer to the call. Mr. George and Rollo +looked out, too, at another window. They saw a spectacle which filled +them with astonishment. + +"It is clearing away," said Rollo. "Let us go out in front of the house +and look." + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "we will." + +So they both left their seats, and, putting on their caps, they went +out. As soon as they reached the platform where the bench and the table +were standing they gazed on the scene which was presented to their view +with wonder and delight. + +It was, indeed, clearing away. The clouds were "lifting" from the +mountains; and the sun, which had been for some hours obscured, was +breaking forth in the west and illuminating the whole landscape with his +setting beams. Opposite to where Mr. George and Rollo stood, across the +valley, they could see the whole mighty mass of the Jungfrau coming into +view beneath the edge of the cloudy curtain which was slowly rising. + +The lower portion of the mountain was an immense precipice, the foot of +which was hidden from view in the great chasm, or ravine, which +separated the Jungfrau from the Wengern Alp. Above this were rocks and +great sloping fields of snow formed from avalanches which had fallen +down from above. Still higher, there were brought to view vast fields of +ice and snow, with masses of rock breaking out here and there among +them, some in the form of precipices and crags, and others shooting up +in jagged pinnacles and peaks, rising to dizzy heights, to the summits +of which nothing but the condor or the eagle could ever attain. Still +higher were precipices of blue and pellucid ice, and boundless fields of +glittering snow, and immense drifts, piled one above the other in vast +volumes, and overhanging the cliffs as if just ready to fall. + +In a short time the clouds rose so as to clear the summit of the +mountain; and then the whole mighty mass was seen revealed fully to +view, glittering in the sunbeams and filling half the sky. + +The other guests of the inn came out upon the platform while Rollo and +Mr. George were there, having wrapped themselves previously in their +coats and shawls, as the evening air was cool. Some other parties of +travellers came, too, winding their way slowly up the same pathway where +Mr. George and Rollo had come. Mr. George and Rollo paid very little +attention to these new comers, their minds being wholly occupied by the +mountain. + +In a very short time after the face of the Jungfrau came fully into +view, the attention of all the company that were looking at the scene +was arrested by the commencement of another peal of the same thundering +sound that Mr. George and Rollo had heard with so much wonder in coming +up the mountain. A great many exclamations immediately broke out from +the party. + +"There! hark! look!" said they. "An avalanche! An avalanche!" + +The sound was loud and almost precisely like thunder. Every one looked +in the direction from which it proceeded. There they soon saw, half way +up the mountain, a stream of snow, like a cataract, creeping slowly over +the brink of a precipice, and falling in a continued torrent upon the +rocks below. From this place they could see it slowly creeping down the +long slope towards another precipice, and where, when it reached the +brink, it fell over in another cataract, producing another long peal of +thunder, which, being repeated by the echoes of the mountains and rocks +around, filled the whole heavens with its rolling reverberations. In +this manner the mass of ice and snow went down slope after slope and +over precipice after precipice, till at length it made its final plunge +into the great chasm at the foot of the mountain and disappeared from +view. + +In the course of an hour several other avalanches were heard and seen; +and when at length it grew too dark to see them any longer, the +thundering roar of them was heard from time to time all the night long. + +Rollo, however, was so tired that, though he went to bed quite early, he +did not hear the avalanches or any thing else until Mr. George called +him the next morning. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: They are pronounced as if spelled Gooten arbend.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +GOING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. + + +Mr. George and Rollo met with various adventures and incidents in going +down the next day to Grindelwald which are quite characteristic of +mountain travelling in Switzerland. + +They did not set out very early in the morning, as Mr. George wished to +stay as long as possible to gaze on the face of the Jungfrau and watch +the avalanches. + +"Rollo," said he, as they were standing together in front of the hotel +after breakfast, "how would you like to go up with me to the top of that +hill?" + +So saying, Mr. George pointed to the great rounded summit which was seen +rising behind the hotel. + +"Yes," said Rollo; "I should like to go very much indeed." + +"Very well," said Mr. George; "we will go. But first let me get my +pressing book to put some flowers in, in case we find any." + +Mr. George's pressing book was a contrivance which he had invented for +the more convenient desiccation of such flowers as he might gather in +his travels and wish to carry home with him and preserve, either for +botanical specimens or as souvenirs for his friends. It was made by +taking out all the leaves of a small book and replacing them with an +equal number of loose leaves, made for the purpose, of blotting paper, +and trimmed to the right size. Such small flowers as he might gather in +the various places that he visited could be much more conveniently +pressed and preserved between these loose leaves of blotting paper than +between the leaves of an ordinary book.[10] + +So Mr. George, taking his pressing book in his hand, led the way; and +Rollo following him, they attempted to ascend the hill behind the inn. +They found the ascent, however, extremely steep and difficult. There +were no rocks and no roughnesses of any kind in the way. It was merely a +grassy slope like the steep face of a terrace; but it was so steep that, +after Mr. George and Rollo had scrambled up two or three hundred feet, +it made Rollo almost dizzy to look down; and he began to cling to the +grass and to feel afraid. + +"Rollo," said Mr. George, "I am almost afraid to climb up here any +higher. Do you feel afraid?" + +"No, sir," said Rollo, endeavoring at the same time to reassure himself. +"No, sir; I am not much afraid." + +"Let us stop a few minutes to rest and look at the mountain," said Mr. +George. + +Mr. George knew very well that there was no real danger; for the slope, +though very steep, was very grassy from the top to the bottom; and even +if Rollo had fallen and rolled down it could not have done him much +harm. + +After a short pause, to allow Rollo to get a little familiar with the +scene, Mr. George began to move on. Rollo followed. Both Rollo and Mr. +George would occasionally look up to see how far they were from the top. +It was very difficult, however, to look up, as in doing so it was +necessary to lean the head so far back that they came very near losing +their balance. + +After going on for about half an hour, Mr. George said that he did not +see that they were any nearer the top of the hill than they were at the +beginning. + +"Nor I either," said Rollo; "and I think we had better go back again." + +"Well," said Mr. George, "we will; but let us first stop here a few +minutes to look at the Jungfrau." + +The view of the Jungfrau was of course more commanding here than it was +down at the inn. So Mr. George and Rollo remained some time at their +resting-place gazing at the mountain and watching for avalanches. At +length they returned to the inn; and an hour or two afterwards they set +out on their journey to Grindelwald. + +The reader will recollect that Grindelwald was the valley on the other +side of the Wengern Alp from Lauterbrunnen, and that our travellers, +having come up one way, were going down the other.[11] + +The distance from the inn at the Wengern Alp to Grindelwald is seven or +eight miles. For a time the path ascends, for the inn is not at the +summit of the pass. Until it attains the summit it leads through a +region of hills and ravines, with swamps, morasses, precipices of rocks, +and great patches of snow scattered here and there along the way. At one +place Rollo met with an adventure which for a moment put him in +considerable danger. It was at a place where the path led along on the +side of the mountain, with a smooth grassy slope above and a steep +descent ending in another smooth grassy slope below. At a little +distance forward there was a great patch of snow, the edge of which came +over the path and covered it. + +A heavy mist had come up just before Rollo reached this place, and he +had accordingly spread his umbrella over his head. He was riding along, +holding the bridle in one hand and his umbrella in the other, so that +both his hands were confined. Mr. George was walking at some distance +before. The guide, too, was a little in advance, for the path was too +narrow for him to walk by the side of the horse; and, as the way here +was smooth and pretty level, he did not consider it necessary that he +should be in very close attendance on Rollo. + +Things being in this condition, the horse--when he came in sight of the +snow, which lay covering the path at a little distance before +him--concluded that it would be safer both for him and for his rider +that he should not attempt to go through it, having learned by +experience that his feet would sink sometimes to great depths in such +cases. So he determined to turn round and go back. He accordingly +stopped; and turning his head towards the grassy bank above the path and +his heels towards the brink on the other side, as horses always do when +they undertake such a manoeuvre in a narrow path, he attempted to "go +about." Rollo was of course utterly unable to do any thing to control +him except to pull one of the reins to bring him back into the path, and +strike his heels into the horse's side as if he were spurring him. This, +however, only made the matter worse. The horse backed off the brink; and +both he and Rollo, falling head over heels, rolled down the steep slope +together. + +[Illustration: THE FALL.] + +And not together exactly, either; for Rollo who was usually pretty +alert and ready in emergencies of difficulty or danger, when he found +himself rolling down the slope, though he could not stop, still +contrived to wriggle and twist himself off to one side, so as to get +clear of the horse and roll off himself in a different direction. They +both, however, the animal and the boy, soon came to a stop. Rollo was up +in an instant. The horse, too, contrived, after some scrambling, to gain +his feet. All this time the guide remained in the path on the brink of +the descent transfixed with astonishment and consternation. + +"Henry," said Rollo, looking up to the guide, "what is the French for +_head over heels_?" + +A very decided but somewhat equivocal smile spread itself over Henry's +features on hearing this question, which, however, he did not +understand; and he immediately began to run down the bank to get the +horse. + +"Because," said Rollo, still speaking in French, "that is what in +English we call going _head over heels_." + +Henry led the horse round by a circuitous way back to the path. Rollo +followed; and as soon as they reached it Rollo mounted again. Henry then +took hold of the bridle of the horse and led him along till they got +through the snow; after which they went on without any further +difficulty. + +The path led for a time along a very wild and desolate region, which +seemed to be bordered on the right, at a distance of two or three miles, +by a range of stupendous precipices, surmounted by peaks covered with +ice and snow, which presented to the view a spectacle of the most +astonishing grandeur. At one point in the path Rollo saw at a distance +before him a number of buildings scattered over a green slope of land. + +"Ah," said he to the guide, "we are coming to a village." + +"No," said the guide. "It is a pasturage. We are too high yet for a +village." + +On asking for a further explanation, Rollo learned that the mountaineers +were accustomed to drive their herds up the mountains in the summer to +places too cold to be inhabited all the year round, and to live there +with them in these little huts during the two or three months while the +grass was green. The men would bring up their milking pails, their pans, +their churns, their cheese presses, and their kettles for cooking, and +thus live in a sort of encampment while the grass lasted, and make +butter and cheese to carry down the mountain with them when they +returned. + +At one time Rollo saw at the door of one of the huts a man with what +seemed to be a long pole in his hand. It was bent at the lower end. The +man came out of a hut, and, putting the bent end of the pole to the +ground, he brought the other up near to his mouth, and seemed to be +waiting for the travellers to come down to him. + +"What is he going to do?" asked Rollo. + +"He has got what we call an Alpine horn," said the guide; "and he is +going to blow it for you, to let you hear the echoes." + +So, when Mr. George and Rollo reached the place, the man blew into the +end of his pole, which proved to be hollow, and it produced a very loud +sound, like that of a trumpet. The sounds were echoed against the face +of a mountain which was opposite to the place in a very remarkable +manner. Mr. George paid the man a small sum of money, and then they went +on. + +Not long afterwards they came to another hut, which was situated +opposite to a part of the mountain range where there was a great +accumulation of ice and snow, that seemed to hang suspended, as it were, +as if just ready to fall. A man stood at the door of this hut with a +small iron cannon, which was mounted somewhat rudely on a block of wood, +in his hand. + +"What is he going to do with that cannon?" asked Rollo. + +"He is going to fire it," said Henry, "to start down the avalanches from +the mountain." + +Henry here pointed to the face of the mountain opposite to where they +were standing, and showed Rollo the immense masses of ice and snow that +seemed to hang suspended there, ready to fall. + +It is customary to amuse travellers in Switzerland with the story that +the concussion produced by the discharge of a gun or a cannon will +sometimes detach these masses, and thus hasten the fall of an avalanche; +and though the experiment is always tried when travellers pass these +places, I never yet heard of a case in which the effect was really +produced. At any rate, in this instance,--though the man loaded his +cannon heavily, and rammed the charge down well, and though the report +was very loud and the echoes were extremely sharp and much +prolonged,--there were no avalanches started by the concussion. Rollo +and Mr. George watched the vast snow banks that overhung the cliffs with +great interest for several minutes; but they all remained immovable. + +So Mr. George paid the man a small sum of money, and then they went on. + +After going on for an hour or two longer on this vast elevation, the +path began gradually to descend into the valley of Grindelwald. The +village of Grindelwald at length came into view, with the hundreds of +cottages and hamlets that were scattered over the more fertile and +cultivated region that surrounded it. The travellers could look down, +also, upon the great glaciers of Grindelwald--two mighty streams of ice, +half a mile wide and hundreds of feet deep, which come flowing very +slowly down from the higher mountains, and terminate in icy precipices +among the fields and orchards of the valley.[12] They determined to go +and explore one of these glaciers the next day. + +As they drew near to the village, the people of the scattered cottages +came out continually, as they saw them coming, with various plans to get +money from them. At one place two pretty little peasant girls, in the +Grindelwald costume, came out with milk for them. One of the girls held +the pitcher and the other a mug; and they gave Mr. George and Rollo good +drinks.[13] At another house a boy came out with filberts to sell; and +at another the merchandise consisted of crystals and other shining +minerals which had been collected in the mountains near. + +At one time Rollo saw before him three children standing in a row by the +side of the road. They seemed to have something in their hands. When he +reached the place, he found that they had for sale some very cunning +little Swiss cottages carved in wood. These carvings were extremely +small and very pretty. Each one was put in a small box for safe +transportation. In some cases the children had nothing to sell, and they +simply held out their hands to beg as the travellers went by; and there +were several lame persons, and idiots, and blind persons, and other +objects of misery that occasionally appeared imploring charity. As, +however, these unfortunates were generally satisfied with an exceedingly +small donation, it did not cost much to make them all look very happy. +There is a Swiss coin, of the value of a fifth part of a cent, which was +generally enough to give; so that, for a New York shilling, Rollo found +he could make more than sixty donations--which was certainly very cheap +charity. + +"In fact," said Rollo, "it is so cheap that I would rather give them the +money than not." + +At length the party arrived safely at Grindelwald and put up at an +excellent inn, with windows looking out upon the glaciers. The next day +they went to see the glaciers; and on the day following they returned to +Interlachen. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: Flowers dry faster and better between sheets of blotting +paper than between those of common printing paper, such as is used for +books; for the surface of this latter is covered with a sort of sizing +used in the manufacture of it, and which prevents the moisture of the +plant from entering into the paper.] + +[Footnote 11: See map.] + +[Footnote 12: It may seem strange that streams of ice, hundreds of feet +thick and solid to the bottom, can _flow_; but such is the fact, as will +appear more fully in the next chapter.] + +[Footnote 13: See frontispiece.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +GLACIERS. + + +A glacier, when really understood, is one of the most astonishing and +impressive spectacles which the whole face of Nature exhibits. Mr. +George and Rollo explored quite a number of them in the course of their +travels in Switzerland; and Rollo would have liked to have explored a +great many more. + +[Illustration: THE CREVASSE.] + +A glacier is a river of ice,--really and truly a river of +ice,--sometimes two or three miles wide, and fifteen or twenty miles +long, with many branches coming into it. Its bed is a steep valley, +commencing far up among the mountains in a region of everlasting ice and +snow, and ending in some warm and pleasant valley far below, where the +warm sun beats upon the terminus of it and melts the ice away as fast as +it comes down. It flows very slowly, not usually more than an inch in an +hour. The warm summer sun beams upon the upper surface of it, melting it +slowly away, and forming vast fissures and clefts in it, down which you +can look to the bottom, if you only have courage to go near enough to +the slippery edge. If you do not dare to do this, you can get a large +stone and throw it in; and then, if you stand still and listen, you hear +it thumping and thundering against the sides of the crevasse until it +gets too deep to be any longer heard. You cannot hear it strike the +bottom; for it is sometimes seven or eight hundred feet through the +thickness of the glacier to the ground below. + +The surface of the glacier above is not smooth and glassy like the ice +of a freshly-frozen river or pond; but is white, like a field of snow. +This appearance is produced in part by the snow which falls upon the +glacier, and in part by the melting of the surface of the ice by the +sun. From this latter cause, too, the surface of the glacier is covered, +in a summer's day, with streams of water, which flow, like little +brooks, in long and winding channels which they themselves have worn, +until at length they reach some fissure, or crevasse, into which they +fall and disappear. The waters of these brooks--many thousands in +all--form a large stream, which flows along on the surface of the ground +under the glacier, and comes out at last, in a wild, and roaring, and +turbid torrent, from an immense archway in the ice at the lower end, +where the glacier terminates among the green fields and blooming flowers +of the lower valley. + +The glaciers are formed from the avalanches which fall into the upper +valleys in cases where the valleys are so deep and narrow and so +secluded from the sun that the snows which slide into them cannot melt. +In such case, the immense accumulations which gather there harden and +solidify, and become ice; and, what is very astonishing, the whole mass, +solid as it is, moves slowly onward down the valley, following all the +turns and indentations of its bed, until finally it comes down into the +warm regions of the lower valleys, where the end of it is melted away by +the sun as fast as the mass behind crowds it forward. It is certainly +very astonishing that a substance so solid as ice can flow in this way, +along a rocky and tortuous bed, as if it were semi-fluid; and it was a +long time before men would believe that such a thing could be possible. +It was, however, at length proved beyond all question that this motion +exists; and the rate of it in different glaciers at different periods of +the day or of the year has been accurately measured. + +If you go to the end of the glacier, where it comes out into the lower +valley, and look up to the icy cliffs which form the termination of it, +and watch there for a few minutes, you soon see masses of ice breaking +off from the brink and falling down with a thundering sound to the rocks +below. This is because the ice at the extremity is all the time pressed +forward by the mass behind it; and, as it comes to the brink, it breaks +over and falls down. This is one evidence that the glaciers move. + +But there is another proof that the ice of the glaciers is continually +moving onward which is still more direct and decisive. Certain +philosophers, who wished to ascertain positively what the truth was, +went to a glacier, and, selecting a large rock which lay upon the +surface of it near the middle of the ice, they made a red mark with +paint upon the rock, and two other marks on the rocks which formed the +shore of the glacier. They made these three marks exactly in a line with +each other, expecting that, if the glacier moved, the rock in the centre +of it would be carried forward, and the three marks would be no longer +in a line. + +This proved to be the case. In a very short time the central rock was +found to have moved forward very perceptibly. This was several years +ago. This rock is still on the glacier; and the red mark on it, as well +as those on the shores, still remains. All the travellers who visit the +glacier look at these marks and observe how the great rock on the ice +moves forward. It is now at a long distance below the place where it was +when its position was first recorded. + +Then, besides, you can actually hear the glaciers moving when you stand +upon them. It is sometimes very difficult to get upon them; for at the +sides where the ice rubs against the rocks, immense chasms and fissures +are formed, and vast blocks both of rock and ice are tumbled confusedly +together in such a manner as to make the way almost impracticable. When, +however, you fairly get upon the ice, if you stand still a moment and +listen, you hear a peculiar groaning sound in the _moraines_. To +understand this, however, I must first explain what a moraine is. On +each side of the glacier, quite near the shore, there is usually found a +ridge of rocks and stones extending up and down the glacier for the +whole length of it, as if an immense wall formed of blocks of granite of +prodigious magnitude had been built by giants to fence the glacier in, +and had afterwards been shaken down by an earthquake, so as to leave +only a confused and shapeless ridge of rocks and stones. These long +lines of wall-like ruins may be traced along the borders of the glacier +as far as the eye can reach. They lie just on the edge of the ice, and +follow all the bends and sinuosities of the shore. It is a mystery how +they are formed. All that is known, or rather all that can be here +explained, is, that they are composed of the rocks which cleave off from +the sides of the precipices and mountains that border the glacier, and +that, when they have fallen down, the gradual movement of the ice draws +them out into the long, ridge-like lines in which they now appear. Some +of these moraines are of colossal magnitude, being in several places a +hundred feet broad and fifty or sixty feet high; and, as you cannot get +upon the glacier without crossing them, they are often greatly in the +traveller's way. In fact, they sometimes form a barrier which is all but +impassable. + +The glacier which most impressed Mr. George and Rollo with its magnitude +and grandeur was one that is called the Sea of Ice. It is called by this +name on account of its extent. Its lower extremity comes out into the +valley of Chamouni, the beautiful and world-renowned valley, which lies +near the foot of Mont Blanc. In order to reach this glacier, the young +gentlemen took horses and guides at the inn at Chamouni, and ascended +for about two hours by a steep, zigzag path, which led from the valley +up the sides of the mountain at the place which formed the angle between +the great valley of Chamouni and the side valley through which the great +glacier came down. After ascending thus for six or eight miles, they +came out upon a lofty promontory, from which, on one side, they could +look down upon the wild and desolate bed of the glacier, and, upon the +other, upon the green, and fertile, and inexpressibly beautiful vale of +Chamouni, with the pretty little village in the centre of it. This +place is called Montauvert. There is a small inn here, built expressly +to accommodate travellers who wish to come up and go out upon the +glacier. + +Although the traveller, when he reaches Montauvert, can look directly +down upon the glacier, he cannot descend to it there; for, opposite to +the inn, the valley of ice is bordered by cliffs and precipices a +thousand feet high. It is necessary to follow along the bank two or +three miles among stupendous rocks and under towering precipices, until +at length a place is reached where, by dint of much scrambling and a +great deal of help from the guide, it is possible to descend. + +[Illustration: THE NARROW PATH.] + +Rollo was several times quite afraid in making this perilous excursion. +In some places there seemed to be no path at all; and it was necessary +for him to make his way by clinging to the roughnesses of the rocks on +the steep, sloping side of the mountain, with an immense abyss yawning +below. There was one such place where it would have been impossible for +any one not accustomed to mountain climbing to have got along without +the assistance of guides. When they reached this place, one guide went +over first, and then reached out his hand to assist Rollo. The other +scrambled down upon the rocks below, and planted his pike staff in a +crevice of the rock in order to make a support for a foot. By this +means, first Mr. George, and then Rollo, succeeded in getting safely +over. + +Both the travellers felt greatly relieved when they found themselves on +the other side of this dangerous pass. + +In coming back, however, Rollo had the misfortune to lose his pike staff +here. The staff slipped out of his hand as he was clinging to the +rocks; and, after sliding down five or six hundred feet to the brink of +the precipice, it shot over and fell a thousand feet to the glacier +below, where it entered some awful chasm, or abyss, and disappeared +forever. + +Mr. George and Rollo had a pretty hard time in scrambling over the +moraine when they came to the place where they were to get upon the +glacier. When they were fairly upon the glacier, however, they could +walk along without any difficulty. It was like walking on wet snow in a +warm day in spring. Little brooks were running in every direction, the +bright waters sparkling in the sun. The crevasses attracted the +attention of the travellers very strongly. They were immense fissures +four or five feet wide, and extending downward perpendicularly to an +unfathomable depth. Rollo and Mr. George amused themselves with throwing +stones down. There were plenty of stones to be found on the glacier. In +fact, rocks and stones of all sizes were scattered about very profusely, +so much so as quite to excite Mr. George's astonishment. + +"I supposed," said he, "that the top of the glacier would be smooth and +beautiful ice." + +"I did not think any thing about it," said Rollo. + +"I imagined it to be smooth, and glassy, and pure," said Mr. George; +"and, instead of that, it looks like a field of old snow covered with +scattered rocks and stones." + +Some of the rocks which lay upon the glacier were very large, several of +them being as big as houses. It was remarkable, too, that the largest of +them, instead of having settled down in some degree into the ice and +snow, as it might have been expected from their great weight they would +have done, were raised sometimes many feet above the general level of +the glacier, being mounted on a sort of pedestal of ice. The reason of +this was, that when the block was very large, so large that the beams of +the sun shining upon it all day would not warm it through, then the ice +beneath it would be protected by its coolness, while the surface of the +glacier around would be gradually melted and wasted away by the beams of +the sun or by the warm rains which might occasionally fall upon it. +Thus, in process of time, the great bowlder block rises, as it were, +many feet into the air, and remains there perched on the top of a little +hillock of ice, like a mass of monumental marble on a pedestal.[14] + +In excursions on the glaciers the guides take a rope with them, and +sometimes a light ladder. The rope is for various purposes. If a +traveller were to fall into any deep pit, or crevasse, or to slip down +some steep slope or precipice, so that he could not get up again, the +guides might let the rope down to him, and then when he had fastened it +around his waist they could draw him up, when, without some such means +of rescuing him, he would be wholly lost. In the same manner, when a +party are walking along any very steep and slippery place, where if any +one were to fall he would slide down into some dreadful abyss, it is +customary for them to walk in a line with the rope in their hands, each +one taking hold of it. Thus, if any one should slip a little, he could +recover himself by means of the rope, when, without such a support, he +would perhaps have fallen and been dashed to pieces. Sometimes, when the +place is very dangerous indeed, so that several guides are required to +each traveller, they tie the rope round the traveller's waist, so that +he can have his hands free and yet avail himself of the support of the +rope in passing along. + +The ladder is used for scaling low precipices, either of rock or ice, +which sometimes come in the way, and which could not be surmounted +without such aid. In long and dangerous excursions, especially among the +higher Alps, one of the guides always carries a ladder; and there are +frequent occasions where it would not be possible to go on without using +it. + +[Illustration: ASCENT OF MONT BLANC.] + +A hatchet, too, is of great advantage in climbing among the immense +masses of ice which are found at great elevations, since, by means of +such an implement, steps may be cut in the ice which will enable the +explorer to climb up an ascent too long to be reached by the ladder and +too steep to be ascended without artificial footholds. In ascending Mont +Blanc the traveller sometimes comes to a precipice of ice, with a chasm +of immense depth, and four or five feet wide, at the bottom of it. In +such a case the foot of the ladder is planted on the outside of the +chasm, and the top of it is made to rest against the face of the +precipice, ten or fifteen feet perhaps from the brink. One of the +boldest and most skilful of the guides then ascends the ladder, hatchet +in hand, and there, suspended as he is over the yawning gulf below, he +begins to cut steps in the face of the precipice, shaping the gaps which +he makes in such a manner that he can cling to them with his hands as +well as rest upon them with his feet. He thus slowly ascends the +barrier, cutting his way as he advances. He carries the end of the rope +up with him, tied around his waist; and then by means of it, when he has +reached the summit, he aids the rest of the party in coming up to him. + +Mr. George and Rollo, however, did not venture into any such dangers as +these. They could see all that they desired of the stupendous +magnificence and awful desolation of these scenes without it. They spent +the whole of the middle of the day on the glacier or on the slopes of +the mountains around it; and then in the afternoon they came down the +zigzag path again to Chamouni, very tired and very hungry. + +To be tired and hungry, however, when you come home at night to a Swiss +inn, is a great source of enjoyment--on account of the admirable +arrangements for rest and refreshment which you are sure to find there. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 14: Any loose rock of large size detached from its native +ledge or mountain is called a _bowlder_.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ROLLO A COURIER. + + +Rollo came in one morning to the hotel at Meyringen, after having been +taking a walk on the banks of a mighty torrent that flows through the +valley, and found his uncle George studying the guide book and map, with +an appearance of perplexity. Mr. George was seated at a table on a +balcony, which opened from the dining room of the inn. This balcony was +very large, and rooms opened from it in various directions. There were +several tables here, with seats around them, where those who chose to do +so could take their breakfast or their dinner in the open air, and enjoy +the views of the surrounding mountains and waterfalls at the same time. +Mr. George was seated at one of these tables, with his map and his guide +book before him. + +"Well, uncle George," said Rollo, "are you planning our journey?" + +"Yes," said Mr. George; "and I am very much perplexed." + +"Why, what is the difficulty?" asked Rollo. + +"There is no possibility of getting out of this valley," said Mr. +George, "except by going all the way back to Thun,--and that I am not +willing to do." + +"Is there no _possible_ way?" asked Rollo. + +"No," said Mr. George, "unless we go over the Brunig Pass on foot." + +"Well," said Rollo, "let us do that." + +"We might possibly do that," continued Mr. George, still looking +intently at his map. "We should have to go over the Brunig to Lungern on +foot, with a horse for our baggage. Then we should have to take a car +from Lungern down the valleys to the shore of Lake Lucerne, and there +get a boat, for six or eight miles, on the lake to the town." + +"Well," said Rollo, joyfully, "I should like that." + +Rollo liked the idea of making the journey in the way that his uncle +George had described, on account of the numerous changes which would be +necessary in it, in respect to the modes of conveyance. It was for this +very reason that his uncle did _not_ like it. + +"Yes, uncle George," said Rollo, again. "That will be an excellent way +to go to Lucerne. Don't you think it will?" + +"No," said Mr. George. "It will be so much trouble. We shall have three +different arrangements to make for conveyance, in one day." + +"No matter for that, uncle George," said Rollo. "I will do all that. Let +me be the courier, uncle George, and I'll take you from here to Lucerne +without your having the least trouble. I will make all the arrangements, +so that you shall have nothing to do. You may read, if you choose, the +whole of the way." + +"How will you find out what to do?" asked Mr. George. + +"O, I'll study the guide book carefully," replied Rollo; "and, besides, +I'll inquire of the landlord here." + +"Well," said Mr. George, hesitatingly, "I have a great mind to try it." + +"Only you must pay me," said Rollo. "I can't be courier without being +paid." + +"How much must I pay?" asked Mr. George. + +"Why, about a quarter of a dollar," replied Rollo. + +"It is worth more than that," said Mr. George. "I will give you half a +dollar if you make all the arrangements and get me safe to Lucerne +without my having any care or trouble. But then if you get into +difficulty in any case, and have to appeal to me, you lose your whole +pay. If you carry me through, I give you half a dollar. If you don't +really carry me through, you have nothing." + +Rollo agreed to these conditions, and Mr. George proceeded to shut up +the map and the guide book, and to put them in his hands. + +"I will sit down here now," said Rollo, "and study the map and the guide +book until I have learned all I can from them, and then I will go and +talk with the landlord." + +Mr. George did not make any reply to this remark, but taking out a small +portfolio, containing writing materials, from his pocket, he set himself +at work writing some letters; having, apparently, dismissed the whole +subject of the mode of crossing the Brunig entirely from his mind. + +Rollo took his seat at a table on the balcony in a corner opposite to +the place where his uncle was writing, and spread out the map before +him. His seat commanded a very extended and magnificent view. In the +foreground were the green fields, the gardens, and the orchards of the +lower valley. Beyond, green pasturages were seen extending over the +lower declivities of the mountains, with hamlets perched here and there +upon the shelving rocks, and winding and zigzag roads ascending from one +elevation to another, while here and there prodigious cataracts and +cascades were to be seen, falling down hundreds of feet, over +perpendicular precipices, or issuing from frightful chasms. Rollo +stopped occasionally to gaze upon these scenes; and sometimes he would +pause to put a spy glass to his eye, in order to watch the progress of +the parties of travellers that were to be seen, from time to time, +coming down along a winding path which descended the face of the +mountain about two or three miles distant, across the valley. With the +exception of these brief interruptions, Rollo continued very steadily at +his work; and in about half an hour he shut up the map, and put it in +its case, saying, in a tone of great apparent satisfaction,-- + +"There! I understand it now perfectly." + +He was in hopes that his uncle would have asked him some questions about +the route, in order that he might show how fully he had made himself +acquainted with it; but Mr. George said nothing, and so Rollo went away +to find the landlord. + + * * * * * + +That night, just before bed time, Mr. George asked Rollo what time he +was going to set out the next morning. + +"Immediately after breakfast," said Rollo. + +"Are we going to ride or walk?" asked Mr. George. + +"We are going to walk over the pass," said Rollo. "The road is too steep +and rocky for horses. But then we are going to have a horse to carry the +trunk." + +"Can you put our trunk on a horse?" asked Mr. George. + +"Yes," replied Rollo, "the guide says he can." + +"Very well," said Mr. George, "and just as soon as we get through +breakfast I am going to walk on, and leave you to pack the trunk on the +horse, and come along when you are ready." + +"Well," said Rollo, "you can do that." + +"Because, you see," continued Mr. George, "you will probably have +various difficulties and delays in getting packed and ready, and I don't +want to have any thing to do with it. I wish to have my mind entirely +free, so as to enjoy the walk and the scenery without any care or +responsibility whatever." + +Sometimes, when fathers or uncles employ boys to do any work, or to +assume any charge, they stand by and help them all the time, so that the +real labor and responsibility do not come on the boy after all. He gets +paid for the work, and he _imagines_ that he does it--his father or his +uncle allowing him to imagine so, for the sake of pleasing him. But +there was no such child's play as this between Mr. George and Rollo. +When Rollo proposed to undertake any duty, Mr. George always considered +well, in the first instance, whether it was a duty that he was really +competent to perform. If it was not, he would not allow him to undertake +it. If it was, he left him to bear the whole burden and responsibility +of it, entirely alone. + +Rollo understood this perfectly well, and he liked such a mode of +management. He was, accordingly, not at all surprised to hear his uncle +George propose to leave him to make all the arrangements of the journey +alone. + +"You see," said Mr. George, "when I hire a courier I expect him to take +all the care of the journey entirely off my mind, and leave me to +myself, so that I can have a real good time." + +"Yes," said Rollo, "that is right." + +And here, perhaps, I ought to explain that what is called a courier, in +the vocabulary of tourists in Europe, is a _travelling servant_, who, +when he is employed by any party, takes the whole charge of their +affairs, and makes all necessary arrangements, so that they can travel +without any care or concern. He engages the conveyances and guides, +selects the inns, pays the bills, takes charge of the baggage, and does +every thing, in short, that is necessary to secure the comfort and +safety of the party on their journey, and to protect them from every +species of trouble and annoyance. He has himself often before travelled +over the countries through which he is to conduct his party, so that he +is perfectly familiar with them in every part, and he knows all the +languages that it is necessary to speak in them. Thus when once under +the charge of such a guide, a gentleman journeying in Europe, even if he +has his whole family with him, need have no care or concern, but may be +as quiet and as much at his ease, all the time, as if he were riding +about his own native town in his private carriage. + +The next morning, after breakfast, Mr. George rose from the table, and +prepared to set out on his journey. He put the belt of his knapsack over +his shoulder, and took his alpenstock in his hand. + +"Good by, Rollo," said he. "I will walk on, taking the road to the +Brunig, and you can come when you get ready. You will overtake me in the +course of half an hour, or an hour." + +Rollo accompanied Mr. George to the door, and then wishing him a +pleasant walk, bade him good by. + +In a few minutes the guide came around the corner of the house, from the +inn yard, leading the horse. He stopped to water the horse at a +fountain in the street, and then led him to the door. In the mean time +the porter of the inn had brought down the trunk, and then the guide +proceeded to fasten it upon the saddle of the horse, by means of two +strong straps. The saddle was what is called a pack saddle, and was made +expressly to receive such burdens. + +After having placed the trunk and secured it firmly, the guide put on +the umbrella, and Mr. George's and Rollo's greatcoats, and also Rollo's +knapsack. These things made quite a pile on the horse's back. The burden +was increased, too, by several things belonging to the guide himself, +which he put on over all the rest, such as a great-coat and a little bag +of provisions. + +At length, when all was ready, Rollo bade the innkeeper good by, and set +out on his journey. The guide went first, driving the horse before him, +and Rollo followed, with his alpenstock in his hand. + +They soon passed out of the village, and then travelled along a very +pleasant road, which skirted the foot of the mountain range,--all the +time gradually ascending. Rollo looked out well before him, whenever he +came to a straight part of the road, in hopes of seeing his uncle; but +Mr. George was nowhere in view. + +Presently he came to a place where there was a gate, and a branch path, +turning off from the main road, directly towards the mountain. Here +Rollo, quite to his relief and gratification, found his uncle. Mr. +George was sitting on a stone by the side of the road, reading. + +He shut his book when he saw Rollo and the guide, and put it away in his +knapsack. At the same time he rose from his seat, saying,-- + +"Well, Rollo, which is the way?" + +"I don't know," said Rollo. + +The guide, however, settled the question by taking hold of the horse's +bridle, and leading him off into the side path. The two travellers +followed him. + +The path led through a very romantic and beautiful scene of fields, +gardens, and groves, among the trees of which were here and there seen +glimpses of magnificent precipices and mountains rising very near, a +little beyond them. After following this path a few steps, two girls +came running out from a cottage. One of them had a board under her arm. +The other had nothing. They both glanced at the travellers, as they +passed, and then ran forward along the road before them. + +"What do you suppose those girls are going to do?" asked Rollo. + +"I can't conceive," replied Mr. George. "Some thing for us to pay for, +I'll engage." + +"And shall you pay them?" asked Rollo. + +"No," said Mr. George. "_I_ shall not pay them. I shall leave all such +business to my courier." + +The purpose with which the two girls had come out was soon made to +appear; for after running along before the party of travellers for about +a quarter of a mile, they came to a place where two shallow but rather +broad brooks flowed across the pathway. When Rollo and Mr. George came +up to the place they found that the girls had placed boards over these +streams of water for bridges. One of the boards was the one which the +girl had brought along with her, under her arm. The other girl, it +seems, kept her board under the bushes near the place, because it was +too heavy to carry back and forth to the house. It was their custom to +watch for travellers coming along the path, and then to run on before +them and lay these bridges over the brooks,--expecting, of course, to be +paid for it. Rollo gave them each a small piece of money, and then he +and Mr. George went on. + +Soon the road began to ascend the side of the mountain in long zigzags +and windings. These windings presented new views of the valley below at +every turn, each successive picture being more extended and grand than +the preceding. + +At length, after ascending some thousands of feet, the party came to a +resting-place, consisting of a seat in a sort of bower, which had been +built for the accommodation of travellers, at a turn of the road where +there was an uncommonly magnificent view. Here they stopped to rest, +while the guide, leading the horse to a spring at the road side, in +order that he might have a drink, sat down himself on a flat stone +beside him. + +"How far is it that we have got to walk?" asked Mr. George. + +Rollo looked at his watch, and then said, "We have got to walk about +three hours more." + +"And what shall we come to then?" asked Mr. George. + +"We shall come down on the other side of the mountain," said Rollo, "to +a little village called Lungern, where there is a good road; and there I +am going to hire a carriage, and a man to drive us to the lake. It is a +beautiful country that we are going through, and the road leads along +the shores of mountain lakes. The first lake is up very high among the +mountains. The next is a great deal lower down, and we have to go down a +long way by a zigzag road, till we get to it. Then we go along the shore +of this second lake, through several towns, and at last we come to the +landing on the Lake of Lucerne. There I shall hire a boat." + +"What kind of a boat?" asked Mr. George. + +"I don't know," said Rollo. + +"How do you know that there will be any boat there?" asked Mr. George. + +"Because the guide book says there will," replied Rollo. "They always +have boats there to take people that come along this road to Lucerne." + +"Why do they not go all the way by land?" asked Mr. George. + +"Because," said Rollo, "the whole country there is so full of mountains +that there is no place for a road." + +Just at this time the guide got up from his seat, and seemed ready to +set out upon his journey; and so Mr. George and Rollo rose and went on. + +After ascending about an hour more, through a series of very wild and +romantic glens, with cottages and curious-looking chalets scattered here +and there along the borders of them, wherever the ground was smooth and +green enough for cattle to feed, our travellers came, at length, to the +summit of the pass, where, in a very pleasant and sheltered spot, +surrounded with forest trees, there stood a little inn. On arriving at +this place the guide proceeded to take off the load from the horse and +to place it upon a sort of frame, such as is used in those countries for +burdens which are to be carried on the back of a man. + +"What is he going to do?" asked Mr. George. + +"He is going to carry the baggage the rest of the way himself," said +Rollo. "You see it is so steep and rocky from here down to Lungern that +it is dreadful hard work to get a horse down and up again; especially +_up_. So the guide leaves the horse here, and is going to carry the +baggage down himself on his back. That rack that he is fastening the +trunk upon goes on his back. Those straps in front of it come over his +shoulders." + +"It seems to me," said Mr. George, "that that is a monstrous heavy load +to put on a man's back, to go down a place which is so steep and rocky +that a horse could not get along over it. But then I suppose my courier +knows what he is about." + +So Mr. George, with an air and manner which seemed to say, It is none of +my concern, walked up a flight of steps which led to a sort of elevated +porch or platform before the door of the inn. + +For a moment Rollo himself was a little disconcerted, not knowing +whether it would be safe for a man to go down a steep declivity with +such a burden on his back; but when he reflected that this was the +arrangement that the guide himself had proposed, and that the guide had, +doubtless, done the same thing a hundred times before, he ceased to feel +any uneasiness, and following Mr. George up the steps, he took a seat by +his side, at a little table, which was placed there for the +accommodation of travellers stopping at the inn to rest. + +Rollo and his uncle spent half an hour at this hotel. For refreshment +they had some very excellent and rich Alpine milk, which they drank from +very tall and curiously-shaped tumblers. They also amused themselves in +looking at some specimens of carved work, such as models of Swiss +cottages--and figures of shepherds, and milkmaids with loads of utensils +on their backs--and groups of huntsmen, with dogs leaping up around +them--and chamois, or goats, climbing about among the rocks and +mountains. Rollo had bought a pretty good supply of such sculptures +before; but there was one specimen here that struck his fancy so much +that he could not resist the temptation of adding it to his collection, +especially as Mr. George approved of his making the purchase. It was a +model of what is called a chalet,[15] which is a sort of hut that the +shepherds occupy in the upper pasturages, in the summer, where they go +to tend the cows, and to make butter and cheese. The little chalet was +made in such a manner that the roof would lift up like a lid, and let +you see all there was within. There was a row of cows, with little +calves by them, in stalls on one side of the chalet, and on the other +side tables and benches, with pans of milk and tubs upon them, and a +churn, and a cheese press, and other such like things. There was a bed, +too, for the shepherd, in a sort of a garret above, just big enough to +hold it. + +In about half an hour the guide seemed ready to proceed, and the whole +party set out again on their journey. The guide went before, with the +trunk and all the other baggage piled up on the rack behind him. He had +a stout staff in his hand, which he used to prevent himself from +falling, in going down the steep and rocky places. Some of these places +were very steep and rocky indeed--so much so that going down them was a +work of climbing rather than walking, and Rollo himself was sometimes +almost afraid. What made these places the more frightful was, that the +path in descending them was often exceedingly narrow, and was bordered, +on one side, by a perpendicular wall of rock, and by an unfathomable +abyss of rocks and roaring cataracts on the other. To behold the skill +and dexterity with which the guide let himself down, from rock to rock, +in this dreadful defile, loaded as he was, excited both in Mr. George +and Rollo a continual sentiment of wonder. + +At length the steepest part of the descent was accomplished, and then +the road led, for a mile, through a green and pretty valley, with lofty +rocks and mountains on either hand, and chalets and pretty cottages at +various distances along the roadside. At one place, in a very romantic +and delightful spot, they came to a small chapel. It had been built +there to commemorate some remarkable event, and to afford a +resting-place for travellers. The door of this chapel was fastened, but +Rollo could look in through a window and see the altar, and the +crucifix, and the tall candles, within. He and Mr. George sat down, too, +on the stone step of the chapel for a little while, to rest, and to +enjoy the view. While they were there another traveller came by, +ascending from Lungern, and he stopped to rest there too. He was lame, +and seemed to be poor. He had a pack on his back. Mr. George talked with +this man in French while they sat together on the steps of the chapel, +and when he went away Mr. George gave him a little money. + +After leaving the chapel the travellers continued their descent, the +valley opening before them more and more as they proceeded, until, at +length, the village of Lungern came in sight, far below them, at the +head of a little lake. + +"There!" said Rollo, as soon as the village came in sight. "That is +Lungern. That is the place where the carriage road begins." + +"I am glad of that," said Mr. George. "A ride in a carriage will be very +pleasant after all this scrambling over the mountains--that is, provided +you get a good carriage." + +When, at length, the party reached the inn, the guide set down his load +on a bench at the door of it, and, smiling, seemed quite pleased to be +rid of the heavy burden. + +"Are we going to take dinner here?" said Mr. George to Rollo. + +"No, sir," said Rollo. "At least, I don't know. We'll see." + +The landlord of the inn met the travellers at the door, and conducted +them up a flight of stone stairs, and thence into a room where several +tables were set, and different parties of travellers were taking +refreshments. The landlord, after showing them into this room, went down +stairs again to attend to other travellers. Mr. George and Rollo walked +into the room. After looking about the room a moment, however, Rollo +said he must go down and see about a carriage. + +"Wait here a few minutes, uncle George," said he, "while I go and engage +a carriage, and then I will come back." + +So saying, Rollo went away, and Mr. George took his seat by a window. + +Presently the waiter came to Mr. George, and asked him, in French, if he +wished for any refreshment. + +"I don't know," said Mr. George. "I will wait till the boy comes back, +and then we'll see." + +In a short time Rollo came back. + +"The carriage will be ready in twenty minutes," said he. + +"Very well," said Mr. George. "And the waiter wants to know whether we +are going to have any thing to eat." + +"Yes," said Rollo, "we are going to have a luncheon." + +Rollo then went to the waiter, and said, in French, "Bread, butter, +coffee, and strawberries, for two." "Very well, sir," said the waiter, +and he immediately went away to prepare what Rollo had ordered. + +In due time the refreshment was ready, and Mr. George and Rollo sat down +to the table, with great appetites. Every thing was very nice. The +strawberries, in particular, though very small in size, as the Alpine +strawberries always are, were very abundant in quantity, and delicious +in flavor. There was also plenty of rich cream to eat them with. When, +at length, the travellers had finished eating their luncheon, the +landlord came to say that the carriage was ready. So Rollo paid the +bill, and then he and Mr. George went down to the door. Here they found +a very pretty chaise, with a seat in front for the driver, all ready for +them. The trunk and all the other baggage were strapped securely on +behind. Mr. George and Rollo got in. The top of the chaise was down, so +that the view was unobstructed on every side. + +"Well," said Rollo, "do you think it _is_ a good carriage?" + +"A most excellent one," said Mr. George. "We shall have a delightful +ride, I am sure." + +Mr. George was not disappointed in his anticipations of a delightful +ride. The day was very pleasant, and the scenery of the country through +which they had to pass was as romantic and beautiful as could be +imagined. The road descended rapidly, from valley to valley, sometimes +by sharp zigzags, and sometimes by long and graceful meanderings, +presenting at every turn some new and charming view. There were green +valleys, and shady dells, and foaming cascades, and dense forests, and +glassy lakes, and towering above the whole, on either side, were vast +mountain slopes, covered with forests, and ranges of precipitous rocks, +their summits shooting upward, in pinnacles, to the very clouds. + +After journeying on in this manner for some hours the carriage arrived +at an inn on the shores of the Lake of Lucerne. There was a landing +there, and a number of boats, drawn up near a little pier. + +"Yes," exclaimed Rollo, when he saw the boats, "this is the place. The +name of it is Alpnach. We are to go the rest of the way by water." + +"That will be very pleasant," said Mr. George, as he got out of the +carriage. "I shall like a row on the lake very much. I will go directly +down to the landing, and you can come when you get ready." + +So Mr. George walked on down to the pier, leaving Rollo to perform his +duties as a courier, according to his own discretion. + +Rollo first paid the driver of the carriage what was due to him, +according to the agreement that he had made with the Lungern landlord, +and then explained to the Alpnach landlord, in as good French as he +could command, that he wanted a boat, to take him and the gentleman who +was travelling with him to Lucerne, and asked what the price would be. +The landlord named the regular price, and Rollo engaged the boat. The +landlord then sent for a boatman. In a few minutes the boatman was seen +coming. He was followed by two rather pretty-looking peasant girls, each +bringing an oar on her shoulder. These two girls were the boatman's +daughters. They were going with their father in the boat, to help him +row. + +The boatman took up the trunk, and the girls the other parcels of +baggage, and so carried the whole, together with the oars, down to the +boat. Rollo followed them, and the whole party immediately embarked. It +was a bright and sunny day, though there were some dark and heavy clouds +in the western sky. The water of the lake was very smooth, and it +reflected the mountains and the skies in a very beautiful manner. Mr. +George and Rollo took their seats in the boat, under an awning that was +spread over a frame in the central portion of it. This awning sheltered +them from the sun, while it did not intercept their view. The man and +the girls took each of them an oar, standing up, however, to row, and +_pushing_ the oar before them, instead of _pulling_ it, according to +our fashion.[16] Thus they commenced the voyage. + +Every thing went on very pleasantly for an hour, only, as the boatman +and his daughters could speak no language but German, Mr. George and +Rollo could have no conversation with them. But they could talk with +each other, and they had a very pleasant time. At length, however, the +clouds which had appeared in the western sky rose higher and higher, and +grew blacker and blacker, and, finally, low, rumbling peals of thunder +began to be heard. The boatman talked with his daughters, pointing to +the clouds, and then said something to Mr. George in German; but neither +Mr. George nor Rollo could understand it. They soon found, however, that +the boat was turned towards the shore. They were very glad of this, for +Rollo said that he had read in the guide book that the Swiss lakes were +subject to very violent tempests, such as it would be quite dangerous to +encounter far from the shore. Rollo said, moreover, that the boatmen +were very vigilant in watching for the approach of these storms, and +that they would always at once make the best of their way to the land +whenever they saw one coming on. + +In this instance the wind began to blow, and the rain to fall, before +the boat reached the shore. Rollo and Mr. George were sheltered by the +awning, but the boatman and the two girls got very wet. They, however, +continued to work hard at the oars, and at length they reached the +shore. The place where they landed was in a cove formed by a point of +land, where there was a little inn near the water. As soon as the boat +reached the shore Mr. George and Rollo leaped out of it, and spreading +their umbrella they ran up to the inn. + +They waited here nearly an hour. They sat on a piazza in front of the +inn, listening to the sound of the thunder and of the wind, and watching +the drops of rain falling on the water. At length the wind subsided, the +rain gradually ceased, and the sun came out bright and beaming as ever. +The party then got into the boat, and the boatman pushed off from the +shore; and in an hour more they all landed safely on the quay at +Lucerne, very near to a magnificent hotel. + +Our two travellers were soon comfortably seated at a table in the dining +room of the hotel before an excellent dinner, which Rollo had ordered. +Mr. George told Rollo, as they took their seats at the table, that he +had performed his duty as a courier in a very satisfactory manner, and +had fully earned his pay. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: Pronounced _shallay_.] + +[Footnote 16: The Swiss always stand up in rowing, and _push_ the oar. +Thus they look the way they are going.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CONCLUSION. + + +It is not possible to describe in such a volume as this more than a +small part of the excursions which Mr. George and Rollo made or the +adventures which they met with in the course of their tour in +Switzerland. They remained in the country of the Alps more than a +fortnight; and they enjoyed, as Rollo said, every moment of the time. +There was no end to the cascades and waterfalls, the ice and snow-clad +summits, the glaciers, the romantic zigzag paths up the mountain sides, +the picturesque hamlets and cottages, and the groups of peasants toiling +in the fields or tending flocks and herds in the higher pasturages. +Rollo's heart was filled all the time that he remained among these +scenes with never-ceasing wonder and delight. The inns pleased him, too, +as much perhaps as any thing else; for the climbing of mountains and the +long excursions on foot gave him a most excellent appetite; and at the +inns they always found such nice breakfasts, dinners, and suppers every +day that Rollo was never tired of praising them. + +Rollo found the cost, too, of travelling in Switzerland much less than +he had expected. He did not expend nearly all the allowance which his +father had granted him. When he came to settle up his accounts, after he +had got back to Paris, he found that he had saved about seventy-five +francs, which made nearly fifteen dollars; and this sum he accordingly +added to his _capital_--for that was the name by which he was accustomed +to designate the stock of funds which he had gradually accumulated and +reserved. + +Just before Mr. George and Rollo left Switzerland, on their return to +Paris, they received a letter from Mr. Holiday, who was still in Paris, +in consequence of which they concluded to make a short tour on the Rhine +on their way to France. The adventures which they met with on this tour +will form the subject of another volume of this series. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rollo in Switzerland, by Jacob Abbott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 22377.txt or 22377.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/3/7/22377/ + +Produced by D. Alexander, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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