cover the swelling hills, reading, sewing, or playing à volonté, the children amusing themselves by flying down the smooth grassy slopes in the large wooden sledges used for conveying grass from the mountains, till we caught sight of M- returning, when we would descend and relieve him of his burden, those who had been at home eager to show him the delicacies prepared for the evening meal, freshly-gathered raspberries and strawberries, garnished with their own lovely tendrils and green leaves, amber honey in the comb, and cream from the dairy in the mountains. When tea was over, it was time to go and meet the goats, that every morning, as soon as it is light, are taken from each hamlet and village by the shepherds, whose duty it is to look after them, to feed upon the grass growing among the rocks in places inaccessible to heavier cattle, where they remain until evening, when they are driven back to their homes, to be milked and housed for the night. As these pretty animals are very fond of salt and fresh green leaves, we never omitted filling our hands and pockets with a stock of both; and great was the fun when they rushed up to us, knocking over their little ones and ours, in their eagerness to get first at the dainties. What butting and fighting there was among the herd; and how they struggled to get free from the grasp we laid on their horns to pull them into the little wooden sheds where they were tied to be milked! All the peasants possess one or more goats; and a pretty sight it is, to see them returning from the milking, with their bowls filled with the frothy liquid, that, to my thinking, is much pleasanter to the eyes than the palate, though I know many who are not of the same opinion. Everybody knows how healthful it is, and numbers of people come into the mountains in summer for the sole purpose of drinking it. The little round goats' cheeses are palatable when neither too new nor too old, and that is the highest praise I can bestow upon them, as nothing can disguise either the taste or the smell that savours too much of an old dish-cloth to be agreeable. Many an afternoon we spent on a hill cleared of large trees, but covered with raspberry bushes, to the left as you approach the Pont de Nant, pitching our tent on a level sward at the foot for baby and his guard, while the rest mounted to pluck the delicious fruit whose fragrance scented the air long before you came to them. As without seeing I never could have credited the quantities that grew there, I don't expect that any description I can RASPBERRY MOUNTAIN. 193 give will convey to anyone more than a very imperfect idea of their profusion. My readers must imagine a hill as high as the Wrekin, if they have seen it, so thickly overgrown with raspberry bushes to the top that you have some trouble in forcing a way through them; fancy also every bough so laden with ripe fruit that they were bent down by the weight, and fell off by thousands as you touched them; and even if they are able to picture all this, they cannot taste how good they were, how much superior to any grown in gardens; nor will it do to mention how many we ate besides the basketsful we took home for tea, and boiling for puddings and cakes. In an hour you may have bushels, if you have but hands enough to gather them; we used them for syrup, preserves, creams, and anything we could think of, and after all large quantities were thrown away. CHAPTER X. Neighbourhood of Les Plans-Martyrs to Custom-Grion-A IN the immediate neighbourhood of Les Plans, there are so many beautiful and remarkable scenes and places to be visited, that, as a painter said to me, a long life would not suffice for seeing all;' and one is only puzzled to know where to begin. There are the glaciers of Martinet and Plan Nevé, the Diablerets, the Grand Muveran, the Argentine, the Chamossaire, Chatillon, and a dozen other mountains and glaciers; the châlets of La Varraz, Anziendaz; and I know not how many more romanticallyplaced hamlets and villages, far higher up than the one we were in, besides waterfalls and gorges. All must be seen; and of course when you first go up, you intend to leave nothing undone, but at the end of your stay you discover that the life lower down has been so charming and attractive, you have dawdled away 6 MARTYRS TO CUSTOM. 195 your time without accomplishing half the programme. And why'-I have often asked myself on hearing people refuse to engage in some amusement they liked, because, as they have said with the air of a martyr, they must go up this or that mountain— 'need so many travellers over-exert and exhaust themselves by toiling over difficult and dangerous places, when they prefer less laborious excursions that are generally productive of more pleasure, and profit too?" For if you are a botanist or entomologist, you will not find the rarest plants and insects where eternal winter reigns. I believe that a good many of those who travel in Switzerland, are very much like persons in society, who ennuient themselves by going to, and giving, a certain number of dinner and supper parties every week, for the sake of keeping up their position, as they term it; for I am morally certain that it is only the silly dread of not being in the fashion, of not doing as others of their acquaintance have done, that makes them worry and torment themselves, in endeavouring to get through a certain amount of climbing before they return home, instead of enjoying themselves according to the bent of their inclinations. They forget that it is not everyone who can surmount precipices without being |