CONTENTS. VII.-Freybourg Organ and Bridges. Swiss Peculiarities, VIII. Interlachen, Pass of the Wengern Alp, Byron's Manfred, IX. The Grand Scheideck: an Avalanche, INTRODUCTION. IN the present work I have not designed to make a book of travels, but give a series of sketches of the Alpine portion of Switzerland, and the scenery along the Rhine. In writing of Switzerland, I have omitted almost altogether notices of the character of the people, except of those occupying the valleys of the Alps. Neither have I spoken of the chief cities and towns of the country, except to make a passing remark. I excluded all such matter, because I wished, if possible, to give a definite idea of the scenery of the Alps. Having an unconquerable desire from my boyhood to see the land of Tell and Winkelried, I had read everything I could lay hold of, that would give me clear conceptions of the wonderful scenery it embraces, yet I found that my imagination had never approached the reality. Hoping to do what others had failed in accomplishing, I confess, was the motive in my attempting these sketches. It always seemed strange to me, that such marked, striking features in natural scenery could fail of being caught and described. Such bold outlines, and such distinct figures, it seemed a mere pastime to reproduce before the eye. And even now, of all the distinct things memory recalls, none appear more clear and definite than the scenes of the Alps. But, notwithstanding all this, I need not add that I am as much dissatisfied with my own efforts as with those of others. The truth is, the Alps are too striking and grand to be described. We get a definite idea of very few things in the world we have never seen, by mere naked details. This is especially true of those objects that excite emotion. It is by comparing them to more familiar and greater things, that we conceive them properly. Indeed, the imagination is generally so much weaker than the bodily eye, that exaggeration is required to bring up the perceptive faculties to the proper point. But the Alps have nothing beyond them-nothing greater with which to compare them. They alone can illustrate themselves. Comparisons diminish them, and figures of speech only confuse the mind. This I believe to be the reason why every one becomes dissatisfied with his own descriptions. To give lofty conceptions of mountain scenery before, he has been accustomed to call it Alpine. The Alps are called in to illustrate all other mountains and lofty peaks, and hence when he comes to describe the former, he is at loss for metaphors and comparisons. The words grand, awful, sublime, have been used to describe scenery so far inferior to that which now meets his eye, that he would reject them as weak and expressionless, were there any others he could employ. I have never felt the need of stronger Saxon more than when standing amid the chaos of an Alpine abyss, or looking off from the summit of an Alpine peak. Like the attempt to utter a man's deepest emotions, words for the time shock him. I am aware this may be attributed to a sensitive imagination. Some may boast that they have stood perfectly tranquil, and at their ease in every part of the Alps. I envy not such a man his self-possession, nor his tranquil nature. He who can wander through the Oberland without being profoundly moved, and feeling as Coleridge did when he lifted his hymn in the vale of Chamouni, need not fear that he will ever be greatly excited, either by the grand or beautiful with which God has clothed the world. The Rhine I have passed over more hastily, and devoted less space to it, because its scenes are more familiar, as well as more tame. If I shall add to the reader's conceptions of Alpine scenery-give any more vivid ideas of its amazing grandeur, more definite outlines to those wonderful forms of nature, I shall have accomplished my purpose. My object in grouping, as I have, the most remarkable objects together, to the exclusion of every thing else, was, if possible, to do this. Still they must be seen to be known. |