Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-11-12
0blo Statesman.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY
The Ohio Statesman Company.
SATURDAY MORNING, NOV. 70.
Sights and sites in Switzerland.

From The London Society Magazine we
extract the following bit of Swiss gossip:
"While hunting after scenes and sites, it
will be wise to take warning by the fatal
accidents which occur amidst the Alps al
most every summer. Switzerland Occu-
pies a certain small space on the map of
Europe; but practically, Switzerland is du-
plicate. There are two Switzerlands, the
upper and the lower, the accessible and the
hard of access, Switzerland on earth and
Switzerland in the clouds. The one may
be agreeably journeyed through by ladies,
elderly folk, and quiet people in general;
the other is the haunt of chamois-hunters
and members of the Alpine Club. Still
there is an attractive mid-region (allowing
q near approach to and closer view of for
hidden spots and unattainable wonders)
which may be visited without imprudence
by persons who will relinquish perilous as
cents and passages which, even if accom-
plished, lead to no useful result either
practical or scientific, but merely add to the
tourists capital of brag.
"Very good indications to these wilder
and yet not too hazardous scenes are given
in Baekers excellent manual. They are
well worth seeing, forstlescription fails to
give any adequate conception of the effect
of grand mountain scenery. While gazing
at it, you experience a combination of SEN
sual qualification to the eye and intellectual
excitement to the mind, which can no more
be described in words than certain tastes or
certain bodily sensations. The rocky will
derness is often rendered comfortable by
the wooden hotels, which are on the in
crease. Some of them are by no means
small; they are not houses, but three
decker arks built to remain on dry land
instead of floating. They are ships which
are not prisons, and when there is no
chance of being drowned. The rooms are
cabins, separated from the other cabins by
wooden partitions; the ceilings are dia-
phrams of wood. Though you do not hear
the sea-waves splash, you may often listen
to the waters rushing and the winds roar
ing in the rigging aloft, 1. e., in the broad
eXpanse of roof, weathercocks and spouts.
These arks, too, are ballasted, like other
vessels, with the difference that the load of
stones is placed aloft instead of in the hold,
without fear of making the ship capsize.
"Amongst the Alps there is nothing like
wood; everything Except tea-kettles and
frying-pans) is supposed capable of being
made of wood. Wooden houses, with
wooden walls and wooden roofs, shelter
men who eat with wooden spoons and forks,
and whose virtues are recorded on wooden
gravestones. ASwiss dandy will even show
his patriotism by wearing wooden buttons
on his Sunday clothes. When the carriage
road ceases in the Alps, there are two safe
ways of travelling farther-on foot and in
chairs carried by relays of men. The lat
ter is expensive, and will hardly be en-
ployed for long distances. Saddle-horses
and mules are to be had in plenty. They
will often carry you well and safely, but
will occasionally fail you at the most criti-
cal point, especially if you are not used to
their ways and weaknesses. When the
stream of tourists is at its fullest rush, a
horse which has performed a fair journey in
harness, and has been so employed for
weeks, with no rest but rainy days, will be
taken out of a carriage, fitted with saddle,
and forthwith placed at your service. What
can you expect from such hack as that?"