Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1866-11-28
SWITZERLAND.
Especial Correspondents OF the Star. !

tSpeSlol OOfIespOnoeHce or tne Star.
RarTsr's Guide -Poutresina-Eno noddiae- The Ro-
manic Ldng3aee-P Pis Languard-Tas Guide Co.
teM-FreporaftonS for tie Accent Aouatdia
Dotrtes g SsctfEertdad--4 Fri9ht-Mdrmots-
Meteorological Obserrahons-W What ods said
done, aud seen o1s the sUzsBait, l0,O53 feet dbope
he ocedn-"De1ter" oHtdone, an Alpine sleigh
ride. minus horse and sleigh Nep method for
ladies 10 e7joy ne sport-Gensral George g.
AeCteuan-lllness Of Mrs. AcCiellda-WAat
people mink Of them at 81 Korits-A chamois-
A reritabie Sdraeen-A Scfss Cocktail, alias
Permatk.
PourREsINA, Oct. 2s, Is66-Edi,or Star =
This being Sunday, l proposed to our party
that we should rest from the fatigne and ex-
element Of our sightseeing exploits of the
past week. Our feet appear to be At rest, il is
true, but true TO our Yankee nature, we can
not be idle-so we are seated around the di-
ming. table in the unpretending but comfort
able and well-kept NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
away as though each were a member OF your
late corps of "specials'' at the .front." Whilst
most of those writing are addressing them
selves to their mas, pas, and sweethearts, nv
cousin James 10 evidently penning an elab-
crate article for his editorial friend OF the New
York Ledger. and your humble but neglected.
errant "typo' is about TO venture the fulfill
ment Of a promise made 10 you.
Where is Poutresina 1 never heard OF
It most American tourists will exclaim. This
arises only from the fact that their geograph-
ical knowledge of Switzerland is limited 70
what they CLEAN from .'Harpers g uide Book
the authOr OF which evidently passed hurried.
ly by night through the western portion or
Switzerland, with Murray in his pocket.
Harper's do themselves inju ustice as TO Syi:-
zerland and with 4 s'Tschudi" in hand, should
at once set about revision of their other wise
so useful ''Guide." Poutresina is to Eastern
Switzerland what the famous Interlaken is to
the Bernese Oberland-'.Samaden" and "st
Moritz" are the ''Thun" and "Brenz" of the
Canton of Grison. PoutresIna, with the other
towns just named, lies in the upper valley of
the river ''Inn," known better as the tEnga.
dine" Here II is that the people speak In the
old "Romanic'' dialect-the Ministers, though
all Protestants, preach in the Roman language,
and several newspapers are published in this
antiquated species OF Latin vernacular. The
old Romans, as in many other sections OF
Switzerland, have left here mis- IA akable traces
Of their having inhabited this valley. Not
three hundred yards from this Hotel stands an
old peculiar five angled Roman ower in good
Observation-Disclosures is all dull In formation-I
had better tell you something about our ascen
yesterday of "Piz Languard,' (Farview, J most
appropriately named and a mountain no touris,
should fail to ascend. To go on the far famed
SWISS scenery, but to see and truly appreciate
it's ndescribable grandeur one must 60 on the
.'PZ Languard.' But 10 proceed Having
provided ourselves the evening previous with
horses for the two ladies in our company, and
secured the services of that veteran guide
''Colani' we left our hotel at 5 O'Clock a m
Our obliging host. Mr.. StifIler, who, by the by
has been in the United States and speaks En-
glish, provided us boaniifully with dried beef
bread, cheese, three bottles OF genuine ..yelte-
liner" and a pint mask of ''KiIschwasser." the
latter, as he remarked, expressly fer the ..la-
dies" The provisions and drinkables were
ali securely packed in a knapsack which our
guide Coiani insisted on carrying himself and
not entrusting 1t to the hostIer. Mountain
stats, each some six feet in length, one END
being furnished with a strong iron prong we
had of course purchased before hand. The
morning was cool and coats were kent on but
we had not proceeded thousand yards before
the ascent through q pine forest became so
steep that your ex-Aldermanic friend, j. =
on with his coat, aud the rest OF us soon fol-
lowed suit, eur guide pilng all ON his already
heavy pack. and insisting he could better tray-
Ell with load twice as heavy tnan we could IN
our shirt sleeves. In one hour we emerged
from the pine forest on to a beautiful little
plateau where stood dingy looking long To-
hut used by the herdsmen of that section TO
feed and milk the cows, sheep and goats sent
up from the valley below TO be herded here
during the summer. In these and other
similar huts butter and cheese are made,
both for home and foreign consumption
and distributed according to certain estsb-
nshed rules, vlz'-The communal authcri-
ties hire the herdsmen by the season, and pur.
chase the requisite boilers, churns, etc. Each
citizen OF the commune then sends in NAV
Whateyer % COWS, sheep. or goats he may own
herd and Craze them on the lower mountain
meadows, and gradually. as summer ap-
proaches, proceed to the highest attitudes,
where grass grows. At stated distances they
have the huts before alluded to. Each milk
pail has measures designated on ats inside, and
the quantity OF milk OF every COW, sheep, or
goat is carefully noted down, and the owner OF
each respective animal credited with it, At
the expiration of the season, when the cattle are
taken home, each owner receives minus the ex-
penses, a prOp0rtionate share of the yield ofbu
ter and cheese, which, in some very favorable
years for grazing, Is quite considerable. But
to return to our route: From the hut above
mentioned we had the first full view of the
mountain we had started 10 ascend-far in the
distance lowered up a solitary pyramid OF
rock. varied here and there with snow.
After little halt, during which time we tasted
some very rich and palatable soft cream cheese.
we proceeded onward, gradually ascending a
valley, passing immense boulders offs peculiar
red and green frecked granite. After having
leisuIely proceeded an hour.I noticed our guide
searching for something among the rocks, ana
on making inquiries ascertained that right
ahead few PAGES, was the last opportunity to
would take for US 70 reach the summit of
Languard," which was now directly before
us, that he always kept empty bottles hid in
order 10 I'LL them with water TO take along
He found one only Of six that he had hid. the
remainder, some chamois hunters had carried
on. The ladies here alighted and Ioined us in
a moderate lunch aud somewhat excessive
water drinking; our guide suggesting 1t was
best TO save the wine. He, however. indulged
the ladies somewhat by giving them loaf.
sugar, STEPPED in kirsch wasser. Suddenly all
were startled by a dreadfullv shriIl whistle
I" W hat Is II What is it!'' exclaimed several
at once. Cousin Sallie declared II was n snake
Nv LAT ~ said i. ''way up here amidst ever
lasting snew!' Mrs. w. actually asked Colaui
whether they had no Indians or other sa wages
about there. Coiani, who chuckIed at the
fright OF our ladies. replied, 'Oh, no,
madam, 1t rs something less dangerous
than q snake or an Indian, IL is only
frightened Marmot, of which there are
many about here, and thus gives warning %
It's companions that an enemy is near After
some botanizing, wherein our guIue showed
himself quite an adept we went on our way
anh after half an hours uphill work we
landed on small, rocky plateau, further than
Whieh the horses could not go-the remaining
distance being too steep and rocky. We had
Yet foil honr's hard work 10 reach the ton