The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-15

Each householder plants so much corn,
rye. potatoes. vegetables and hemp as he
! needs for his family OF wine and cattle
he usually grows above his requirements
with view TO selling the surplus. but it
is merely done for the sake of the state
taxes, mercernariness or commercial enter
prise not entering into the question. The
rye is ground whole in the most primitive
Of mills by hand, and is made into black
bread in the bakehouse belonging to the
village, each furnishing it's own wood In
recognition of twentieth century progress
| Terbiners bake twice a year, namely.
in August and December. This, let it be
understood. is no joke, the pastor himself
assuring me that his people used TO bake
only once per annum up to 1900, namely,
in the wine month (August.) OF course.
the bread is as hard as stone. During the
greater part OF the year it is cut with old
swords, fastened to a wooden board by
rude mechanism, but never sliced. They cut
it in cubes half as big your hand
SALT THE ONLY SAVIOR.
Like the 'staf of life" all other food
eaten in the district is prepared in style
| entirely foreign to the present age Rock
/ salt is the only seasoning known, neither
pepper nor mustard ever penetrated to the
\ village and it's dependencies Fresh meat
is eaten only for a short time in the win
ter, when each family kills about ten head
| of sheep, a pig, and either goat or COW
that Is no longer good for milking. The
meat is dried in the air and suffices for
the whole year, often longer. Smoking.
corning or other modes of preservation are
not practiced. There are, told. fam
lilies who preserve dried meat for ten,
twenty or even twenty-five years; indeed,
/ twenty-year-old bacon and ten-year-old
blood pudding are no rarity. Air-dried
ham is regarded as delicacy of the first
order; fried cheese as another OF coffee,
tea and chocolate the people never heard
until L mentioned those beverages. Here
is an everyday bill of fare: In the morn
ing, corn soup, made of wheat ground to
a powder in wooden mortar. For dinner
the same soup, air-dried meat and pota-
! toes. IN the afternoon, bread and cheese.
Evenings, milk, potatoes, bread and cheese.
The noon and afternoon meal are in
variably washed down with a glass of
wine-excellent wine. by the way. The
vineyards are said to be Of Roman origin,
which accounts for the name heather
wine" The Terbiner says: "Give me wine
and 1 won't ask for money" At festive
occasions great quantities are consumed,
but drunkenness is entirely unknown.
PLENTY TO WEAR.
The people grow every bit of material
for their clothes-wool, hemp, flax and
leather. The women use spinning wheels
resembling those found pictured in the
pyramids. The cut is that prevailing in
Germany in the middle ages. The women's
Sunday clothes are of colored material.
the dyeing of the yarn being effected by
indigo for blue, 'sar'der root" for yellow
and copper, vitriol for black, materials
found in the mountains. The style of man.
ufacture is technically unknown home
spun. Women's dresses are made in one
piece. with hardly a dividing line at the
waist. When a girl reaches the age of
maturity she gets a hat that lasts her to
the grave. Nobody ever heard of silk or
tobacco, and each householder is his own
| shoemaker butcher. carpenter, etc.
Terbiners know neither pigeons, chickens
nor poultry of any kind; they sleep on
straw or dry leaves and fill their pillows
with the wool of a certain mountain
thistle. The villagers own between them
six hundred COWS, twelve hundred sheep
and two hundred and fifty goats. Each
! householder, besides, boasts of one or more
pigs. The cattle are extraordinarily frugal
and actually grow fat on fodder regarded
as poison in other parts of Switzerland.
refer to the green potato leaves. The
meadows are not held in common, but each
family has the use of certain districts for
certain seasons of the year according to
the ancient privileges, recorded on wooden
| pastures states made out as the deeds are.
Their sheep belong to the black-nose race,
the goats, with immense straight horns, are
| black-necks.
Flowing is done by the aid Of mules,
bulls or steers, the pillow being a simple
hook like that of the old Egyptians. The
villagers own only one horse, but twenty
mules, some of the latter being between
sixty and seventy years old, and still in
service. They have, besides, draft ami
NAL found nowhere else in the world,
namely. cross between bull and mare,
called "buffel mule (buffalo mue). There
are no wagons nor anything resembling a
vehicle. all loads are carried on mans,
woman's or mules back. One never sees
a Terbiner outside the village without "A
load; hay, cereals, manure wood cheese,
everything is transported in this fashion.
In rare instances baskets are used but
more often sacks or pieces of cloth.
COLONIZED BY ROMANS.
The Terbiners have no idea of their origin
their language is a corruption of the Wal
lis dialect, very hard To understandable
historical investigation and no less the
elaborate watering system in use points to
it that the district was first colonized by
ancient Romans. The very name smacks
of the Latin, Terminus" (frontier) The
waterways are many and the whole system
is most elaborate and rich in results; with
out it nine-tenths of the district would be
unproductive, there being very few wells
Indeed. these primitive people keep up no
less than fifty water works, of which the
oldest, known as the heather water"
carries the life fluid from height of $500
feet directly into the village, being fed by
the Gamsa glacier the F1etschhorn.
The Roman origin Of this waterway is not
doubted. On the rock walls Of another
found the year 1852" carved in a dozen
places. The age Of others is given as 1852"
carved in a dozen places. The age of still