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class of travellers, and generally the Germans and Swiss . The houses are thoroughlySwiss in appearance; the women, though not remarkable for their beauty, yet strike onoby the neatness and cleanliness of the costume, the principal features of which are thewhite stiffened sleeves, separate from the dress, and the silver ornaments with whichtheir shoulder-straps are ornamented.

The Aar is crossed by a bridge close to the spot where, having spread itself out to aconsiderable width, it forms a small waterfall. In the spring of last year, the riverrose considerably above its usual height, causing considerable damage to the village,and sweeping away the unfortunate landlord of the Hotel de la Jungfrau . Just acrossthe bridge in the village of Interlachen is the post-office, the constant resort of travellers,inasmuch as this is almost always a halting-place. The chief beauty of the village is saidto live here. To an Englishman, however, accustomed to the bright eyes and blooming-cheeks of the fair damsels of his native land, there is nothing very peculiarly attractivein the pale faces and somewhat languid expression of the Swiss belles; unless, indeed,their scarcity confers a charm. It is somewhat amusing to look into the shops in sucha village as this, and examine the rude, though useful, manufactures. Of course, amongthe principal objects exposed for sale will bo accoutrements for mountain excursions,including shoes, knapsacks, hats, and batons. Another considerable branch of trade isthat of the confectioners, who supply the hotels with the various biscuits and cakes, forwhich tables d’hote are famous in that country.

The general appearance of the houses in Interlachen is the same as in Unterseen , butjust at the end of the village a long and straight road stretches away in the direction ofthe lake of Brienz , forming a complete grove of walnut-trees. On either side of itis a number of hotels and pensions, large white buildings, with green jalouses attachedto the windows, as is common in all large houses on tiro continent, and each issurrounded by a beautiful garden. We followed our guides’ recommendation, and tookup our quarters at the Hotel de la Jungfrau , appropriately named, inasmuch as it isexactly opposite the entrance to the valley of Lauterbrunnen , at the end of which is seenthe great chain of the Bernese Oberland :

“ ltesplc-ndent and impenetrable stream,

On which the maiden queen majestic sits '

Serene. A diamond circlet crowns her brow,

And her white bosom glitters in the beamsCast by the ardent sun, in fiery gaze,

On the fair breast they deck, but cannot melt.”

Such is the Jungfrau ; the goddess of mountain mythology, and the queen of theBernese Alps . Its peak is 13,718 feet above the level of the sea, but it looks muchhigher than it is, from the comparative flatness of its top, and the immensity of itsmass.

It was named the virgin mountain, from the pure and unsullied whiteness of the snowon its summit, and from its never having been trodden.

“ As Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains in all (Switzerland, ” says Cheover, “ sothe Jungfrau is the maiden queen, with her dazzling coronet of sky-piercing crystalcrags for ever dropping from their setting, and her icy sceptre, and her robe of glaciers,with its fathomless fringe of snow. She too is 'Earth ’s rosy Star,’ so beautiful, soglorious, that to have seen her light, if a man had leisure, would be worth a pilgrimageround the world. To have heard her voice, deep thunder without cloud, breaking theeternal stillness in the clear serene of heaven, and to have beheld her, shaking- from herbrow its restless battlements of avalanches, were an event in one’s life, from which tocalculate the longitudes of years.”