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THE ALPINE REGIONS.

ham, certainly cheese and plenty of milk, possibly even spoonsto eat it with. In the sheep or goat chalet you may findnothing but black bread or polenta, it may be not even a roofover your head, but only a sort of kennel just large enough forone man, under the lee of a huge boulder. The men also at thecow-chalet, are generally much brighter and more intelligentthan those at the others; not unfrequently their wives andchildren are with them d la montagne, and right healthy dothe little ones look from the glorious mountain air, in spite ofdirt and poor fare. The chalets, built of rude beams, or roughstones without mortar, are generally small and low, consistingoften of only one room, lighted by a minute window, the glassof which is never cleaned. Hence perpetual twilight reignswithin. In one cOrner is the fireplace, but the chimney is oftenomitted as a needless luxury; for there are so many chinks inthe walls and roof that the smoke escapes readily enough.Here hangs the huge copper caldron in which the milk isboiled to make the cheese. In another corner is a low plat-form of boards, covered with hay and a dirty rug or two; thisis the bed;—don’t lie on it if you can find any dry hay. Abench, rough table, and stool, with a hanging shelf for thecrockery, complete the furniture, and the chinks between thebeams or stones in the wall form extemporary cupboards forspoons, knives, and oddments. The dairy is either an innerroom or a separate chalet, which, if possible, is built againsta rock for the sake of coolness. In other hovels near, the cowsand goats are folded, and the hay is stored. Here some of thecMlet folk often sleep ; and the traveller will do well to declineif he can the use of the bed which his hosts, in kindly meantcourtesy, too frequently insist upon vacating for him.

‘ Necessity makes strange bed-fellows’ is a proverb often truein the Alps. One night our chalet was shared by a couple ofour hostess’ children, who slumbered peacefully on an adjoiningheap of leaves, while I lay awake envying them and making