HEATHMAN'S SWITZERLAND. From The Spectator. HEATHMAN'S SWITZERLAND.* as hard and as red as cedar. Both climate and soil appear admirably adapted to their growth. ALTHOUGH Switzerland and the routes to and soils where you wonder not only how they They often present themselves to you in places it have been over much written upon already, Mr. Heathman's volume may be read with way there in the first instance. At one time grow, but how ever they could have found their advantage through two circumstances, the jection, and at another on the bare ridge of nature of his travels, and the character of the the highest mountains. you find them on the very edge of a rocky protraveller. Ill health compelled the Rector of in some measure afterwards solved. One day St. Lawrence to seek recreation for a time; walking up a slope most luxuriant with firs, This mystery was and he passed two summers in the Alps, act- I observed about half a dozen small ones growing for a while as British Chaplain at Interla- ing upon a stone of four or five tons weight ken, and passing the remainder in leisurely what possibility they could grow in such a excursions. He was thus rather a sojourner situation, I was led more closely to examine some feet above the ground. than a mere traveller, with the advantages of them, and found they were only rooted in Wondering by close observation which leisure alone can moss, and derived their nourishment, like orgive. Like many other clergymen, Mr. Heath-phere and from rain. Passing on, I noticed othchideous plants, from the moisture of the atmosman takes an interest in those common things ers of larger growth in similar situations; and that make up the sum of character and daily on inspecting them also, I discovered their roots life. He is sensible in his observations and had spread over the surface of the rock, and shrewd in his remarks, with a good deal of found their way into crevices where they had betolerance in his judgments. His Switzerland, accelerated by the rocks in question being of a though originating in travel, is very far from come firmly rooted. This process is no doubt a common book of travels, with, hurried itine-force of nature, which in the most gradual, and rary, occasional occurrences by the way, eter- yet the most certain manner, introduces the root, crumbling, rotten description, yielding to the nal descriptions of scenery, and the frequent splits the rock, and promotes the growth of the introduction of information condensed from tree. Indeed, the decayed leaves of the fir alone, the guidebook. The volume before us is as much a series of topics in successive chapters as a continuous narrative of journeying. The author begins with some advice to travellers of British breed, not all new, but very judicious. He passes rapidly through France you everywhere find in Switzerland, viz. firs into Switzerland, only noticing the most re-growing on the ledge of the loftiest cliffs and This will account for the phenomenon which markable circumstances for comment. Switzerland itself his subjects are various. 4000 feet above the level of the sea. In barren mountain-tops, some of them 3000 or Now, he describes a particular place and the the seed has been conveyed thither in the first inexcursions that may be made from it. Then, stance by the tourmentes, then vegetated in the No doubt, he narrates a longer and more adventurous manner I have before described, and afterwards enterprise in the ascent of mountains; he taken such firm root in the very rocks themselves briefly discusses the social and political condi- that they were enabled to withstand the blasts of tion of Switzerland at some towns; gious state, as well as that of Italy, at other places, where the subject is suggested by circumstances. National characteristics, social economy, and natural history in the form of Alpine phenomena, are the principal objects of Mr. Heathman's attention, and they form not the least attractive portion of the book. This is an example; the growth of fir-trees in extraordinary situations, and the future effects upon the soil: her reli in the course of years, will be sufficient for its support; and when the trees are come to maturity and have been cut, the soil, which previously was nothing but rock, has been found to produce the very best crops. hazardous enough to cut them, since you would grasping, mercenary people, from whom it is There are three different species of fir found the Alps-the larch, the spruce and the silver. hose growing on the loftiest mountains prouce the best timber, which in some situations is This is a pretty little story from popular tradition: it is connected with a ruin and the feudal wars of the middle ages:— This Bourcard had an only daughter of surpassing beauty, who appears to have captivated the heart of Rudolphe de Wadiswyl, the youngest, the bravest, and most amiable of the Dukes of Zahringen, at some tournament. Despairing of overcoming the hatred of the Baron to his race, and of obtaining the hand of Ida in a legitimate way, he formed the idea of carrying her off by force. Soon after, in consequence of the absence of the father, a favorable opportunity presented itself. He eloped with the fair Ida; who, it appears, was not unwilling to accompany him to his quarters at Berne. The herdsman who gave this information (re- taste, and is very inferior to that which is specting the manufacture of butter and cheese) boiled. might have been thirty years of age, with an herculean frame, although he lived on the most simple food during the four months he remained in the mountains. In fact, it consisted of nothing but milk in one shape or another; having neither tasted bread nor meat, nor even potatoes during that time. It may be that the simplicity of their mode of living produces some effect upon their character. Be this as it may, thus much I can aver-in every instance where I have been brought in contact with them I have found them hospitable, generous, and kind, entertaining me with a simplicity, a readiness, and good feeling, that was quite surprising. It is not wealth, but the gentle nature, the considerate feeling, the just and disinterested motive-in fact, all that is unselfish and generous, which constitutes a much misnamed character. Too frequently that character is not found in the busy haunts of men, though possessed of all the attributes of wealth, This piece of violence only served to increase interest, and power, which mankind deem essen- the Baron's rage, and became the occasion of tial. I need scarce say, that very often it is not sanguinary wars which devastated the country found in the mansions of the great, at the marts between Berne and Interlaken. Rudolphe, geno of the merchant, or in the haunts of fashionable rous as he was brave, at length effected by stratlife. But I have found these qualities combined agem what he could not accomplish by force of beside the glacier and the snow, surrounded by arms. Fatigued with glory and tired of battleimpenetrable rocks, inhabiting, it may be, a frail fields, he sought an interview with his enemy. wooden chalet, and employed in what the world He presented himself unarmed at the castle, aowould regard the mean occupation of a herds-companied only by a page, and by bribes obtainman. And when I have regarded their primi- ed an entrance. He bore in his arms the little tive manners, their mere requirements of food and raiment, their contentment, and their generosity, and, I would hope, religion-then has it poured contempt on the pride, the pomp, and luxury, and all those baubles which too frequently delight the inhabitants of our cities and towns. boy which his Ida had lately given birth to, and addressed Bourcard-now grown sad and gray from the loss of his beloved daughter-in the most respectful and submissive terms. The old man, who recognized at a glance the features of his long-estranged child in the object now before him, burst into tears, grasped the helpless babe in his trembling arms, and freely forgave the past The following fact respecting the preserva-yea more, he bequeathed by will and deed to tion of butter may be worth the trouble of an Bourcard, the whole of his large possessions and the boy, Walter Rudolphe, named henceforth experiment: domains. It was this Walter who at his death left his heritage and lands to the convent of Interlaken. This romantic event took place somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth cen tury. The following method of courting reads oddly enough, but it only differs in form from that of more refined societies: They have two methods of preserving butter: the first is by melting it over a slow fire in the large cauldron in which the milk is converted into curds, and then pouring it after a couple of hours, in a liquid state, into wooden tubs, containing not more than ten or a dozen pounds of the material; by this means it is preserved for winter use in very good condition; in fact it is infinitely superior to the article which is imported from Ireland into our large towns under the They have many peculiar customs which seem appellation of salt butter, and I think the plan to be the remains of a very primitive state of might be followed with advantage in the butter- society, some of which also exist in other parts making districts of our own country. Another of the country. For instance, the "kiltgang," a method, by no means so good as the former, is singular mode of courtship, is common throughto place vertical pegs on a shelf which is sus-out the Oberland. When a girl is arrived at a pended from the roof of the cheese-chalet; marriageable age, the young men of the village around these pegs they place the butter, each assemble by consent on a given night at the galday's making being added to the former, in an lery of the chalet in which the fair one resides. upward direction; and this inverted cone, for it This creates no manner of surprise in the mind assumes this shape, grows in dimensions as it of her parents, who not only wink at the praeproceeds upwards. The outside soon becomes tice, but are never better pleased than when the covered with a coat of mildew, which to some charms of their daughter attract the greatest extent, excludes the external air: it, however, number of admirers. Their arrival is soon anbut badly accomplishes this object; and the con- nounced by sundry taps at the different windows. sequence is, that it partakes of a mouldy, stale After the family in the house has been roused HEATHMAN'S SWITZERLAND. and dressed, (for the scene usually takes place at Romanist Italy than of Protestant Switzerland midnight, when they have all retired to rest,) the as regards religion. The whole Papal system window of the room prepared for the occasion, is placed upon a mine that will explode as in which the girl is at first alone, is opened. soon as foreign force is withdrawn. Several Then a parley commences, of a rather boisterous hundred Italians of thought and learning description each young man in turn urges his suit with all the eloquence and art of which he is have taken refuge at Geneva, where they have possessed. The fair one hesitates, doubts, asks founded an Italian Reformed Church, and our questions, but comes to no decision. She then author has hopes that its principles will exinvites the party to partake of a repast of cakes and kirschwasser, which is prepared for them on the balcony. Indeed, this entertainment with the strong water of the cherry forms a prominent feature in the proceedings of the night. After having regaled themselves for some time, during which and through the window she has made use of all the witchery of woman's art, she feigns a desire to get rid of them all, and will sometimes call her parents to accomplish this object. The youths, however, are not to be put off; for, according to the custom of the country, they have come there for the express purpose of compelling her, on that night, there and then to make up her mind, and to declare the object of her choice. tend. In Geneva and the Protestant Cantons, the State has generally taken the Church wholly into its hands, and claims to control it in spiritual matters as well as temporal. At creed, or test; so that Rationalism and Socinianism are prevalent, and no means exist of least there are often no sufficient articles, checking them. * * * * Geneva is at the present moment. It has no No one can say what the National Church of creed, no standard of appeal, no test of orthodoxy similar to our Thirty-nine Articles. It puts no questions to its ministers as to the soundAt length, after a further parley, her heart is sequence, it is a church destitute of even the ness or unsoundness of their faith; and, by contouched, or at least she pretends it is, by the fa- profession of Christianity. This total want of vored swain. After certain preliminaries between all spiritual discipline, this culpable indifference the girl and her parents, her lover is admitted to everything which in all ages has been considthrough the window; where the affiance is sign-ered necessary to salvation, has caused a very ed and sealed, but not delivered, in the presence large secession from the Established Church; of both father and mother. By the consent of and, what is more to be regretted, there are all parties, the ceremony is not to extend beyond among its ranks some of the most pious, learned, a couple of hours; when, after a second jollifi- and influential ministers of Geneva. cation with the kirschwasser, they all retire-the happy man to bless his stars, but the rejected to console themselves with hope that at the next accept its constitution. Its administration is intournament of love-making they may succeed trusted to a Consistory of twenty-five lay and The National Church is composed of all who better. In general, the girl's decision is taken in six ecclesiastical members. They are elected by good part by all, and is regarded as decisive.all the Protestants of the Canton possessed of There are, however, exceptions. Some years ecclesiastical rights. Pastors are appointed by ago, a stranger, who had received the preference the Protestant citizens of the parish, and conof the girl of a village near Meyringen, fell by firmed by the Consistory. The Consistory dethe hands of assassins, supposed to have been cides in all cases of doctrine and discipline. It those who were keeping the kiltgang with him. On a more recent occasion, a youth from a neigh-deprivation. boring village having presented himself at a kiltmay submit pastors to censure, suspension, and gang was cruelly beaten and sent about his business. This occurred at Grinderwald. strangers, of whom it would appear they are ters of Geneva do not confine their labors to the Other The worst part of it is, that the parish minisparticularly jealous, for they desire to keep all parish to which they are elected, but are obliged their own lasses to themselves,-have been strip-to preach alternately for a month in each of the ped, besmeared, and paraded barefoot through other churches. the village; and, what is still more barbarous that if in any particular parish they choose to It does indeed seem strange, and disreputable, they have been followed by the elect a Socinian, the inhabitants of the next parhooting and pelting, not only of the youths ish, who may eschew that form of doctrine, themselves, but of the whole community, and af- should nevertheless, be compelled to have such terwards ducked in a horse-pond. a teacher, probably for a fourth part of the year. Mr. Heathman speaks more hopefully of * ** to receive her young pupils in her ample lap. She has stuck her trident on the isle of Heligoland, and hoisted the Union Jack on the top, to give notice to all whom it may concern that here is a dépôt for the foreign legion which the English government is raising in Germany, to help us and our real allies in the Crimea. From Household Words. A VERY TIGHT LITTLE ISLAND. SIZE is not the only element of value, even in the case of landed estates, wherein men have a special hankering after elbow-room. Bulk does not constitute brilliancy, nor does immensity necessarily imply importance. Dry deserts that may be measured by geographical degrees, sterile steppes overstriding half. Look at the map of Europe: there is a spice an empire's surface, Patagonian plains (lumps of humor in the choice of the spot. The adof the world's original paste, or dough, rolled vantages which it offers for the purpose are out with an endless rolling-pin) are but ci- quite out of the common way. In time of phers compared with tiny patches of earth peace, Heligoland is an advanced sentinel, who whose area, if cut out of them would be no can constantly keep her eye open on what is more missed than a kernel of wheat from a passing in the north of Germany. In war, she sack of corn. Etna and Vesuvius outweigh is a little Gibraltar, from which, as a centre in the moral, if not in the material balance, Britannia can send her cruisers to wander whole chains of ordinary mountains. Runny- about, her scouts to spy, and even her smugmede was not a common-place mead, nor Vau- glers to trade. At all times, therefore, in cluse a vulgar fountain. The spot shines, like spite of its tightness and exiguity, Heligoland phosphorescent adamant, with its own proper is by no means to be sneered at, as a posseslight, as well as with every ray it catches from sion of importance to the United Kingdom; every luminous object near it. No trifling of being a sort of outstretched snail's-eye, which this bright territorial diamond-dust glitters on allows us to watch whatever is in the wind on the British diadem. Besides the great central the North-German coast, at the mouths of its sun at home, she has distant outposts-fixed two main commercial arteries, Holstein and stars, twinkling merrily here and there through- Holland. At the present moment, Heligoout the dark vastness of terrestrial space land, in reference to Great Britain, is in a powhich cheer the British wanderer, and help sition analogous to that of the mouse in the him wonderfully to steer his way. There are fable and the lion caught in the net. Tedescan Gibraltar, Malta, St. Helena, and Ascension: art has woven round us meshes and snares the beloved of aldermen, the tomb of turtle. composed of four points, conferences, propoThere are Ceylon, Newfoundland, Cape Town, sitions, and mediations; but this little bit of and Corfu, none of which would be estimated pet-land enables us to laugh in our sleeve at in the market by the number of acres of land the cunning of diplomatic huntsmen. Accordthey contain. Last, and least, there exists ing to the reports of the government agents another little jewel-a clear chip of rock crystal, a pure cairngorum-to the translucent brilliancy of whose native water recent circumstances have acted as the foil. from all quarters, recruiting for the foreign legion goes on most satisfactorily, notwithstanding the covert repugnance of some governments, and the open hostility of others. Great numbers of recruits are constantly arriving at the Heligoland dépôt, where a considerable number are still being trained and organized, and where they are behaving themselves so well that the fashionable world of the Hanse towns, although a little frightened at first are again flocking to their favorite dot in the ocean for their annual sea-dips in it. At the foot of Denmark, out in the North Sea, in front of the mouths of the rivers Elbe and Weser, facing Cuxhaven in Hanover and also commanding the island of Neuwerk, is another little island called by us Heligoland (Helgoland by the Germans), which will help us to smile with unaffected pleasure and grin the grin of gladness, at the moment when we are receiving the sincere sympathy, the ami- The history of Heligoland is very simple. able assistance, the frank friendship, and the In the fourteenth century the Danes had escandid coadjutorship, of our dear, dear allies tablished a fort there; then, its only church the Germans in general, and the Austrians paid a quit-rent to the chapter of Schleswig. and Prussians in very particular particularity. Afterwards Hamburg exercised over it the siWe find it convenient to enroll a few foreign multaneous rights of lordship and protectorate; soldiers; and King Hiccup and his friends and, a desperate quarrel about herrings, ended are so pleased at our doings, that they testify in its being bombarded and taken by Denmark; a disposition to provide board and lodging at but, in eighteen hundred and seven, it was their own expense, both for English agents taken by the English. For many years Majorand the recruits they may raise. It is a long General Sir Henry King reigned over Heligoway, too, and the road is not quite straight land as governor. On this high functionary from the Tom Thumb German dukedoms to devolved the surveillance of the island and its the shores of Albion. Britannia, therefore, lighthouse, besides the office of judge and umsteps forward a great deal more than half way pire over the internal disputes of the inhab itants. The present ruler is Sir John Hindmarsh, necessarily a captain in the navy, to preside over this extraordinary marine bit of territory. While the continental blockade lasted, Heligoland was of inestimable value to England as a convenient warehouse for smuggling. north-east, stands the Upper Town, with about three hundred and twenty houses, and a church dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron of fishermen and babies (whether pickled or fresh). From this point the rock still rises, till it attains the Alpine elevation of a hundred and ninety feet above the level of the sea. Not far off This molecule in the midst of the waters (nothing is far off here) stands the light-house, is two thousand two hundred paces long, six erected by the English with no other materihundred and fifty broad at the widest part, als than stone, iron, and copper. Its rays comand some five thousand yards, or thereabouts, mand an extensive horizon, notifying distinctly in circumference. It will be supposed that to the wave-tossed traveller: "This is I! railroads are things uncalled for; nay; even Heligoland, who shine so bright. Pursue your that coaches-and-six, tandems, dog-carts, and way, by the help of my luminous finger-post." high-mettled racers, are not in high request. But a beacon is an old establishment in HeligoThe island may contain a sedan-chair, or vinai- land. In 1673, the Hamburgians built a phagrette, for fashionable ladies; but the actual ros on the eminence called the Backeberg, existence of such a vehicle the deponent had wherein they kept up a cheerful coal-fire, rather not affirm on oath. A hop-skip-and- sometimes burning, during winter nights, as jump tour of her Majesty's tight little island, much as four hundred pounds of coal. is not an impossibility; and an intellectual flea, or a literary gnat, may one day give to the impatient world a nice little volume, with map and woodcuts, entitled, "Travels in Heligoland." On approaching the island from Hamburg, it looks like a triangular rock surrounded by the sea on every side. The colors it presents have been transferred to the flag it has had the modesty to set up; which is red, white, and green; and Heligoland has not only a national flag, but a national minstrelsy. Here is a refrain apropos to both: Red is the strand, Green is the band; Those are the colors of Heligoland. To the south-east, only a little morsel of level ground is perceptible-a tiny tongue of land, which is dignified by the title of The Unterland or Lowlands, and which rises gradually to the foot of the rock, to about five-and-twenty feet above the level of the sea. On this stands the lower town, composed of something like eighty houses. In a gorge of the rock is a new staircase, which connects it with the Oberland or Highlands. This staircase, decorated with a smart iron railing, is ten feet wide, is composed of one hundred and seventy-three wooden steps, divided into three revolutions, at the bottom of each of which are seats to rest upon, and oil-lamps to show light on winter nights. After this, do not boast of the luxury of Lon don and Paris! On the summit of the rock, towards the Do not suppose that the continent of Heligoland is so poor as to be without its dependent islet - a faithful satellite who never deserts it. Rather better than half-a-mile from Heligoland, on the south-east side, is Sandy Island, which is of the greatest consequence to the tight little mother-country, because on that are taken the sea-baths, which put a considerable revenue into Heligoland's pockets. And why should not your marine six weeks be spent just as well at Heligoland as at Abergavenny, Brighton, Boulogne, or Etrebat? For lodgings, you have plenty of houses built of brick; so that you need not be afraid of finding room. The natives are hospitable, polite, sober, and hard-working, and are as well worth study as the rock on which they dwell. The men are active on the sea, and exercise no other calling than that of pilots or fishermen ; the women attend to the housekeeping and gardening, for there is no Royal Heligoland Agricultural Society. You may lodge either in the upper or the lower town, though the former is preferred for its more extensive seascape and its unlimited supply of breezes, genuine and fresh as imported. There are neither taxes, duties, nor custom-house officers. For anti-ichthyophagous persons, who cannot eat fish from morning till night, the steamers from Hamburg bring plenty of meat, besides fruit and first-class vegetables. The terrestrial fauna of Heligoland is limited, and would not require the zeal of a Cuvier to describe it. It contains cocks and hens, domestic rabbits, pigs, dogs, cats, sheep, mice, fleas, flies, gnats, earthworms, beetles, sparrows, and a few other well-known species, of equal interest to the scientific world. It generally has one cow; but only during the fashionable season; for, at the approach of winter, it is made into beef, and a new one imported next year. But its oceanic treasures are numberless. If you wish for a good fieldday amongst the real game of Heligoland, put |