We followed an Alpine path for some four miles, now hundreds of feet
above a brawling stream which descended from the glaciers, and now
nearly alongside it. The morning was cold and somewhat foggy, for the
autumn had made great strides latterly. Sometimes we went through
forests of pine, or rather yew trees, though they looked like pine; and
I remember that now and again we passed a little wayside shrine,
wherein there would be a statue of great beauty, representing some
figure, male or female, in the very heyday of youth, strength, and
beauty, or of the most dignified maturity and old age. My hosts always
bowed their heads as they passed one of these shrines, and it shocked
me to see statues that had no apparent object, beyond the chronicling
of some unusual individual excellence or beauty, receive so serious a
homage. However, I showed no sign of wonder or disapproval; for I
remembered that to be all things to all men was one of the injunctions
of the Gentile Apostle, which for the present I should do well to heed.
Shortly after passing one of these chapels we came suddenly upon a
village which started up out of the mist; and I was alarmed lest I
should be made an object of curiosity or dislike. But it was not so. My
guides spoke to many in passing, and those spoken to showed much
amazement. My guides, however, were well known, and the natural
politeness of the people prevented them from putting me to any
inconvenience; but they could not help eyeing me, nor I them. I may as
well say at once what my after-experience taught me—namely, that with
all their faults and extraordinary obliquity of mental vision upon many
subjects, they are the very best-bred people that I ever fell in with.
The village was just like the one we had left, only rather larger. The
streets were narrow and unpaved, but very fairly clean. The vine grew
outside many of the houses; and there were some with sign-boards, on
which was painted a bottle and a glass, that made me feel much at home.
Even on this ledge of human society there was a stunted growth of
shoplets, which had taken root and vegetated somehow, though as in an
air mercantile of the bleakest. It was here as hitherto: all things
were generically the same as in Europe, the differences being of
species only; and I was amused at seeing in a window some bottles with
barley-sugar and sweetmeats for children, as at home; but the
barley-sugar was in plates, not in twisted sticks, and was coloured
blue. Glass was plentiful in the better houses.
Lastly, I should say that the people were of a physical beauty which
was simply amazing. I never saw anything in the least comparable to
them. The women were vigorous, and had a most majestic gait, their
heads being set upon their shoulders with a grace beyond all power of
expression. Each feature was finished, eyelids, eyelashes, and ears
being almost invariably perfect. Their colour was equal to that of the
finest Italian paintings; being of the clearest olive, and yet ruddy
with a glow of perfect health. Their expression was divine; and as they
glanced at me timidly but with parted lips in great bewilderment, I
forgot all thoughts of their conversion in feelings that were far more
earthly. I was dazzled as I saw one after the other, of whom I could
only feel that each was the loveliest I had ever seen. Even in middle
age they were still comely, and the old grey-haired women at their
cottage doors had a dignity, not to say majesty, of their own.
The men were as handsome as the women beautiful. I have always
delighted in and reverenced beauty; but I felt simply abashed in the
presence of such a splendid type—a compound of all that is best in
Egyptian, Greek and Italian. The children were infinite in number, and
exceedingly merry; I need hardly say that they came in for their full
share of the prevailing beauty. I expressed by signs my admiration and
pleasure to my guides, and they were greatly pleased. I should add that
all seemed to take a pride in their personal appearance, and that even
the poorest (and none seemed rich) were well kempt and tidy. I could
fill many pages with a description of their dress and the ornaments
which they wore, and a hundred details which struck me with all the
force of novelty; but I must not stay to do so.
When we had got past the village the fog rose, and revealed magnificent
views of the snowy mountains and their nearer abutments, while in front
I could now and again catch glimpses of the great plains which I had
surveyed on the preceding evening. The country was highly cultivated,
every ledge being planted with chestnuts, walnuts, and apple-trees from
which the apples were now gathering. Goats were abundant; also a kind
of small black cattle, in the marshes near the river, which was now
fast widening, and running between larger flats from which the hills
receded more and more. I saw a few sheep with rounded noses and
enormous tails. Dogs were there in plenty, and very English; but I saw
no cats, nor indeed are these creatures known, their place being
supplied by a sort of small terrier.
In about four hours of walking from the time we started, and after
passing two or three more villages, we came upon a considerable town,
and my guides made many attempts to make me understand something, but I
gathered no inkling of their meaning, except that I need be under no
apprehension of danger. I will spare the reader any description of the
town, and would only bid him think of Domodossola or Faido. Suffice it
that I found myself taken before the chief magistrate, and by his
orders was placed in an apartment with two other people, who were the
first I had seen looking anything but well and handsome. In fact, one
of them was plainly very much out of health, and coughed violently from
time to time in spite of manifest efforts to suppress it. The other
looked pale and ill but he was marvellously self-contained, and it was
impossible to say what was the matter with him. Both of them appeared
astonished at seeing one who was evidently a stranger, but they were
too ill to come up to me, and form conclusions concerning me. These two
were first called out; and in about a quarter of an hour I was made to
follow them, which I did in some fear, and with much curiosity.
The chief magistrate was a venerable-looking man, with white hair and
beard and a face of great sagacity. He looked me all over for about
five minutes, letting his eyes wander from the crown of my head to the
soles of my feet, up and down, and down and up; neither did his mind
seem in the least clearer when he had done looking than when he began.
He at length asked me a single short question, which I supposed meant
“Who are you?” I answered in English quite composedly as though he
would understand me, and endeavoured to be my very most natural self as
well as I could. He appeared more and more puzzled, and then retired,
returning with two others much like himself. Then they took me into an
inner room, and the two fresh arrivals stripped me, while the chief
looked on. They felt my pulse, they looked at my tongue, they listened
at my chest, they felt all my muscles; and at the end of each operation
they looked at the chief and nodded, and said something in a tone quite
pleasant, as though I were all right. They even pulled down my eyelids,
and looked, I suppose, to see if they were bloodshot; but it was not
so. At length they gave up; and I think that all were satisfied of my
being in the most perfect health, and very robust to boot. At last the
old magistrate made me a speech of about five minutes long, which the
other two appeared to think greatly to the point, but from which I
gathered nothing. As soon as it was ended, they proceeded to overhaul
my swag and the contents of my pockets. This gave me little uneasiness,
for I had no money with me, nor anything which they were at all likely
to want, or which I cared about losing. At least I fancied so, but I
soon found my mistake.
They got on comfortably at first, though they were much puzzled with my
tobacco-pipe and insisted on seeing me use it. When I had shown them
what I did with it, they were astonished but not displeased, and seemed
to like the smell. But by and by they came to my watch, which I had
hidden away in the inmost pocket that I had, and had forgotten when
they began their search. They seemed concerned and uneasy as soon as
they got hold of it. They then made me open it and show the works; and
when I had done so they gave signs of very grave displeasure, which
disturbed me all the more because I could not conceive wherein it could
have offended them.
I remember that when they first found it I had thought of Paley, and
how he tells us that a savage on seeing a watch would at once conclude
that it was designed. True, these people were not savages, but I none
the less felt sure that this was the conclusion they would arrive at;
and I was thinking what a wonderfully wise man Archbishop Paley must
have been, when I was aroused by a look of horror and dismay upon the
face of the magistrate, a look which conveyed to me the impression that
he regarded my watch not as having been designed, but rather as the
designer of himself and of the universe; or as at any rate one of the
great first causes of all things.
Then it struck me that this view was quite as likely to be taken as the
other by a people who had no experience of European civilisation, and I
was a little piqued with Paley for having led me so much astray; but I
soon discovered that I had misinterpreted the expression on the
magistrate’s face, and that it was one not of fear, but hatred. He
spoke to me solemnly and sternly for two or three minutes. Then,
reflecting that this was of no use, he caused me to be conducted
through several passages into a large room, which I afterwards found
was the museum of the town, and wherein I beheld a sight which
astonished me more than anything that I had yet seen.
It was filled with cases containing all manner of curiosities—such as
skeletons, stuffed birds and animals, carvings in stone (whereof I saw
several that were like those on the saddle, only smaller), but the
greater part of the room was occupied by broken machinery of all
descriptions. The larger specimens had a case to themselves, and
tickets with writing on them in a character which I could not
understand. There were fragments of steam engines, all broken and
rusted; among them I saw a cylinder and piston, a broken fly-wheel, and
part of a crank, which was laid on the ground by their side. Again,
there was a very old carriage whose wheels in spite of rust and decay,
I could see, had been designed originally for iron rails. Indeed, there
were fragments of a great many of our own most advanced inventions; but
they seemed all to be several hundred years old, and to be placed where
they were, not for instruction, but curiosity. As I said before, all
were marred and broken.
We passed many cases, and at last came to one in which there were
several clocks and two or three old watches. Here the magistrate
stopped, and opening the case began comparing my watch with the others.
The design was different, but the thing was clearly the same. On this
he turned to me and made me a speech in a severe and injured tone of
voice, pointing repeatedly to the watches in the case, and to my own;
neither did he seem in the least appeased until I made signs to him
that he had better take my watch and put it with the others. This had
some effect in calming him. I said in English (trusting to tone and
manner to convey my meaning) that I was exceedingly sorry if I had been
found to have anything contraband in my possession; that I had had no
intention of evading the ordinary tolls, and that I would gladly
forfeit the watch if my doing so would atone for an unintentional
violation of the law. He began presently to relent, and spoke to me in
a kinder manner. I think he saw that I had offended without knowledge;
but I believe the chief thing that brought him round was my not seeming
to be afraid of him, although I was quite respectful; this, and my
having light hair and complexion, on which he had remarked previously
by signs, as every one else had done.
I afterwards found that it was reckoned a very great merit to have fair
hair, this being a thing of the rarest possible occurrence, and greatly
admired and envied in all who were possessed of it. However that might
be, my watch was taken from me; but our peace was made, and I was
conducted back to the room where I had been examined. The magistrate
then made me another speech, whereon I was taken to a building hard by,
which I soon discovered to be the common prison of the town, but in
which an apartment was assigned me separate from the other prisoners.
The room contained a bed, table, and chairs, also a fireplace and a
washing-stand. There was another door, which opened on to a balcony,
with a flight of steps descending into a walled garden of some size.
The man who conducted me into this room made signs to me that I might
go down and walk in the garden whenever I pleased, and intimated that I
should shortly have something brought me to eat. I was allowed to
retain my blankets, and the few things which I had wrapped inside them,
but it was plain that I was to consider myself a prisoner—for how long
a period I could not by any means determine. He then left me alone.