To one who has through life been obliged to work hard for a bare
subsistence, labour appears the greatest evil, and perfect idleness the
greatest blessing. If this soldier had been brought up in idleness, and
had experienced all the horrors and dejection which attend indolent
luxury, very possibly he would be of a different opinion.
During this journey, I remarked, that in some particular villages, and
for a considerable tract of country, scarcely was there any body to be
seen who had that swelling of the throat and neck, which is thought so
general among all the inhabitants of the Alps. In particular, I did not
observe any body at Prieuré with this complaint; and, upon enquiry, was
informed, that there are many parishes in which not a single person is
troubled with it, and that in other places at no great distance it is
almost universal.
In the valley of Chamouni there is only one hamlet where it is common;
but in the Pays de Vallais, I was told, it is more frequent than in any
other place.
As this disease seems to be endemical, it cannot, as has been imagined,
proceed from the drinking of water impregnated with snow or ice; for
this beverage is common to all the inhabitants of the Alps, and of other
mountains.
If the water be in reality the vehicle of this disease, we must suppose
it impregnated not only with dissolved ice and snow, but also with some
salt, or other substance, possessed of the noxious quality of obstructing
the glands of the throat; and we must also suppose, that this noxious
substance is to be found in no other inhabited place but the Alps.
After one of the inhabitants of Chamouni had enumerated many parishes
where there were, and others where there were no Goîtres (which is the
name they give this swelling), he concluded by telling me, I should see
them in great abundance among the Valaisans, to whose country we were
going.—When I told the man, I thought his country-people very happy,
in being quite free from such an odious disease, which afflicted their
poor neighbours—En revanche, said the peasant, nous sommes accablés des
impôts;—et dans le pays de Vallais on ne paye rien.
The d——l is in the fellow, exclaimed I.—Were it in your choice, would you
accept of Goîtres, to get free of taxes?
Très volontiers, Monsieur;—l’un vaut bien l’autre.
Quid causæ est, merito quin illis Jupiter ambas,
Iratas buccas inflet.
You see, my friend, that it is not in courts and capitals alone that
men are discontented with their fortunes. The causes of repining are
different in different places; but the effect is the same every where.
On the morning of the sixth day, we bid adieu to Prieuré; and having
ascended the mountains, which shut up the valley of Chamouni at the end
opposite to that by which we had entered, after various windings on a
very rugged road, we gradually descended into a hollow of the most dismal
appearance.
It is surrounded with high, bare, rugged rocks, without trees or verdure
of any kind, the bottom being as barren and craggy as the sides, and
the whole forming a most hideous landscape. This dreary valley is of a
considerable length, but very narrow. I imagine it would have pleased the
fancy of Salvator, who might have been tempted to steal a corner of it
for one of his pieces, which, when he had enlivened with a murder or two,
would have been a master-piece of the Horrible.
Having traversed this, we continued our journey, sometimes ascending,
then descending into other vallies whose names I have forgot.—We had a
long continued ascent over Mount Noir, a very high hill, covered with
pine-trees, many of which are above a hundred feet in height. I was
obliged to walk on foot most of this road, which is full as steep as any
part of that by which we had ascended Montanvert.
We came at length to the pass which separates the King of Sardinia’s
country from the little republic, called the Pays de Vallais. Across this
there is an old thick wall, and a gate, without any guard. This narrow
pass continues for several miles.—A few peasants arranged along the upper
part of the mountains could, by rolling down stones, destroy a whole
army, if it should attempt to enter into the country by this road.
When you have patted through this long defile, the road runs along the
side of a high and steep mountain; but is still so very narrow, that two
persons cannot with safety go abreast, and all passengers are entirely
at the mercy of those who may be posted on the higher parts of the
mountain.
From the side of the mountain on which we passed, we could have spoken
to the people who inhabited the side of the mountain opposite. But I am
convinced it would have taken three or four hours walking, to have gone
to them: Because we must, by a long, oblique tour, have first reached
the bottom of the cleft between us, and then have ascended to them, by
another long, fatiguing path, which could not be done in less time than I
have mentioned.
Wherever there is a spot of the mountain tolerably fertile, and the slope
less formidable than usual, you are almost certain to find a peasant’s
house. All the houses are built of the fine red pine, which grows near at
hand. The carriage of this, even for a short way, upon those very steep
mountains, must have been attended with no small difficulty and danger.
These dwellings are raised on wooden props, or pillars, two or three
feet above the ground. On the top of each pillar a large flag or broad
stone is placed, to obstruct the entrance of rats.—Indeed the situation
of these abodes is so very aerial, that they seem almost inaccessible to
every animal that has not wings, as well as to rats.
The road led us at length to the summit, which is level, and covered
with pines for several miles. Having traversed this, and descended a
little on the other side, the lower Vallais opened to our view. Nothing
can be imagined more singularly picturesque:—It is of an oval form,
about seven leagues in length, and one in breadth, surrounded on all
sides by mountains of a stupendous height, the lower parts of which are
covered with very rich pasture.—The valley itself is fertile in the
highest degree, finely cultivated, and divided into meadows, gardens,
and vineyards. The Rhone flows in beautiful mazes from the one end to
the other.—Sion, the capital of the Vallais, is situated on the upper
extremity, and the town of Martigny on the lower, many villages and
detached houses appearing all over the valley between them. The prospect
we had now under our eye formed a striking and agreeable contrast with
the scenes we had just left. The distance from this point to Martigny,
which stands near the bottom of the mountain, is about six miles. There
is one continued descent the whole way, which is rendered easy by the
roads being thrown into a zig-zag direction.
After the rugged paths we had been accustomed to, it was, comparatively
speaking, rest, to walk down this mountain.—We arrived at Martigny
refreshed, and in high spirits.