A very interesting custom formerly existed in the Tyrol. The wealthiest of the peasants advanced to such young men as appeared to be most industrious, active, and intelligent, a sum of money, to be laid out in the productions of the country, and which were to be sold or exchanged for foreign commodities. Sometimes the fulfilment of these commissions required a voyage beyond sea. The agent, having procured his goods, set out furnished with every thing calculated to ensure the success of the enterprise. Having disposed of his merchandise, he returned home, called together his employers, and delivered to them the proceeds of the goods with which he had been entrusted. Each took up the sum he had contributed, and the overplus belonged to the young factor. This practice, now unfortunately fallen into disuse, affords a strong proof of the integrity of these honest mountaineers. The Tyrolese has in general all the art of a man experienced in the ways of the world, with the simplicity of a child, and in consequence, perhaps, of the injuries done to him by foreign nations, he is become more mistrustful. Still he will never commit a base action out of resentment: his soul is too proud and too elevated to employ such disgraceful means. If he attacks, it is always openly. Courageous and persevering, he spares no exertion to attain his aim. Great in adversity, he is not cast down by it; prosperity always finds him proof against its dangerous illusions: his country and her independence are all that he prizes. He cannot regret wealth, for he possesses it not: he is a stranger to pleasures, excepting those that arise from the relation of husband and father: hardships do not affect his robust frame, accustomed to all sorts of privations, and inured to the inclemency of winter. Thus from his earliest youth he climbs the glaciers barefoot, and that he may be the more unrestrained in his motions, he never covers his knees with any garment. Finally, the first sports of his childhood consist in gliding from the tops of the mountains in light sledges: an amusement which, were he less expert, would expose his life a thousand times to the most imminent danger. These people, so kind and so hospitable to the unarmed stranger, or to him who needs their protection, are most formidable to the invader of their country, or the violator of their ancient institutions. Bold and skilful marksmen, accustomed to the use of arms and to the chase, they soon become excellent soldiers, whose address is equal to their courage. It must be confessed, however, that as regular troops, the Tyrolese display greater bravery on the mountains than in the plains, where they imagine that they have not the same advantages.