the ascent of another peak of the “Rigi,” the “Schneideck.” We plunged again into an ocean of clouds, nearly at hand’s reach. When the clouds cleared away, we mistook forests for patches of green grass, and mighty trees for thorn shrubs. It was as if we gazed down from a balloon. An odd sensation, I had never experienced it before! When we reached the _Kaltbad_ station, a group of yellow-haired children brought us bunches of Edelweiss, a small white flower which grows on the top of high mountains. _Kaltbad_ is famous by its splendid and spacious hotel, full of bustle and movement. The vestibule was filled with English and American tourists, walking about and talking. They all seemed to know one another. The hotel has a splendid situation about two thousand feet above the sea-level, and offers every possible comfort to its guests. Notwithstanding its great altitude, it has every modern improvement, even gas-works. We were far above the clouds, whilst we took our coffee on the verandah. A storm broke out beneath us suddenly, peals of thunder resounded and the rain began to fall in torrents, whilst above us the sky was perfectly blue and the sun shone brightly. On our way back to Lucerne, at the sight of the descent we had to make, terror seized me. It looked the most break-neck thing in the world, and it made me quite giddy to look down into the valley which is about nine hundred feet below. The hill was so steep that you felt as if you were going to pitch head first down it when you began to descend. We got back to our hotel just in time for our well-earned dinner. The next day, having put our heavy luggage in deposit at the warehouse, we proceeded on our journey, and went to rove about Switzerland. In the first place we are going to Interlaken. We have reached Alpnacht by steamboat, and had great difficulties in getting seats in the brakes that run to Interlaken, the passengers had to take them by assault. We waited for our turn with a surprisingly long delay; the huge conveyances, with six powerful horses put to them, were filling fast, and there were still no places assigned to us. At last we were provided with a supplement in the shape of a landau. There was room for four in our carriage, two seats were already occupied by a very cross German lady and her daughter, who looked at us as if they wished to order our instant execution. They were most peevish companions and grumbled all the way that _der Papa_ had been placed into another supplementary conveyance. We made sustained efforts at conversation, but only received rebuffs. Really, I quite expected them to bite us.