If a country’s roads be the “measure of its civilization,” Switzerland would be easily first. Many of the roads, specially in the Alpine districts, represent an immense cost and the boldest engineering. There is not in the country a road for the use of which toll is charged; for, to their apprehension, a toll would be a contradiction of the very purpose for which the road was made. There is a road-master (_wegmeister_) for every Commune, but he is appointed and paid by the Canton. Though there is so much rainfall, the soil being permeable and favorable to the percolation of the water, the roads, even after a heavy rain, rapidly become dry and clean; everywhere you find them as skilfully constructed and vigilantly repaired as the drives through a park; the cost of their construction and maintenance is defrayed by cantonal and communal taxation. The importance of the mountain roads is recognized by a provision in the constitution, by which the Cantons of Uri, Grisons, Ticino, and Valais receive an annual indemnity on account of their international Alpine roads; to Uri 80,000 francs; to Grisons 200,000 francs; to Ticino 200,000 francs; to Valais 50,000 francs, with an additional indemnity of 40,000 francs to the Cantons of Uri and Ticino for clearing the snow from St. Gothard road, so long as that road shall not be replaced by a railroad.[84] These sums are to be withheld by the federal government if the roads are not kept in suitable condition. The “_fremden-industrie_,” or exploitation of foreigners, is not the least profitable industry of the country. There are over 400 mountain resorts, and, in fact, for months the entire country is one great consolidated hotel company.[85] Palatial hostleries with metropolitan _menus_ and _salles à manger_, bengal lights and brass bands, reached by cable roads, are perched on crags where only the eagle used to build his eyrie or the chamois seek refuge. In July and August a quarter of a million tourists fill this little mountain country through its length and breadth with their joyfulness and jargon. This annual irruption constitutes a perennial well-spring of good fortune to many branches of industry and to a large number of Swiss people. CHAPTER XVI. PEASANT HOME AND LIFE. “Mid the murmurings of his fountains, And the echoes of his mountains, Where the lordly eagle soars, Where the headlong torrent roars, He is, as he was meant to be, Poor and virtuous, calm and free.”