Those forms of clouds called cumuli, (P.G. Gewitter Wolken), presenting
themselves the appearance of mountains covered with ice, often creep
around these peaks at less than half their height! At Zurich I first
beheld the strange sight of mountains and clouds piled upon each other so
that I could not well distinguish them. It was on a sunny afternoon that I
stood on the banks of the _Zuricher See_ (Lake Zurich) and, looking over
its calm waters, I beheld in the distant southeast a strange phenomenon.
There stood the high glittering banks of clouds, and over them I saw the
black sides of a towering peak whose top was covered with ice and snow. I
then visited the Rigi and looked at Alpine Switzerland from its giddy
heights. This, since the railroad has been completed to its top, is one
of the most famous mountains in Switzerland. Though it stands beneath the
line of perpectual snow, its top being covered with grass in summer, still
it commands a panoramic view of indescribable grandeur. Numerous hotels
stand around the top where thousands of tourists find shelter during the
summer nights, and among them is one of the finest hotels in the world.
When fall comes, all the landlords must take their families and move down
from the mountain, as it would be impossible to keep the track of the
railroad clear during the winter to bring up the necessary provisions for
them. The snow is often from 10 to 20 feet deep on these Alps.

All Swiss scenery, whether one is on the lakes, upon the mountains, or in
the valleys and ravines, is singularly charming, and bears no resemblance
to the scenery which one sees elsewhere; so that for this lack of having
something with which to compare it, no one can do it justice in any
description short of a volume. The reader will therefore pardon our haste
in this country. One who sees the rest of Europe and not Switzerland, will
not miss any particular links in the historic chain of social, religious
and political development of the human race, but he will not have seen the