me. The water of many of the Swiss lakes is as clear as crystal, so that
white objects at their bottoms may be discerned at great depths.

While sailing along the Lake of Geneva one day, I could as little see
substance in the water below me, when I looked upon it at a certain
distance from the steamer, as in the clear sky; both seemed alike blue and
boundless!

The weather and the temperature changes very suddenly among the high Alps.
The climate in the valleys of Switzerland is as warm as ours, in summer,
while some thousand feet higher lie the everlasting glaciers. From these,
avalanches of cold air precipitate into the valleys, so that the mercury
often falls from 20 to 30 degrees in ten minutes! One is in danger of
taking "a cold" every day in Switzerland.

Besides "The Alps" and the _lovely lakes_ among them, the tourist may also
see castles, museums, art galleries, pleasure gardens, &c., in
Switzerland, but I will only enumerate a few of the most striking objects
that I met and saw in this curious country, and then pass on to Italy.

One of the bridges of Lucerne is adorned with very curious paintings
representing the "Dance of Death." Scores of skeletons, some blowing the
bugle or playing with the triangles, others equipped with hoes and spades,
are jubilant over their work!

One of the finest organs in Europe is the far-famed one at Freiburg,
having 67 stops and 7,800 pipes, some of them 33 feet long. This
instrument has such a range of volume that it can simulate the roaring
thunder as well as the faintest echo. The portal of the same cathedral
which contains the famous organ is also adorned (?) with a curious