This made him perfectly happy; and when I answered his question touching cheese in a similar manner, only limiting him to a pound and a half, he rushed off for a large wicker _hotte_, spacious enough for the stowage of many layers of babies; and in it he packed all our properties, and all his provisions.

The landlord had made his own calculations, and put it at 3lbs.

of bread and 2lbs.

of cheese; but I cut down the bread on account of its bulk, before I saw the size of the _hotte_, and Christian seemed to think he had quite enough to carry.
It was about half-past nine when we started from the _auberge_; and after a short mount in the full sun, we were not sorry to reach the pleasant shade of walnut trees which accompanied us for a considerable distance.

The blue lake lay at our feet on the right, and beyond it the Niesen stood, with wonted grandeur, guarding its subject valleys; more in front, as we ascended transversely, the well-known snow-peaks of the Bernese Oberland glittered high above the nearer foreground, and, sheer above us, on the left, rose the ragged precipices whose flank we were to turn.