The Rothhorn of the Canton Berne lies inland from the Lake of Thun, and sends down towards the lake a ridge sufficiently lofty, terminating in the Ralligstoecke, or Ralligflue, the needle-like point, so prettily ridged with firs, which advances its precipitous sides to the water.

These precipices were formed in historic times, and the sheer face from which half a mountain has been torn stands now as clear and fresh as ever, while a chaos of vast blocks at its foot gives a point to the local legends of devastation and ruin caused by the various berg-falls.

Two such falls are clearly marked by the _debris_: one of these, a hundred and fifty years ago, reduced the town of Ralligen to a solitary Schloss; and the other, in 1856, overwhelmed the village of Merligen, and converted its rich pastures into a desert cropped with stones.

A traveller in Switzerland, at the beginning of this century, found that the inhabitants of Merligen were considered in the neighbourhood to be _d'une stupidite et d'une betise extremes_, and I am inclined to believe that after the last avalanche a general migration to Gonten must have taken place.
Christian's patois was of so hopeless a description, that I was tempted to give it up in despair, and walk on in silence.

Still, as we were together for a whole long day, for better or for worse, it seemed worth while to make every effort to understand each other, else I could learn no local tales and legends, and Christian would earn but little _Trinkgeld_; so we struggled manfully against our difficulties.