The Cattle Are Kept Here In
Spring And Autumn Before And After Their Visit To The Alpe.
The
monte has many houses, dairies, and cowhouses, - being almost the
paese, or village, in miniature.
It will always have its chapel,
and is inhabited by so considerable a number of the villagers, for
so long a time both in spring and autumn, that they find it worth
while to make themselves more comfortable than is necessary for the
few who make the short summer visit to the alpe.
Every inch of the ascent was good, but the descent was even better
on account of the views of the Dalpe glacier on the other side the
Ticino, towards which ones back is turned as one ascends. All day
long the villages of Dalpe and Cornone had been tempting me, so I
resolved to take them next day. This I did, crossing the Ticino
and following a broad well-beaten path which ascends the mountains
in a southerly direction. I found the rare English fern Woodsia
hyperborea growing in great luxuriance on the rocks between the
path and the river. I saw some fronds fully six inches in length.
I also found one specimen of Asplenium alternifolium, which,
however, is abundant on the other side the valley, on the walls
that flank the path between Primadengo and Calpiognia, and
elsewhere. Woodsia also grows on the roadside walls near Airolo,
but not so fine as at Faido. I have often looked for it in other
subalpine valleys of North Italy and the canton Ticino, but have
never happened to light upon it.
About three or four hundred feet above the river, under some pines,
I saw a string of ants crossing and recrossing the road; I have
since seen these ants every year in the same place. In one part I
almost think the stone is a little worn with the daily passage and
repassage of so many thousands of tiny feet, but for the most part
it certainly is not. Half-an-hour or so after crossing the string
of ants, one passes from under the pine-trees into a grassy meadow,
which in spring is decked with all manner of Alpine flowers; after
crossing this, the old St. Gothard road is reached, which passed by
Prato and Dalpe, so as to avoid the gorge of the Monte Piottino.
This road is of very great antiquity, and has been long disused,
except for local purposes; for even before the carriage road over
the St. Gothard was finished in 1827, there was a horse track
through the Monte Piottino. In another twenty minutes or so, on
coming out from a wood of willows and alders, Dalpe is seen close
at hand after a walk of from an hour-and-a-half to two hours from
Faido.
Dalpe is rather more than 1500 feet above Faido, and is therefore
nearly 4000 feet above the sea. It is reckoned a bel paese,
inasmuch as it has a little tolerably level pasture and tillable
land near it, and a fine alpe. This is how the wealth of a village
is reckoned. The Italians set great store by a little bit of bella
pianura, or level ground; to them it is as precious as a hill or
rock is to a Londoner out for a holiday. The peasantry are as
blind to the beauties of rough unmanageable land as Peter Bell was
to those of the primrose with a yellow brim (I quote from memory).
The people complain of the climate of Dalpe, the snow not going off
before the end of March or beginning of April. No climate, they
say, should be colder than that of Faido; barley, however, and
potatoes do very well at Dalpe, and nothing can exceed the hay
crops. A good deal of the hay is sent down to Faido on men's backs
or rather on their heads, for the road is impracticable even for
sledges. It is astonishing what a weight the men will bear upon
their heads, and the rate at which they will come down while
loaded. An average load is four hundredweight. The man is hardly
visible beneath his burden, which looks like a good big part of an
ordinary English haystack. With this weight on his head he will go
down rough places almost at a run and never miss his footing. The
men generally carry the hay down in threes and fours together for
company. They look distressed, as well they may: every muscle is
strained, and it is easy to see that their powers are being taxed
to their utmost limit; it is better not even to say good-day to
them when they are thus loaded; they have enough to attend to just
then; nevertheless, as soon as they have deposited their load at
Faido they will go up to Dalpe again or Calpiognia, or wherever it
may be, for another, and bring it down without resting. Two such
journeys are reckoned enough for one day. This is how the people
get their corpo di legno e gamba di ferro - "their bodies of wood
and legs of iron." But I think they rather overdo it.
Talking of legs, as I went through the main street of Dalpe an old
lady of about sixty-five stopped me, and told me that while
gathering her winter store of firewood she had had the misfortune
to hurt her leg. I was very sorry, but I failed to satisfy her;
the more I sympathised in general terms, the more I felt that
something further was expected of me. I went on trying to do the
civil thing, when the old lady cut me short by saying it would be
much better if I were to see the leg at once; so she showed it me
in the street, and there, sure enough, close to the groin there was
a swelling. Again I said how sorry I was, and added that perhaps
she ought to show it to a medical man.
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