Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/106

122 hurled to the plain. Here Reichenbach, most abundant in water and romantic beauty; there the three-armed Alpenbach, which, in spring, becomes dangerous from its floods. We are in Ober-Hasli, in the district where, it is said, in ancient times, a Swedish Colony established itself. I this morning paid a visit to Pastor Immer, a learned and sensible man who has lived a long time in the valley, in order to obtain from him such information as he could communicate on this subject. I have seldom conversed with a more agreeable or sensible man, and seldom seen such kindly moonlight beam from a full-moon countenance. The tradition which furnished the subject of our conversation, and which has been handed down from the most ancient time, from one generation to another, is this:

Up in some old country which lay far away in the north, amongst the Swedes and Frieslanders, there was once upon a time a famine. In consequence of this, the whole community met together, and it was decided by vote that every tenth man of the people should leave the country. These men, so elected, besought of God to show them a country where, as in their fatherland, protected from the power of tyranny, they might keep their flocks and herds in peace. God led them therefore to the country Brockinburg, where they established Schwytz. As the chronicles of the middle ages give to Sweden, as well as to Schwytz, the name Sueeia, therefore Sweden is considered to be the northern country from which the Swiss province