orm they observed that a company of porters
were employed in carrying all the trunks and baggage from the cars to
the custom house, and that the passengers were going into the custom
house too, though by another door. Mr. George and Rollo went in with
them. They found an office within, and a desk, where one or two
secretaries sat and examined the passports of the travellers as they
successively presented them. As fast as they were examined they were
impressed with a new stamp, which denoted permission for the travellers
to pass the Swiss frontier. The several travellers, as fast as their
passports were examined, found right, and stamped, were allowed to pass
between two soldiers through a door into another hall, where they found
all the trunks and baggage arranged on a sort of counter, which extended
around the centre of the room, so as to enclose a square place within.
The custom-house officers who were to examine the baggage were within
this enclosure, while the travellers who owned the baggage stood
without. These last walked around the counter, looking at the trunks,
boxes, bundles, and carpet bags that covered it, each selecting his own
and opening the several parcels, in order that the officers within might
examine them.

The object of examining the trunks of passengers in this way is, to
ascertain that they have not any _goods_ concealed in them. As a general
thing, persons are not allowed to take _goods_ from one country to
another without paying a tax for them. Such a tax is called technically
a _duty_, and the avails of it go to support the government of the
country which the goods are carried into. Travellers are allowed to take
with them all that is necessary _for their own personal use, as
travellers_, without paying any duty; but articles that are intended for
sale as merchandise, or those which, though intended for the traveller's
own use, are not strictly _personal_, are liable to pay duty. The
principle is, that whatever the traveller requires for his own personal
use, _in travelling_, is not liable to duty. What he does not so require
must pay duty, no matter whether he intends to use it himself or to sell
it.

Many travellers do not understand this properly, and often get into
difficulty by not understanding it, as we shall see in the sequel.

Mr. George and Rollo went into the baggage room together, showing their
passports as they passed through between the soldiers. They then walked
slowly along