he broken, snow-crowned peaks
of the Kamor and the Hohe Kasten stood like livid spectres of mountains
against the stormy sky. I made haste to reach the compact, picturesque
little town, and shelter myself in an inn, where a landlady with rippled
golden hair and features like one of Dante Rossetti's women, offered me
trout for dinner. Out of the back window I looked for the shattered
summits of the Sentis, which rise five thousand feet above the valley,
but they were invisible. The vertical walls of the Ebenalp, in which are
the grotto and chapel of Wildkirchli, towered over the nearer hills, and
I saw with regret that they were still above the snow line. It was
impossible to penetrate much farther without better weather; but I
decided, while enjoying my trout, to make another trial,--to take the
road to Urnaesch, and thence pass westward into the renowned valley of
the Toggenburg.

The people of Inner-Rhoden are the most picturesque of the Appenzellers.
The men wear a round skull-cap of leather, sometimes brilliantly
embroidered, a jacket of coarse drilling, drawn on over the head, and
occasionally knee-breeches. Early in May the herdsmen leave their winter
homes in the valleys and go with their cattle to the _Matten_, or lofty
mountain pastures. The most intelligent cows, selected as leaders for
the herd, march in advance, with enormous bells, sometimes a foot in
diameter, suspended to their necks by bands of embroidered leather; then
follow the others, and the bull, who, singularly enough, carries the
milking-pail, garlanded with flowers, between his horns, brings up the
rear. The Alpadores are in their finest Sunday costume, and the sound of
yodel-songs--the very voice of Alpine landscapes--echoes from every
hill. Such a picture as this, under the cloudless blue of a fortunate
May day, makes the heart of the Appenzeller light. He goes joyously up
to his summer labor, and makes his herb-cheese on the heights, while his
wife weaves and embroiders muslin in the valley until his return.

In the afternoon I set out for Urnaesch, with a bright boy as guide. Hot
gleams of sunshine now and then struck like fire across the green
mountains, and the Sentis partly unveiled his stubborn forehead of rock.
Behind him, however, lowered inky thunder-clouds, and long before the
afternoon's journey was made it was raining below and snowing aloft. The
scenery grew more broken and abrupt the farther I penetrated into the
country, but it