During the
first period, he requires only occasional shelter from storms of
excessive violence; during the latter, a sufficient protection from
continued inclement weather. The Alpine or summer cottage, therefore, is
a rude log hut, formed of unsquared pine trunks, notched into each other
at the corners. The roof being excessively flat, so as to offer no
surface to the wind, is covered with fragments of any stone that will
split easily, held on by crossing logs; which are in their turn kept
down by masses of stone; the whole being generally sheltered behind some
protecting rock, or resting against the slope of the mountain, so that,
from one side, you may step upon the roof. That is the _chalet_. When
well grouped, running along a slope of mountain side, these huts produce
a very pleasing effect, being never obtrusive (owing to the prevailing
grayness of their tone), uniting well with surrounding objects, and
bestowing at once animation and character.
[Footnote 5: I use the word Alp here, and in future, in its proper
sense, of a high mountain pasture; not in its secondary sense, of a
snowy peak.]
41. But the winter residence, the Swiss cottage, properly so-called is a
much more elaborate piece of workmanship. The principal requisite is, of
course, strength: and this is always observable in the large size of the
timbers, and the ingenious manner in which they are joined, so as to
support and relieve each other, when any of them are severely tried.
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