When You Asked Them The Price Of Their Wares They Always Said, "_Au
Plaisir_" I. E., Whatever You Please; But When We Came To Offer
Them Money, We Found "_Au Plaisir_" Meant So Much At _Any
Rate_, And As Much More As They Could Get.
There were some children who straggled up with the party, who offered
us flowers and crystals "_au plaisir_" to about the same intent
and purpose.
This _cortege_ of people, wanting to sell you
something, accompanies you every where in the Alps. The guides
generally look upon it with complacency, and in a quiet way favor it.
I suppose that the fact was, these were neighbors and acquaintances,
and the mutual understanding was, that they should help each other.
It was about twelve o'clock, when we gained a bare board shanty as
near the top of La Flegere as it is possible to go on mules.
It is rather a discouraging reflection that one should travel three or
four hours to get to such a desolate place as these mountain tops
generally are; nothing but grass, rocks, and snow; a shanty, with a
show case full of minerals, articles of carved wood, and engravings of
the place for sale. In these show cases the Alps are brought to market
as thoroughly as human ingenuity can do the thing. The chamois figures
largely; there are pouches made of chamois skin, walking sticks and
alpenstocks tipped with chamois horn; sometimes an entire skin, horns
and all, hanging disconsolately downward.
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