. The fascination of Switzerland. s will inquire about your you the next day make excursion fromLugarno up the Lake towards Porlezza you willbe leaving Switzerland for Italy, and Oria willproduce its Italian officers to demand what youare carrying. These Italian lakes are fine hunting-groundsfor smugglers, especially for Italian ones. Italyputs heavy taxes on imported articles, not merelyon luxuries, but also on necessaries, such as salt,sugar, and petroleum, while other things, likematches, are Government monopolies, and thepeople are not allowed to buy any others,al
. The fascination of Switzerland. s will inquire about your you the next day make excursion fromLugarno up the Lake towards Porlezza you willbe leaving Switzerland for Italy, and Oria willproduce its Italian officers to demand what youare carrying. These Italian lakes are fine hunting-groundsfor smugglers, especially for Italian ones. Italyputs heavy taxes on imported articles, not merelyon luxuries, but also on necessaries, such as salt,sugar, and petroleum, while other things, likematches, are Government monopolies, and thepeople are not allowed to buy any others,although the articles are sold at ridiculously highprices. The peasants are very poor, and find itvery hard to buy the barest necessaries of the winter, it is said, they often have to go tobed at four oclock because they cannot afford tobuy oil for a lamp. This occurs in the Plain otLombardy—one of the richest and most fertileplains of Europe. So it is little wonder that menwho are boatmen or fishermen by day find it eX90. OF SWITZERLAND other rivers citing and lucrative to turn smugglers by night,and many a little boat steals from a secludedcreek, and swiftly crosses the watery frontierladen with untaxed necessaries. A whole armyof Government officials are on the watch withswift boats and searchlights, but it is found thatwherever a Government imposes oppressive taxesits officials are corrupt. Those on these Swiss-Italian lakes are no exception, and a well-placedbribe has been known to affect the searchlight, sothat it throws its beams in a quarter away fromthe laden boat. Few greater contrasts can be found than thosebetween one of the lakes north of the Alps, andone of those on the Italian side—between, say,the Lakes of Lucerne and Lugarno. Lucerne isbounded by steep mountains capped with snow,Lugarno by hills clothed above by walnut-treesand chestnuts. The typical Swiss villages in theNorth are replaced by the long arcades, such asthose of Morcote, or the roadless
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1912
