SWITZERLAND. 



SWITZERLAND. 



760 



. . .i of which eomi*** of milch cow* ; and the produce of the 

 dairy i* reckoned annually between one and two millions sterling. 

 The) ln*> raoe* of horned-cattle are those of the Kmmenthal and 

 fli*i**iillnl in the oanton of Bern, of Gruyore* in Freyburg, of 

 Qohjt. uf X.ug, of the FricVthal in the canton of Aargau, and of 

 AppefuelL The sheep are meetly of inferior breed, and the wool is 

 short and coane. Goat* are very numerous in the highlands ; pigs 

 are plentiful and fine. 



KinchwMMr i* dittilled from cherrie*, and i* commonly used 

 all over Switzerland. Walnut-oil is the common substitute for olive-oil 

 north of the Alp*. 



The highland* of Switzerland abound with timber-tree*, especially 

 fir* of various kinds, maple, beech, larch, birch, and oak-trees. There 

 are certain foreet* on the declivities of the high Alps which protect 

 the valleys beneath from the avalanches, and are therefore carefully 

 preserved; bat the rest, which for the most part are communal 

 property, are subject to great waste, through injudicious cutting, the 

 inroad* of cattle, and especially of goats, and the ravages of storms. 

 Most of the cottage* and farm-house* are built of wood, and the 

 mme material is used for fuel, the annual consumption of which is 

 enormous : a great quantity of timber is also exported to France and 

 other countries. Coal-mine* are worked in the cantons of Freyburg, 

 Vaud, Bate), and Thurgau, but the coal is mostly of inferior quality. 

 Turf is used in Aargau and other cantons. 



The Alps and other Swiss mountains contain a rich and inexhaust- 

 ible supply of summer pasture for the cattle and flocks of the greater 

 part of Switzerland. A large proportion of land in the valleys and 

 plains is kept a* grass-fields, and mowed for winter fodder, an essential 

 and rather dear article in a country so largely stocked with cattle. 

 In the two cantons of Vaud and Neufchatel the cultivation of the vine 

 obtain* the preference over the other branches of agriculture. In 

 the mountain cantons the old grass-hinds ore never broken up. 



Iron is found in the Jura ; and there are furnaces and iron-works 

 in the cantons of Vaud, Bern, Soleure, Basel, aud Aargau, and like- 

 wise in the Orisons. In the Grisons there are mines of lead, zinc, 

 and galena. Salt-springs abound in Switzerland, but they are gene- 

 rally neglected, except those of Bex in the canton of Vaud. Switzer- 

 land import* much salt from Germany and other countries. There 

 art) mineral springs at Baden and Schinznach in the Aargau, at St.- 

 Horiz, in the Grisons, and at several other places. 



The lakes and riven of Switzerland abound with fish, especially 

 trout of various kind*. In the lakes of Geneva aud Constanz theiv 

 are trout that weigh from 30 to 60 Ibs. The salmon is found in the 

 Rhine, the Aar, and the Lake of Zurich ; tench, carp, perch, eels, and 

 crab* are found in most Swiss waters. 



The game consist* chiefly of chamois, hares, marmots, and part- 

 ridge*. Bears and wolves are hunted in the Alps and the Jura. Birds 

 of prey of Urge dimensions are common in the mountains. 



Trade and Manufacture*. Switzerland has been, at least in part, a 

 manufacturing country for centuries. In the canton of Zurich the 

 manufacture of silks, florentines, gros-de-Naples, taffetas, serges, levan- 

 tines, silk-handkerchief?, and ribbons, give employment to several 

 thousand hands. The cotton-manufactures and cotton-printing estab- 

 lishment* of Zurich are also of great importance, and give employment 

 to a large number of the population. Zurich and Winterthur and 

 the villages along the banks of the Lake of Zurich are the principal 

 eat* of manufacturing industry. The cantons of St-Gall and Appen- 

 ell constitute another important manufacturing district, especially of 

 cotton good*. Appenzell manufactures some very fine plain and 

 embroidered muslins. St.-Oall also manufactures muslins and prints 

 in considerable quantities, leather, linen, glass, and goldsmith-ware. 



The city of Basel, besides being a great centre of foreign and 

 domestic trade, manufactures largely silk-ribands, silk-thread, taffetas, 

 and satins. The export of ribands from Basel to the United States, 

 Germany, Holland, Sweden, and other countries is very large. The 

 other branches of manufacture at Basel are leather, paper, and tobacco. 

 Geneva manufactures vast numbers of watches, also jewellery, and 

 muBcal-boxea, The watches and musical-boxes are sold all over 

 Europe, the Levant, America, and the north of Africa ; the jswellery 

 is cold mostly in Italy. The other branches of manufacture at 

 Genera are cabinet-work, saddlery, lithography and engraving, cutlery, 

 fire-arms, enamels, &c. 



The manufacture* of the canton of Neufchatel comprise the print- 

 ing of cottons and watch-making for the export trade. The districts 

 of Lode and La-Chaux-de-Fond, among the highlands of the Jura 

 are the great centre* of the watch-making trade. The watches are 

 exported to the same countries as those made at Geneva. The canton 

 of Thurgau has a considerable manufacture of cotton goods, several 

 cotton-f.nnting establishment*, and some linen factorie*. The small 

 ton of Olarus manufacture* a considerable quantity of cotton- 

 good, print*, and muslin*. Aargau manufactures cotton-cloth of all 

 doMripUon*, white and coloured handkerchiefs, print*, stockings, and 

 other hosiery, also silk*, and riband., aud silks mixed with wool and 

 cottons, linen*, and oulU-ry. 



The rat of the canton- of Switzerland cannot bo considered as 



nanufactunng countries, although mo*t of them have some inuiu- 



clurr., but only to lupply their own want*. Special manufactures 



are noticed in the artjclc* on the *eTeral cantons. The trade of 



Switzerland with foreign countries is founded upon the principle of 

 reciprocal trade and free transit It is greatly facilitated since the 

 invention of railroad*. These mean* of rapid transit connect Basel 

 with all the chief towns of France and Germany. A good deal of 

 Swiss produce is exported from Genoa. 



In the interior of the country there are as yet but few railroads 

 completed ; but several lines are projected, among which is a great 

 trunk line from Basel to Geneva, through Bern. This line curves 

 round the north shore of the Lake of Geneva, from Geneva to 

 Merges, whence a branch, now completed, continues along the lake 

 eastward to Lausanne. The main line runs north-by-east from Merges 

 to Yverdun (this section is completed), thence east-north-cast along 

 the east shores of the lakes of Neufchatel and Moral to Bern ; from 

 Bern north-east down the lower part of the Emmenthal and across 

 the Aar below Soleure to Olten ; and from Ulteu north-west to Basel 

 From Olten a line was authorised in 1852, running south-south-east 

 through Zoffingen to Luzern on the lake of that name, which is to 

 be navigated by swift steamers ; and from the Uri end of the lake a 

 railroad is projected to run up the valley of the Iteuss nearly to the 

 foot of the St.-Gothard. From Olten a line has been projected by 

 the Aar and the Limmat to Zurich, and thence to liorschach on the 

 Lake of Constanz, whence steamers will communicate with the ter- 

 mini of the Wurteiuberg and Bavarian railroads at Friedrichshafcn 

 and Lindau respectively on the east shore of this lake. A part of 

 the line between Zurich and Baden in Aargau is already open. In 

 connection with the Merges and Yverdun section steamers ply on the 

 lakes of Neufchiitel and Bienne, The French and Sardinian govern- 

 ments have each contemplated making railroads to terminate at 

 Geneva. 



Army. The federal army consists of the Bundesauszug, a regular 

 force which comprises men from 20 to 34 years of age ; the reserve, 

 which includes all those that have served the full time in the Bun- 

 desauszug up to their 40th year; and the Landwehr, composed of all 

 men able to bear arms, who are not enrolled in either of the preceding. 

 In 1851 the federal army numbered 108,000 men 72,000 regulars 

 and 36,000 reserve. In addition to this there are also corps of 

 cavalry, artillery, and engineers. Foreign enlistment is generally 

 prohibited, but the Swiss still volunteer to serve in foreign armies. 

 Formerly they had about 15,000 men in the service of the kings of 

 France, about half that number in the service of Holland, besides 

 several regiments in Spain, in Piedmont, and at Naples. Those 

 cantons from which the respective regiments were drawn received 

 an annual subsidy from the sla.ii for whose service they were 

 recruited. There is now (August 1855) a Swiss legion iu the British 

 service. 



The estimated revenue for 1855 is stated at 16,065,000 francs ; and 

 the expenditure at 15,475,000 francs. 



Education and Instruction. Elementary instruction is generally 

 diffused. Secondary instruction is given in gymnasia aud grammar 

 schools, which exist in most of the towns. Private schools are numer- 

 ous, aud some of them rather famous for combining industrial 

 training with scientific instruction. For higher education Switzerland 

 has the Universities of Bale and Zurich, aud the Academies of Bern, 

 Geneva, and Lausanne, in which degrees in law, divinity, and arts 

 arc granted. There are public libraries at Zurich, Bern, Basel, 

 Soleure, Luzern, St.-Gall, Aarau, Lausanne, and Geneva. Above thirty 

 newspapers and reviews, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, are published 

 in Switzerland. 



Savings banks and insurance societies are pretty numerous in 

 Switzerland. Hospitals for the infirm poor exist in every town, and 

 some of them are richly endowed. The indigent receive assist- 

 ance from the funds of the commune to which they belong. It is 

 therefore of great importance for every man to be inscribed as freeman 

 of a commune. There are also numerous local charities and subscrip- 

 tions for the poor; but there is a class of poor outcasts called 

 'heimathlosen, or people without a domicile, who are rejected by all 

 the cantons. They are people descended from individuals who lost 

 their civil rights in their respective cantons, or from foreigners settled 

 in Switzerland who did not purchase their citizenship. A few years 

 ago several cantons offered to come to an arrangement for distri- 

 buting these individuals among the cantons, and restoring them to 

 society ; but at the census of 1850 they still numbered 2198, as stated 

 above. 



History of Switzerland. The greater part of modern Switzerland 

 was known in Roman times by the name of the Country of the 

 Helvetii, a warlike and powerful Celtic people, who, after emigrating 

 from their country westward, were defeated with great slaughter near 

 Bibracte, the modern Autun, by Julius Cjesar. (Crosar, 'Bell. GalL,' i.) 

 The eastern part of Switzerland, or the present Grisons country, was 

 called Rh;ctia by the Romans, and was inhabited by a different race of 

 men, who are said to have been descended from the Etruscans. 



After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans sent colonies into the 

 country of the Helvetians ; and, with the exception of the insurrection 

 (if it can be so called) in A.D. 69, when they were mercilessly treated 

 byCecina, the lieutenant of Vitelliua, as related by Tacitus (' Hist.,' 

 i. 67, 58, 59), the Helvetians remained subject to Rome till the down- 

 fal of the empire. During this long period the Roman language, and 

 Roman habits aud mariners, became prevalent throughout Helvetia, 



