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a prodigality of horned cattle, and, what a passer-by can 

 better appreciate, pleasant villages. Cream, honey, am 

 butter, are the overflowings of the land.' (Slight Re.mim 

 sce.nces of the Rhine, Switzerland, &c.. by a Lady, London 

 1834.) 



' Whichever side one looks to (says another traveller on 

 the road from Thun to Bern), the appearance of ease am 

 comfort meets the eye a result of the fertility of the soil 

 an intelligent husbandry, and of the habit of order whiel 

 characterizes the Bernese peasant. A multitude of dwell- 

 ings, scattered over the smiling hills, are seen through the 

 foliage of the trees, and on each side of the road, behinc 

 thick hedges carefully trimmed, rises a row of cherry-trees 

 high and with wide-spreading branches. Here property is 

 sacredly respected, as almost every family is possessed o: 

 something. The farm-houses have a substantial appearance 

 which is pleasing to the eye: many of them which are below 

 the level of the road have a sort of draw-bridge, by means ol 

 which carts are enabled to drive to the hay-loft or granary, 

 and deposit there the hay or sheaves of corn from the fields. 

 Fountains are seen spouting on every side, and even in the 

 arrangement of the manure-heaps a tidiness and cleanliness 

 are observed, which are features of the national character. . . . 

 Many of the wealthy Bernese peasants (' hof-bauern') hold 

 from 200 to 300 jucharts of land (the juchart is 4 0,000 square 

 French feet), besides possessing considerable capital in 

 money, which enables them to practise farming and the 

 rearing of cattle on a large scale. Almost all of them have 

 received elementary education, and they constitute the nota- 

 bles of their respective villages and districts. They enjoy 

 considerable local influence, and are in a manner the lords 

 of the country : they shoot on their lands, fish in their own 

 streams and ponds, and are able to give employment to their 

 poor neighbours. The lowest rank of the country people, 

 called Hausler, or Tiiuner, are cottagers and journeymen, 

 who have a small house or hut, with a patch of ground or 

 garden, and a few fruit-trees. They are rude and unin- 

 formed, improvident, and generally in debt: they marry 

 very young, and rear up swarms of children who go about 

 lu'irijing or pilfering. This class is of course dissatisfied, 

 and is generally at variance with the wealthier inhabitants. 

 Since the Revolution of 1830 their numbers have given 

 them considerable influence at the elections, especially as 

 the great landholders have withdrawn themselves from 

 politics. Between the Tiiuner and the Hofbauern there is 

 an intermediate class of peasants or small proprietors, pos- 

 sessing from ten to forty jucharts, and this class is said to 

 be the most moral of the three. 



' As one approaches the capital of the canton, the number 

 of country houses built of stone, and belonging to the wealthy 

 citizens, increases. They are neat and rural, without any 

 refinement of architecture, but substantial and spacious, en- 

 joying a fine prospect, in the midst of fine trees and grass- 

 plots, a profusion of flowers, and an abundance of fountains.' 

 (Walsh's Voyage en Suisse et en Limbardie, 1834.) 



The roads through the canton of Bern are wide, well con- 

 structed, and kept in excellent repair. The mails and the 

 diligences, or stage-coaches, are also very well organized. 

 The inns on the road are good. It has been observed that 

 the ronds and the public buildings are the only magnificent 

 works in the canton of Bern. 



The canton is divided into districts or prefectships, for- 

 mRflycalled bailiwicks, of which there are twenty-two in the 

 old territory of Bern : namely, Bern, Scftigen, Nidau, Aar- 

 berjr, Fraubrunnen, Burgdorf, Wangen, Aarwangen, Trach- 

 gelwald, Signau, Konolfingen, Thun, Intcrlaken, Laupen, 

 Ei-lach, Buren, Obersimmenthal, Niedersimmenthal, Saa- 

 nen, Frutigen, Obcrhasli, and Schwarzenburg ; and six 

 in the territories acquired in 1815: namely, Bienne, Neu- 

 veville, Porentrui, Delemont, Val Moutier, and the Erguel. 

 The towns of the canton, besides Bern, are Bienne, Burg- 

 dorf, Thun, Porentrui, and Delemont. 



The canton of Bern produces corn, though not sufficient 

 for the consumption of the population, but fruit in abundance, 

 especially apples, pear*, plums, nuts, and cherries. From 

 the cherries the spirit called kirschwasser is made, which, as 

 well as the extract from absinth or wormwood, are articles 

 of common use, as in the rest of Switzerland. Beer and cider 

 are made in the country. The vine thrives in a few dis- 

 tricts, chiefly in that of Nidau near the lake of Bienne, where 

 wine is made. Hemp and flax are also among the products 

 of the soil ; but cattle and the produce of the dairy consti- 

 tute the chief wealth of the country ; cheese is made in 



abundance for exportation, especially in the valleys of Em- 



menthal, Simmenthal, and Gessenai or Saanen. The use 

 of coffee and sugar is universal even in the most se- 

 cluded valleys. Irrigation and the making of artificial 

 meadows are much followed in the valleys, and the moun- 

 tains afford summer pasture in abundance. There are 

 dairies in common, where the milk of several herds is 

 put together and made into butter and cheese. In 1819 

 there were about 158,000 heads of horned cattle in the can- 

 ton of Bern : some of the races are among the largest and 

 finest in all Switzerland. The number of horses in the 

 same year was 25,000. That of pigs was reckoned at about 

 55,000. (Franscini, Statistica.) 



The land in the canton of Bern, as in most other parts of 

 Switzerland, is divided equally among all the children. 

 When the farmers are in good circumstances, the law of inhe- 

 ritance does not produce a too great subdivision of land, as 

 one of the sons generally purchases or rents his brothers' 

 shares, or the brothers continue to live together and cultivate 

 the farm in common. In the Emmenthal the land descends 

 to the youngest son, who pays his brothers and sisters their 

 portion by mortgaging the estate. But in the poorer dis- 

 tricts, such as the Oberland, the increase of the population, 

 the minute subdivision of property, and the consequent 

 practice of raising money by mortgages, have reduced the 

 population to beggary. M. Kasthofer asserts, that it would 

 be difficult to find in all Oberland twelve peasants who pos- 

 sess twenty arpents of land in cultivation, or such an extent 

 of meadow as would winter twenty cows. The number of 

 cows has consequently diminished, ami that of goats has 

 increased. A custom which has tended to encourage early 

 marriages exists in many communes, that of giving to a 

 Wing man, on his marrying, a portion of the common land, 

 jesides other privileges, which he could not possess as a 

 Jachelor. Poor laws were established in the canton of 

 3ern in the seventeenth century, at a time when numerous 

 lordes of beggars were strolling through the land, and had 

 )ecome a great nuisance. The communes were ordered to 

 ax themselves in order to provide for their respective poor. 

 Phis compulsory system of relief, which closely resembles 

 hat of the English poor laws, has tended to perpetuate and 

 ncrease pauperism in the country. The cantonal govern- 

 ment has endeavoured to check the evil by various ordi- 

 nances, one of which forbids any person who receives assist- 

 ance from marrying without the permission of the municipal 

 council of the commune ; the commune may also oblige any 

 >erson whom it has once assisted to reimburse the amount 

 if the relief whenever he becomes able to do so. Persons 

 assisted are subject to a strict superintendence of their con- 

 luct, &c. Pauperism, however, has been fast increasing ; 

 n the year 1828 there were nearly 20,000 persons receiving 

 assistance in the old canton of Bern, about 1-1 6th of the 

 copulation (the districts in the Jura not included). See an 

 nteresting report from Bern, communicated by Mr. Morier 

 n the Appendix (F) to the Report of the Poor Laws Com- 

 mission, February, 1834. The government of Bern is now 

 iccupied with a plan of reform for the poor laws. 



The canton of Bern is not, properly speaking, a manufac- 

 uring country. Linen is made in many places, sufficient 

 or the internal consumption : there are tanneries at Bern, 

 s well as a few manufactories of silks, coarse woollens, and 

 Japer. Mathematical instruments, watches, and jewellery, 

 nuskets, and other arms, are made at Bern, Porentrui, &c. 

 'he Bernese gunpowder is excellent, and far superior in 

 uality to the French : the manufacturing of it is free, and 

 ot subject to monopoly as in France. At Correndelin, 

 Jntervilier, and other places in the valleys of the Jura, there 

 re iron-works and foundries, the iron-ore being found in 

 .bundance in the mountains. The manufacture of agricul- 

 ural implements has been carried to great perfection at Mr. 

 T ellenberg's establishment at Hofwyl. Timber for building 

 nd fuel are supplied by the mountain forests, and from 

 ther woods in several parts of the lowlands. 



The lakes of Bienne and Thun and the river Aar abound 

 nth various sorts of fish, especially of the trout and salmon 

 ind. Hares, chamois, marmots, and partridges are the prin- 

 ipal game. Bears and wolves are found in the higher Alps, 

 ut in small numbers. Among the birds of prey, the Lam- 

 ner-geyer, the great vulture of the Alps, is the largest, 

 liough not very common : some are of very great size, and 

 pill carry off a lamb to the mountains, from which circum- 

 tance their name is derived. 



The government of Bern was, until the end of the last 



