SWITZERLAND. 



491 



cattle, and obtain excellent water from the mountain 

 springs and streams. The herdsmen give an account 

 of the milk, butter and cheese, to the owners of the 

 cattle, or pay them a stipulated portion of the pro- 

 ceeds. (See Sewn.) The glaciers, more than 400 in 

 number, are either the barren parts of the moun- 

 tains, or heights which consist only of snow and ice. 

 These icy mountains begin in the canton of Glarus, 

 and extend to the Orisons, thence to the canton of 

 Uri, and, finally, down to Berne. The glaciers are 

 produced by rocky valleys, whose declivities are 

 too small to admit of the ready descent of the water 

 of the melted snow and ice, so that they are gradu- 

 ally filled up by vast masses of snow and ice, which 

 accumulate in them. The continual alternation of 

 hill and valley affords the most striking natural 

 scenes in every part of S witzerland. In some places, 

 within a short distance, one may see at the same 

 time all the seasons of the year ; and it is often pos- 

 sible to stand between spring and summer, so as to 

 collect snow with one hand, and to pluck flowers 

 from the soil with the other. Every mountain has 

 ita waterfalls; and, as their sources are sometimes 

 lost in the clouds, the cataracts seem to descend 

 from the skies. Switzerland abounds in lakes and 

 rivers, the fisheries of which are valuable, and which 

 serve to embellish the landscape. But none of the 

 streams are navigable. The lake of Ziirich, one of 

 the largest in Switzerland, is twenty-five miles in 

 length by three in breadth. The lake of Geneva 

 is about fifty miles long and eight to ten wide. 

 The lake of Neufchatel, twenty-eight by six, and 

 the lake of Lucerne or the Vierwaldtstiidtersee, 

 twenty-five miles long, and, where widest, as many 

 broad, are celebrated for their beautiful environs. 

 The largest rivers are the Rhine, the Reuss or 

 Riiss, the Rhone, and the Tessino or Ticino. The 

 Rhine is remarkable for its falls, and the Reuss for 

 a bridge, called the Devil's bridge, which leads over 

 it in the canton of Uri. It connects two moun- 

 tains, between which the water rolls at the depth 

 of seventy-live feet below it. There are springs 

 of excellent water among the hills, with warm and 

 cold baths, and mineral springs. In Thurgau, a 

 part of Ziirich, Basle, Schaffhausen, Berne, Soleure 

 and Friburg, every thing is different; for, although 

 there are some mountains, yet this part of Switzer- 

 land is more level ; there are here no Alps, no 

 cataracts, few trees, and, in summer, neither ice 

 nor snow. In ger ^ral, the foot of the mountains 

 almost every when s covered with farms, meadows, 

 vineyards and trees; and even amidst the rocks, 

 there are numerous cultivated patches. Switzer- 

 land is rich in minerals, especially lime and clays, 

 slate, black, gray, and dark-red marble, porphyry 

 and alabaster (especially in Valais) ; also quartz, 

 crystals (weighing sometimes 7 8 cwt.), peat, 

 coal, &c. Silver, copper and iron ore likewise oc- 

 cur. Gold dust is found in the rivers. The flora 

 of Switzerland is peculiarly rich. The cultivation 

 of the vine is carried to a great extent, and a con- 

 siderable trade is carried on with France, Holland, 

 Britain and Suabia. Fruits are abundant, but corn 

 is not produced in great quantities, owing partly to 

 the great numbers of cattle which are raised here. 

 The breeding of cattle is the chief employment of 

 the inhabitants, for which the rich pastures of the 

 valleys and hills afford great advantages. The 

 Swiss cheeses are imported in great numbers into 

 Germany, France and Italy. Of the wild animals, 

 the most important is the chamois (q. v.); the 

 ibex, the marmot, and the liitnmcrycicr, or vulture 



of the Alps, are also found. As to manufactures, 

 those of linen, cotton, and, of late years, silk, are 

 the most important. The Swiss confederacy, ac- 

 cording to the terms of the federal compact between 

 the twenty-two cantons (Zurich, August 7, 1815,) 

 is a federative state of twenty-two republics, who 

 conduct their domestic concerns wholly indepen- 

 dently of one another. Appenzell and Underwal- 

 den, however, consist of two distinct parts; and, in 

 1832, Basle was also divided into two Rhodes. 

 The confederacy, as its limits were determined by 

 the congress of Vienna (art. 74 84), contains an 

 area of 18,490 square miles, or, according to some, 

 of 14,769, with a population, in 1827, of 2,037,030 

 persons. Among them are 1,217,210 Protestants 

 (mostly Calvinists), 817,110 Catholics, 900 Ana 

 baptists, 1810 Jews, in 92 cities, 100 market towns, 

 7400 villages and hamlets. The size and popula- 

 tion of the cantons are as follows: 



Crtntons. 9q. milca. Po^ulalion. 



Zurich 953 224,150 



Berne, 3665 356,710 



Lucerne, 7G2 105,600 



Uri 608 13,930 



SchweiU, 466 36,040 



Underwalden 258 23,150 



Glarus 460 28,000 



Zug, 116 14,710 



Friburg-, 487 67,814 



Soleure 487 54,380 



Basle, . . . . . . .275 55,330 



Schaffhausen 169 28,050 



Appenzell, 222 57,510 



StGall 847 157,700 



Grisons 2966 98,090 



Aargau 762 152,900 



Thurgau, 349 89,845 



Tessin, 1133 103,950 



Pays de Vaud, 1483 178,880 



Valais, 1!)49 77,570 



Neufchatel, . 296 56,640 



Geneva, 95 53,560 



Consequently Geneva is the most populous; next 

 comes Appenzell; the least populous cantons are 

 the Grisons, Uri and Valais. The German lan- 

 guage is common to nearly the whole country, with 

 the exception of the Pays de Vaud, Geneva and 

 Neufchatel, and a part of the cantons of Valais and 

 Friburg, where the French prevails. Italian is 

 spoken only in a part of the Grisons and in Tessin ; 

 Romanish at the sources of the Rhine and Ladin, 

 on the Inn. The Germans are 1,428,671; French, 

 438,489; Italians, 119,970, and those who speak 

 the Ladin and Romanish languages, 48,090. The 

 prevailing religion is, in some of the cantons, 

 Catholic ; in others, Calvinism ; and in others, 

 mixed. There are 120 monasteries, of which Tes- 

 sin has the most (18); 59 for monks, and 61 for 

 nuns ; among them are seven Capuchin houses. 

 In 1815, Switzerland contained all that had pre- 

 viously belonged to it, with the exception of Miihl- 

 hausen and the Valteline. Frickthal, with the 

 cities of Lauffenburg and Rheinfelden, which be- 

 longed to Austria, were annexed to the canton of 

 Aargau. Gersau (for 500 years a free state, and 

 the smallest in Europe, with 1294 citizens, mostly 

 engaged in the manufacture of silk), by an act of 

 the congress of Vienna and the decision of the diet, 

 was again made a part of the canton of Schweitz. 

 In 1815, France ceded some places in Gex, and the 

 king of Sardinia the city of Carrouge, with some 

 villages on the left shore of the lake and on the 

 Rhone, to Geneva. The fortress of Hiiningen, in 

 Alsace, opposite to Basle, has been demolished. 

 The castle and lordship of Rhsizins, above Coire, 

 on the Rhine, in the Grey League, which formerly 

 belonged to Austria, were ceded to the Grisons by 

 an act of the congress of Vienna, January 19, 1819 



