B E R 



contrive to water their meadows without any fixed niles, 

 and dung them in winter, they never drain thole that arc 

 niarfny, and water is left to ftagnate on the fides of flopes 

 and declivities. In the cold vallies, where in April tlie fnow 

 remains at the depth of fome feet, they frequently ftiew 

 mould on its furface, which foon melts it, and thus various 

 gardens are cultivated in the midft of large trafts of fnow. 

 Potatoes have been lately planted, and are become a favour- 

 ite food of the people, and in many cafes have been fublli- 

 tuted for bread inllcad of coi-n. The Alpine l>ean, ground 

 into flour, ferves the fame pui-pnfe ; whillt its leaves fupply 

 fodder for the flieep, and its ilalk litter for tiie pens. Since 

 the introduclion of the commerce of cheefe, the cultivation 

 of corn has been annually decreafing. Some few fpots of 

 ground are, houever, fown with wheat and barley, and 

 others witli hemp and flax, whicii are very thriving. The 

 operations of the dairy render them negligent in the culture 

 of fruit-trees ; nevertlulefs, plum, cherry, pear, and apple- 

 trees, are fcattered here and there, but are nowhere collefted 

 into an orchard. In the German parts of Sanenland, they 

 boil cheiTies with cloves and cinnamons into a kind of pafte, 

 whicli is preferved good for thirty years. Mixed with a few 

 grains of mullard-leed, and other fpices, they ufe it as a 

 f.veet muftard ; and beaten together with fpices and juniper 

 berries, tiiey allow it to ferment, ard drink it as a red beer. 

 For want of fome regulation about their woods, whole forefts 

 are cut for palings to inelofe their meadows, which loon be- 

 come rotten, and ufelefs even for fuel. Madder irrows in this 

 dillriifl wild and high. The moll beautiful and moll fertile 

 fpots of the canton of Berne are on the lidts of the lakes 

 of Geneva and Neufchatel, where grow the moll excellent 

 fruits, and where are made the moll valuable wines. In this 

 canton are found a variety of coloured earths and clays, 

 fome of which are ufed for pottery, and Hones of different 

 forts, plaller of Paris, cryllal, fait fprings, coal, fulphur, 

 mines of iron, copper, lead, and lilvey, and medicinal baths. 

 Tiiey count in this canton 39 towns, great and fmall, and 

 1300 villages. The rivers that water it, are the Aar, the 

 Emmat, the Wigger, the Rcr.fz. the Limniat, the Sanen, 

 and the Kandcl. Tiie principal lak ; is that of Geneva ; be>- 

 lidcs which there are thofe of Neufchatel, Biel, Murat, or 

 Murten, Tluin, Brientz, and Halwyl, all which abound in 

 iilh. The i)art of the chain of the Alp^ feen from Rem, is 

 dillingnilhed by the different names of Wetterhorn, Schreck- 

 honi, Finiler Aar-horn, Viefeherhorn, Exterior and Inte- 

 rior Eger, Eungfrace horn, Gletcher horn, Ebenelhih, 

 Mittaghorn, Briethom, I/auterbrunen, Blumlis Alp, and 

 Neifs; and it forms an arHphitheatre, gradually riling from 

 tlie environs of the city to elevatL-d peaks, covered with eter- 

 nal fnow, and hitherto inaeccfflble. The Jungfrau, or Vir- 

 gin, is one of the higliell and moll beautiful mountains in 

 llie canton of Bern. 



The following table exhibits the height of the principal 

 Alps in this canton. Eng. Feet 



Finlterariiorn, . . . ij.,11') 



Jangfrauhorn, 



Mouch, 



Schreckliorn, 



F.iger, 



W ttterhorn, 



AU Els, 



Frau, 



Doldenhorn, 



Niefen, 



Morgenberghorn, 



Hohgant, 



Stockhorn, 



13,510 



1 3 •.^97 

 13,086 

 12,217 

 12,194 



12,153 



12,039 



7,829 



7,290 



r,ji8 



B E R 



The prevailing language is the German ; but the people . 

 of faihioii I'peak either French or ItaUan ; and the commoH 

 people in the Pays de Vaud, and in thofe parts that border 

 on France and Italy, ufe a corrupt French or Italian, or a 

 jargon, foumled on both. The caabliilied religion is Calvi- 

 nifm; and the minillers are divided into deaneries and claflcs, 

 and hold yearly chapters or fynods. They are more inde- 

 pendent of tlie civil power than in the other cantons, and 

 are forbidden 10 interf.re in matters of ftate. The nobility 

 of Bern are accufed of an extraordinary degree of pride aiul 

 flatelinels, and affeft to keep the citizens and pcrlbns of 

 lower rank at a great diftance. As the whole power of go- 

 vernment, and all the lionourable offices of Hate, are in their 

 hands, they are not permitted to engage in trade ; and with- 

 out the places and pcnfiors which they enjoy, they mull be 

 poor and wretched. The lucrative offices being thus in the 

 liands of the nobility, it might be imagined that people of 

 the middle and lower ranks are indigent and opprelltd. This, 

 however, is by no means the cafe ; for the citizens, i. e. the 

 merchants and trades-people, feem in general to enjoy all the 

 comforts and conveniences of life ; and the peafantiy is un- 

 commonly wealthy throughout the whole canton of Bern. 

 They poifefs the privilege of bearing arms, and form a very 

 rcfpielable body of military, that have been ufually attached 

 to the exilling government, and particularly favoured by it. 

 The manufafturer, in this refpefl, lefs docile than the pea- 

 fant, is lefs regarded j and the government of Bern has 

 been charged with difcouraging, or at leall not zealoufly 

 promoting, manufaftures and commerce. Mr. Coxe informs 

 us, that, in his firll vilit to SvvifTerland, he found the people 

 of Bern much lefs informed, and more indifferent about the 

 encouragement of literature, than thofe of the other can- 

 tons ; their academical lludies being principally direifled to 

 thofe branches of knowledge that fitted them for the church ; 

 and the fociety for the encouragement of agriculture, which 

 was almofl the only effablillifnent tending to promote the arts 

 ajid fciences, obtained little countenance from government. 

 However, in his fecond journey, after an interval of about ten 

 years, viz. in 1786, he fays, that the government, roi*fed from 

 its former lethargy, Jiad begun to perceive that it is the in- 

 tereft of every wife ftate to elleem and proteft the fciences ; 

 and that the magiftrates had lately purchafed and appro- 

 priated at Bern a large manfion for the public library, in- 

 creafed the coUedlion of books, and procured from England 

 an exteniive apparatus for experimental philofophy. A lite- 

 rary fociety had alfo been inftituted for the promotion of 

 phyfics, and natural hiftory in general, and that of Swiffer- 

 land in particular, In January 1788, this fociety confifted 

 of ten members rcfident at Bern, of whom feveral poffefltd, 

 and others were forming, coUeftions agreeable to the plan 

 of the inllitutlon. A regular correfpondence was alfo ella- 

 bliflied in various parts of Europe ; and the members have 

 been difpofed to fatisfy the inquiries of foreign naturalills 

 relating to the natural hillory of this country. The prin- 

 cipal articles of exportation from this canton are horfes, 

 cheefe, linen cloth, coarfe cloth and canvas made of hemp, 

 cloth of cotton, and woollen fluffs. It is faid that 10,000 

 pieces of hnen have been fent annually from this canton ; 

 tiic principal part of which has been conveyed to Lyons. At 

 Bern they have manufaftures of filk, chiefly fluffs, and co- 

 loured llockings,. In the wellern part of the mountains, 

 the principal employment is clock-making, and the policing 

 of talfe ftones. 



Bern, a city of Swifferland, and capital of the canton of 

 that name above defcribed, derives its name, as it has been 

 faid, from a " bear," which was found there when its foun- 

 dations y,ai laidj " berne" in German fignifying bears; 



a;id 



