S W I T Z 
Population. 
.. 22,800 
.13,340 
.10,000 
Sit fiall . 
Neufchatel. 
Friburg. 
Lucerne. 
. 5,000 
Solothurn----- 
No part of Europe presents a higher interest than Switzer¬ 
land. To the admirer of nature it offers scenes of grandeur 
almost unrivalled ; to the observer of national manners, a 
people of great simplicity and firmness of character; while 
to the statesman it displays in a striking light the salutary 
effects of freedom and security of property. Nowhere has 
the mineralogist or botanist a wider field for investigation ; 
in no country can the poet or the painter find scenes more 
calculated to exalt the imagination. Yet, though so often 
visited by travellers, Switzerland is, in a geographical sense, 
imperfectly described in their works ; their inspection being 
almost always confined to the western or more fertile part of 
the country. Travellers from Germany commonly enter 
the Swiss territory by Schaffhausen or Bale; those from 
France, by Neufchatel or Geneva. The tours of either are 
in general confined to the Pays de Vaud, the canton of Fri- 
burg, and the level part of the canton of Berne. If ex¬ 
tended to Italy, the route is generally uniform, viz., by the 
valley of the Rhone and the Simplon. A more prolonged 
tour to the northward is sometimes made to comprise Zurich 
and the majestic fall of the Rhine, after issuing from the 
lake of Zell; but it rarely happens that travellers proceed 
from north to south into the central part of Switzerland, by 
Mount St. Gothard, through the cantons of Schweitz and 
Uri, the rugged birth-place of Swiss liberty ; and it is still 
more unusual to traverse by Coire and the Splugen, the 
wild and sequestered country of the Grisons. The British, 
when proceeding along the western half of Switzerland, 
have high mountains in prospect to the east, the south, and 
in some degree the west; but they seldom see the terrific 
grandeur of defiles and precipices. A more difficult course 
is indeed opened to those who, passing the limits of Switzer- 
erland, and entering on Savoy, approach Mont Blanc, visit 
the glaciers, travel to the eastward along the valley of Trient, 
and return by the course of the Rhone and the north side of 
the lake of Geneva. 
Face of the Country. —Switzerland, by far the most 
mountainous country in Europe, has the Alps not only along 
the whole of its southern and eastern frontier, but through¬ 
out the chief part of its interior. The only extensive track 
of level ground, or rather of vales, with mountains of more 
moderate height, being to the westward, in the cantons of 
Bale, Zurich, and part of Berne ; but even there the extreme 
frontier is formed by mountains, the Jura ridge extend¬ 
ing in a long line from north to' south. Of the valleys of 
Switzerland, the most remarkable is that of the Rhone, 
which is at once the widest, and surrounded by the 
highest mountains. The Alps vary in height, from 5000 
to 15,500 feet. After Mont Blanc, computed at 15,000 
feet, comes Monte Rosa, 14,200 feet. Mount St. Gothard, 
the great St. Bernard, and the Simplon, though well known 
as the route of travellers, are not equal in height to several 
mountains of the interior, such as Mont Cervin, 13,800 
feet; the Jungfrau-horn, the Tursteraarhorn, the Furca, 
Schreckhorn, each nearly 14,000 feet; the Wetter-horn and 
Gallenstock, between 11,000 and 12,000, &c. The Alps 
branch out into a number of lateral chains, and exhibit at 
their base, on their ascent, and towards their summit, every 
variety of temperature and product; rich corn fields or 
luxuriant pastures extending along the lower part of many 
of these mountains. The middle consists of pastures less 
productive, but containing a great variety of plants; while 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1608. 
E H L A N D, 801 
the summits are often composed of rocks, craggy, inac¬ 
cessible, devoid of vegetation, and covered with enormous 
masses of ice and snow. In some parts the transition from 
pasture to sterility takes place very gradually; in others it 
is more rapid. Here is seen a mountain whose higher ridges 
contain hamlets above the range of clouds, and pasturages 
which appear suspended in the air. There the eye per¬ 
ceives nothing but rocks, precipices, and accumulations of 
snow and ice. Every mountain has its rivulets, which dash 
from rock to rock, and frequently form beautiful cascades. 
At Staubbach, in the valley of Lauter-bronnen, in the can¬ 
ton of Berne, is a stream which precipitates itself over a 
rock of nearly 1000 feet in height. Other parts offer a 
transition from scenes bleak and savage, to landscapes of 
luxuriant verdure. Thus, on crossing Mount St. Gothard, 
and coming out of the dark subterraneous passage of Urner- 
loch, the traveller enters a valley so fresh and beautiful as 
to appear almost an illusion of the fancy. 
Switzerland is less remarkable for its minerals than might 
be expected from the extent of its mountains. Iron, how¬ 
ever, is found in several parts, particularly in the district of 
Sargans, in the east; and there are mines, or rather quarries 
of rock salt in the canton of Berne. There are mines also 
of silver, copper, and lead, in different parts; but they have 
not as yet repaid the labour of working. Marble, porphyry, 
alabaster, crystal, and sulphur, are occasionally found in the 
mountains. Of mineral waters, the most considerable are 
those of Leuck and Schintznach, and the warm baths of 
Pfeffers. 
Glaciers .—The glaciers occupy the plains or hollows 
which separate the peaks of the highest mountains, being 
lakes of frozen snow accumulated to a vast height, or rather 
depth, and detaching, from time to time, enormous masses 
called avalanches, which roll down with a frightful noise. 
The formation of glaciers takes place near the line of per¬ 
petual congelation (about 8000 or 9000 feet above the sea) 
although, in a winter of unusual rigour, their ramifications 
extend considerably lower. Their surface, in some cases 
smooth and unbroken, is in others marked by deep chasms 
and pinnacles of ice, rising in fantastic forms, and pre- 
senting to the eye the appearance of a city of crystal, with 
its glittering spires, domes, and turrets. In the long Alpine 
range, extending along the south of Switzerland, from 
Mont Blanc in the west, to the extremity of Tyrol in the 
east, are reckoned no less than 400 of these glaciers, differ¬ 
ing greatly, of course, in relative magnitude, but frequently 
extending from 16 to 18 miles in leugth, by 1 or 2 in 
breadth. Their depth can with difficulty be ascertained, 
but is supposed to vary from 100 to 600 feet; the total 
extent of their surface has been calculated at 1000 square 
miles. To explain the manner of their formation, their 
periodical increase and diminution, and to discuss the ques¬ 
tion whether their extension continues to be considerable 
or not, is the province of the naturalist more than of the 
geographer. We shall merely add, that the formation of 
glaciers requires such an intensity of cold, that none are 
found in France, or in the interior of Germany, Russia, or 
Spain ; the only parts of Europe, except the Alps, that con¬ 
tain them, being a few of the most elevated tracks of the 
Pyrenees, and the bleakest parts of the mountains of Norway 
and Lapland. 
Rivers. —No country is better provided with water than 
Switzerland, particularly in the summer, when the melting 
of the snow affords a copious supply, and swells the rivers 
generally to a third or fourth above their size in winter. 
The Rhone, rising in the centre of the country, holds a 
westerly course, flowing through a beautiful valley, and 
pouring into the lake of Geneva a stream which, turbid at 
its influx, becomes pure and transparent when issuing out 
of the lake. The Ticino collects the waters flowing from 
Mount St. Gothard and the adjoining Alps, whose aspect 
is towards Lombardy. The Aar, rising on the northern 
slope of the central Alps, receives the tribute of numberless 
streams flowing towards the western or more level parts of 
9 S Switzer- 
