‘Vol. IT.) 
18, in various places, burned for the ufe 
ef the builder; and there is fulphur in 
the vicinity. ‘The veins of brine are 
weak: that is fomewhat the ftrongeft 
which f{prings in the mountain les Fon- 
demens, in which there 1s about an eighth 
of fea falt: another near it is weaker, full 
of a fulphureous vapour, and yielding 
S{carcely above a hundredth of falt. Thote 
alfo are weak, though more copious, 
which iffue trom a free-ftone rock, two 
leagues trom thence, near the village Pa- 
nex: laftly, thofe are the moft {canty 
which in the fame tract {pring from the 
furface of the earth, beneath the high rock 
of Chamofiere. It is worthy of notice, 
that in many places a falt water perco- 
lates from a blue compact marle, in the 
centre of the mountain, round which is a 
rock compofed of very hard micaceous 
whetitone. 
Another kind of falt both efflorefces 
{pontaneoully from the rocks, even in the 
neighbourhood of the falt-{prings, and _ 1s 
alfo contained in a black foil in various 
parts of the Alps. This is manufactured 
by fome of the inhabitants into a purging 
falt, under the name of Gletfcher Salt. In 
the crevices of the rocks under Chamofiere 
is found a falt refembling native Glau- 
ber’s Salt, cooling, bitter, icy, deititute 
of regular figure, and frothing when laid 
on red hot iron. 
In common waters Switzerland excels 
almoft every country in Europe. I never 
recollect out of Switzerland to have feen 
thofe limpid and truly cryftalline waters, 
which gufh, unpolluted by any earth, 
ftrained through the pure flints of cur 
rocks. Not 2 few of them have this fur- 
ther advantage, that they neither them- 
felves freeze in the fevereft colds, nor per- 
mit common water to freeze when mixed 
with it. A rillof this kind rufhes from 
the village of Fontenai, and is carried by 
pipes to Aigle, protecting the waters 
of Grande Eau, with which it mixes, 
from the utmoit violence of froft. Stich, 
too, are the fprings in the manor farm 
of Roche, which alone fuffice for the 
whole village in the moft rigorous winters, 
when all others are frozenup. ‘The caute 
‘of this phenomenon is unknown: the wa- 
ters are extremely pure, and grateful to 
the tafte.. Perhaps they are collected not 
far from their fource into fome deep fub- 
terranean lake, where, as in a natural for- 
trefs, they refift the power of froft, and in 
a fhort courfe cannot fuddenly be reduced 
from their native heat of 53 degrees, to 
that of 32. 
Further, the waters of Switzerland do 
not become fcetid on ftanding, nor pro- 
Sue.to MontTHLY Mas, Vol, II. 
Haller’ s Defcription of the Swifs Alps. 
943 
duce conferve, as is commonr in thofe of 
other countries. . ; 
Switzerland generates ftreams for al 
Europe, in the manner we have already 
mentioned. Thefe waters find on all fides 
declivities prepared fer them, through 
which they deicend into the greater val- 
lies, as thofe of the Valais, the Valtelline, 
the Grifons, &c. and empty into the fub= 
alpine lakes, with which Switzerland 
abounds. ‘The rivers, however, tiever lay 
afide all their favage character: for the 
Rhine has two cataraéts between Schaff- 
haufen and Bafil, and a moft rapid current 
both at Schaffhaufen, and between Lauf- 
fenburg and Rheinfelden. The Aar, fixty 
leagues from its fource, runs through a 
dangerous and rapid channel above the 
town of Brugge. ‘The Rhone, below the 
Leman lake, finks into the earth in the 
midft otf rocks. The Inn, which the 
country of the Grifons fends to the Eux- 
ine fea, has a precipitous courfe through- 
out. The Tell, alone, both above and 
below the lake of Neufchatel, flows with 
a calm and navigable ftream. 
There is no valley in Switzerland with- 
out its rivulet; fcarcely a village which 
is not enlivened by fprings of running 
water. Wells are hardly known, except 
ina very few places, where there is no 
declivity. Hence IE cannot believe that 
ftrumous fwellings are produced by the 
impurity of the waters: for though inthe 
Valais muddy waters are drunk, yet the 
water at Bern is extremely pure, where 
neverthelefs, frumous difeafes are not ifs 
frequent in both fexes. 
It remains for me to fpeak of the moun 
taias; between which andthe Alps there 
is a great difference. The principal of 
thefe is Jura, which on one fide ftretches 
beyond Geneva towards Lyons; on the 
other, extends near fifty leagues to the 
conflux of the Aar with the Rhine, whete 
it terminates. It isa little craggy in many 
places, tame, woody, and even admitting 
the plough beneath its higheft fummits. 
In this mountain are long plams, and 
ridges like the principal; there are no 
pyramids; yet the bare fummits are not 
productive of trees. The greateft part of 
the mountain is compofed of an uniform, 
yellowith, very hard ftone, ufetul for 
building, but unfit for the carver, Jura 
abounds in iron of the beft quality. It is 
‘drier than the Alps, and in places void of 
water, even in the vallies; {0 that the ri- 
vulets of melted fnhow and ice might be 
here wifhed for. 
There are alfo in the valley of Emms, 
mountains continued from the Alps, 
though diftantly, which the country 
6b people 
