vin ordinaire, mixed with water, will be found the best quencher of thirst.

An alpenstock will be found of great service in making mountain excursions, especially in feeling your way in crossing glaciers to guard against crevasses, in sliding down icy hills, and descending steep mountains. The best are made of ash, and should be strong enough to bear a heavy man's weight when seated on the middle.

If intending to remain in Switzerland to make excursions, a small valise or portmanteau, with knapsack, should be purchased in Paris or London; also an Indiarubber or oil-skin coat. Ropes, hatchets, etc., for making high glacier excursions, will be supplied by the native guides. If not habituated to walking, make short excursions, or walk short distances at the commencement. After a few days' practice you will do much better.

Guides. It is not advisable to take couriers to Switzerland, unless they are Swiss, for the reason that guides better acquainted with the country may be found at Geneva, Basle, Interlaken, Berne, Zurich, Thun, Lucerne, Chamounix, Zermatt, Arth, and all places where they are in requirement, who will perform the duty better and cheaper, and do many things for you that couriers object to do. If making foot-excursions, they will carry your knapsack or other luggage. Then, in many instances, guides also are useless-in making excursions like the ascent of the Rigi, Pilatus, the Grimsel, the greater or lesser Scheideck, the Furca, and Brunig, they are entirely unnecessary, and you will be compelled to pay more by having them in your employment. The proprietor of your hotel will be the best person to consult on the subject, and you may depend on the information given.

Swiss guides charge from six to eight francs per day: they are expected to carry twenty pounds of luggage if in the employ of a walking tourist; in fact, they are not of much use unless to walkers, as conductors of mules and horses are ordinarily well enough informed about the route to give all the necessary information; and if several tourists are in company, it is decidedly cheaper to hire a horse or mule and trust to their driver. This is assum

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

ing that some of the party have some knowledge of French and German.

Local guides have the right to claim return wages, that is, the price agreed upon daily; but if you have made a detour, they should be paid only for the time to return to their starting-point by the most direct route.

When we mentioned above that you could always depend upon the advice given by the proprietor of your hotel at starting, we did not allude to the advice or protection given by the proprietors of the small inns on arriving, because they are entirely at the mercy of the guides; and if you have made a lengthy tour, you must have made your bargain perfectly understood, for the host can not assist you-his interests prevent his doing so, if he had the inclination.

The guides, however, are for the most part obliging and intelligent men, cool and intrepid in moments of danger, and mostly belonging to corporations, whose rules are most stringent in regard to the conduct of their members. The traveler should not blindly patronize the inns recommended by guides, as they are frequently more interested in the percentage they receive than in the comfort of their employers.

In employing guides, be particular in making them produce their book of recommendations, in which is inserted the tariff of the different excursions. Should they fail to exhibit such a book, have nothing to do with them; and any bargain you make with them put in writing. In all matters concerning baggage, make a bargain and stipulate the price. We have seen a traveler in Geneva charged fifteen francs for wheeling his baggage from the steamer to a hotel, and that being full, to another-an affair of fifteen minutes for one man. The traveler had eight trunks or pieces of baggage (not large ones). The tariff gave the porter the right to one franc per trunk, and he called it two courses. The party walked to the hotel. Eight carriages could haye been hired, each carrying two trunks and four persons, for the

same amount.

Horses and Carriages.-The ordinary price for a one-horse voiture is 20 frs. = $4, with one franc pour boire. For two horses the price is 25 frs. or 30 frs., according to locality. Return fare must be paid if the

carriage is discharged a distance from home, and so late that it can not return before night.

A horse, pony, or mule costs from 10 to 12 frs., the driver included, with 2 frs. pour boire; if too late to return the same day, double fare must be paid. In mountainous districts, where the ordinary voiture is too heavy, small char à bancs, costing 12 frs. per day, are used, with 2 frs. pour boire. When a liberal payment is guaranteed, the driver should pay all tolls, and if any accident occur to his horses, fresh ones must be substituted at the driver's cost. The driver or proprietor of your carriage should come well recommended to you, and be in a measure partly responsible for the faithful fulfillment of his (the driver's) contract. If a carriage is hired with the intention of making a lengthened tourthrough the Tyrol, for instance-it will be found safer to take it by the day; then, if the horses or carriage should not turn out to be what the traveler expects, he can discharge the driver and employ another. Under these circumstances, one is sure to be satisfied; be certain, however, that you have a contract to that effect.

On nearly all the principal routes commodious diligences run with admirable regularity, and one will have much less difficulty in adopting that mode of conveyance, especially if he can engage seats in the coupé. There are generally two or three, sometimes four; during the height of the season these should be engaged some days in advance. The interior contains four or six seats; the two corner seats behind are the best, in the middle seats but little can

be seen.

At all the central offices private diligences may be engaged by taking all the places. The speed is the same as by the ordinary diligence, but you have the privilege of stopping when and where you please by giving notice beforehand, so that you may not be behind time at the end of the journey.

During the season it is advisable to secure places in the diligence in advance, which can be done by letter or telegraph, and paying for the places when taken at the bureau de poste. State the day, the number of places, the particular places, and the direction you wish to go. Only small packages can be taken inside; other

TERRITORY.

baggage must be registered half an hour before the departure of the diligence.

The average price of places per mie in crossing the Alps is 50 centimes in the coupé, and 45 in the interior or cabriolet. On ordinary routes, forty per cent. less.

Distance is measured in Switzerland the same as in France, viz., metres and kilometres; 1 metre=3 feet 3 inches, nearly; and 1 kilometre, three fifths of a mile, nearly. A Swiss league, however, is about 3 miles, while the French league is 2 miles.

Nearly all the routes through Switzerland are measured by the hour, the same as in the Holy Land, as it is almost impossible to measure the distance over mountain-paths. A loaded horse or mule ordinarily travels about two miles an hour, and an hour's travel is based upon that calculation.

Telegraphic offices exist in every town and village, and the tariff will be found most reasonable. For 20 words, 50 centimes = 10 cents, throughout Switzerland; for every additional 10 words, 25 centimes.

The postage on letters costs, to America, 80 centimes; to Russia, 50 c.; to Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, and Holland, 30 c.; for Switzerland, 10 c. That is, for ten grammes paid in advance.

The railroads will be found in every direction in Switzerland, and the greater part of the beauties of this country may be seen without leaving these highways. The fares are reasonable, but no baggage is allowed free but what you carry with you into the cars.

Territory. The small republic of Switzerland—a land of mountains and lakes, a land of valleys teeming with vegetation, a land of glaciers, torrents, and waterfalls

is situated in the very heart of the European continent. Its greatest length is about 200 miles, and breadth 156, containing about 16,000 square miles, or about one third as large as the State of New York. Its population in 1870, when the last census was taken, was 2,669,147, or nearly 1,000,000 less than that of Pennsylvania.

It is divided into 22 distinct provinces

or cantons, which are united in the form of a federal republic. Its present constitution was adopted at a federal Diet held September 12, 1848. The Federal Council holds its sittings at Berne, which was declared a federal city November 28, 1848.

The National Assembly are elected for three years, one representative for each 20,000 inhabitants-128 members in all.

The Council of State consists of 44 members, two from each canton.

The President and Vice-President are elected for only one year.

The Federal Council, or members of the Executive, are elected for three years by the members of the Federal Assembly. They are seven in number, and have control of the following departments, viz., Political, Interior and Construction, Justice and Police, Military, Finances, Commerce, and Post-office. The minister for the department of Politics, or Foreign Affairs, is President of the Council.

The following is a list of the cantons, with their respective populations:

LAKES AND FALLS.

cent. of the population between 30 and 40 years of age; and, 3d, landwehr, men capable of carrying arms under 44 years of age: thus giving a regular army of 84,000; reserves, 50,000; landwehr, 65,000; a total of about 200,000 men.

In 1872 there were 1000 miles of railway finished in Swiss territory, and 700 miles in progress. These lines all belong to private companies, with the exception of that of Berne and Fribourg, about 100 miles.

There are about ninety steamers on the different lakes, and 3200 miles of telegraph in working order. The Alps divide Switzerland from Germany on the east, and from Italy on the south and southeast. Two thirds of its surface consist of lofty mountain chains and Alpine valleys; the remainder is a high plain, thirteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, situated between Lakes Constance and Geneva.

The principal lakes of Switzerland are Constance, Geneva, Zurich, Lucerne, Thun, Brienz, Neufchatel, and Brienne. These are the principal charm of Swiss scenery, reflecting as they do the magnificent mountains surrounding them. The principal rivers are the Rhine and Rhone: the former flows northeastward into the Lake of Constance, and thence along the northern frontiers; the latter has an opposite direction, passing through the Lake of Geneva, which it leaves at the borders of France. The Aar and Reuss are also considerable rivers.

The falls of Switzerland are naturally numerous, and in many cases magnificent; but as most of our travelers are supposed to have seen Niagara, those of Switzerland will rather sink into insignificance by comparison. The principal, and those only that are considered necessary to go out of one's way to see, are, first, the Falls of the Rhine, near Schaffhausen. This has the largest volume of water, and descends in the form of a cataract. The surroundings are also lovely, and there is a fine hotel, the Schweizerhof, immediately opposite.

The Falls of the Tosa, in the Val Formazza, also has a large volume of water.

The Fall of the Aar, near Handek, is perhaps the finest in Switzerland, from its height (over 200 feet), and also from the volume of water which is precipitated into the gorge below.

The Staubbach Fall, near Lauterbrun

THE ALPS.

Mont Blanc*

Monte Rosa.

Feet. 15,730 15,130

Glaciers. The glaciers of Switzerland are streams of ice continually descending through the clefts in the high mountain chains, fed by the snow which has fallen above the line of congelation. What they lose at the lower end by the action of the sun is supplied by new-fallen snow at the top. One of the most sublime descriptions of a glacier which we have ever read is that of Professor Forbes, which we take the liberty of quoting: "Poets and philosophers have delighted to compare the course of human life to that of a river; perhaps a still apter simile might be found in the glacier. Heaven-descended in its origin, it yet takes its mould and conformation from the hidden womb of the mountains which brought it forth. At first soft and ductile, it acquires a character and firmness of its own as an inevitable destiny urges it on *The height of this mountain is estimated from 15,730 to 15,760 feet by different authorities.

HISTORY.

its onward career. Jostled and constrained by the crosses and inequalities of its prescribed path, hedged in by impassable barriers, which limits its movements, it yields groaning to its fate, and still travels forward, seamed with the scars of many a conflict with opposing obstacles. All this while, though wasting, it is renewed by an unseen power; it evaporates, but is not consumed. On its surface it bears the spoils which, during the progress of existence, it has made its own; often weighty burdens devoid of beauty or value, at times precious masses sparkling with gems or with ore: having at length attained its greatest width and extension, commanding admiration by its beauty and power, waste predominates over supply; the vital springs begin to fail; it stoops into an attitude of decrepitude; it drops the burdens one by one which it had borne so proudly aloft; its dissolution is inevitable.

But,

as it resolved into its elements, it takes all at once a new, and livelier, and disembarrassed form; from the wreck of its members it arises another, yet the same'-a nobler, full-bodied, arrowy stream, which leaps rejoicing over the obstacles which before had stayed its progress, and hastens through fertile valleys toward a freer existence, and a final union in the ocean with the boundless and the infinite."

Avalanches are immense quantities of snow which have accumulated on the summit of the mountains, and are continually falling down their steep and precipitous sides, sweeping trees, rocks, and even villages before them in their wild career. Well may Byron call them "thunderbolts of snow.'

History.-Switzerland was originally peopled by the Rhetians, who were afterward vanquished by the Helvetians, who in their turn were conquered by the Romans under Julius Cæsar. The Romans founded several fine cities, which were afterward destroyed by the barbarians; they also constructed military roads across the Alps, those of the Great St. Bernard and Splugen, both leading to Basle. After the decline of the Roman empire the country was successively invaded by the Huns, Ostrogoths, Bourguignons, and the Allemanni, all of whom were conquered by the Franks, who governed it by dukes and counts appointed by the kings of France.