GRISONS, the Upper Rhetia of the ancients, is the name of a republic which was formerly independent, but since the year 1798 it has formed one of the nineteen can tons of Switzerland. It is Wounded on the north by the canton of Glaris, from which it is separated by a chain of mountains, and .by the German districts of Schweiz, and the Voralberg, in Suabia ; on the east by the Tyrolese ; on the south by the Valteline, and the Ticino ; and on the west by the canton of Uri.
This canton is the largest in Switzerland. It contains 140 square geographical miles (15 to a degree), and com prehends no fewer than 60 principal and lateral' vallies. From its most eastern part, at Finstermunz on the Inn, to the Mountain Badus at the source of the anterior Rhine, is 32 leagues; and from its most northern part at the Moun tain Seesa Plana, to southern part near the Moun tain St George, is 23 leagues. • The natural divisions of the Grisons five great val lies, viz. the valley of the Posterior Rhine, the valley of the anterior Rhine, the valley of the Inn or the Engadin, the valley of the Albula, and the valley of the Landquart, or the Prettigau.
1. The valley of the Posterior Rhine includes the vallies of Rhinwald, Schams, Via Mala, and Domlesch. The Rhinwald is about eight leagues long, and is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains. It is accessible only by one road, which passes through the defile called Rotlien, which leads into the valley of Schams. The surrounding mountains, of which the Avicula and the Piz-val-Rhin are 10,280 feet high, arc covered with enormous glaciers, and the valley is exposed to frightful avalanches. The winter continues nine months. The grass does not begin to grow till the end of Rine, and it is necessary that the hay be got in before the beginning of September. This valley is in habited by Germans of the Suabian colony, which the Em peror Fredelick I. sent, at the end of the 12th century, to ensure a passage into Italy over the Splugen. The two principal roads for crossing the Alps pass through the Rhinwald; one of them over the Splugen, and the other over the Bernardin. In taking the road over the Splugen,
eighteen hours are necessary to go from Coire to Chiaven na. From the village of Spltigen, the road follows the. brook Ilansle all the way to the inn on the summit of the hill on the Italian side, which is a distance of three leagues. The height of the road is here 6170 feet ; but that of Tombo-horn, the neighbouring summit of the mountain, is 9795. The gorge called the Cardinell is tru ly horrifying and dangerous. The road then follows the impetuous course of the Lira, and the traveller arrives, in two hours at Isola. In two hours more, after passing through the valley of St Jacques, and by Campo Dolcino, where the custom-house officers examine all baggage, he reaches Creston, and then Sta Maria, which is only a league from Chiavenna. General Macdonald crossed this mountain in 1800, between the 27th of November and the 1st of December, and lost many inch and horses by the avalanches. The northern side of the Spinel) is chiefly composed of gneiss and micaceous schistus. Very fine white marble occurs near the summit of the road. It stretches between.the micaceous schistus from south-west to north-east. The inhabitants of the village of Splugen make very fine articles of it. There were once two roads over the Bernarclin, but the shortest is passable only in summer. The longest is kept in repair by the com mune of Hinter-Rhein. At the highest part is a Hospice, which is three hours distant from the village of Hinter Rhein on the north, and two hours from the village of Bernardin, in the valley of Misox, on the south. The small lake of Muesa, with several islets, is situated on the summit of this mountain. The water that runs from the southern face of the glacier of the Rhine throws itself in to this lake, which again forms the brook of Muesa, and, after running through the valley of Misox, joins the Tesi no at Bellinzone. This mountain is composed of gneiss. It was crossed in 1797, on the 7th March, by the French army under General Lecourbc.