SWITZERLAND, the ancient Helvetia, an in land country towards the south of Europe, is bound ed on the west by France; on the north by Germa ny, or, to speak more correctly, by the grand duchy of Baden and the kingdom of Wirtemberg; on the east by the Austrian province of Tyrol; and on the south by Italy or the Sardinian and Austrian Italian territories. It is situated between 50' north latitude, and between 6° 5' and 10° 35' west longitude. Its length from cast to west, from Mount Jura to the Tyrol, is 205 miles; from the Lake of Como on the south, to the Rhine on the north, its breadth is 125 miles. Its form is nearly oval. Its superficial extent, which is nearly equal to two-thirds of Scotland, amounts to 18,000 square The country is divided into cantons, of which the number has been various at different times, but which at present amount to twenty-two. The following is a list, with their respective capitals and population.
Switzerland, however, originally comprehended only fifteen cantons; of which eight were formed in the 14th century; the remaining five in the lath. The names of these are Schwitz,* Uri, Underwal den, Berne, Zurich, Lucerne, Glaris, Zug, Appen zell, Schaffhausen, Fribourg, Soleure, and Bale. This union gave rise to the Helvetic republic, so well known in history. Those territories, now joined to it under the name of cantons, were origi nally subject or allied to it. The French, in 1798, having taken possession of the country, and wish ing to increase the number of their partizans, added six new cantons; viz. the Pays de Vaud, Argau, Ticino, Thurgau, the Grisons, and St. Gall. This number, augmented to nineteen, con tinued till the downfall of Bonaparte, when, in 1815, by the Congress of Vienna, three new can tons were added, viz. Geneva, the Vallais, and Neufchatel, making altogether 22, their present number.
There is no country in Europe whose physical appearance is more magnificent, sublime, and di versified, than that of Switzerland. Mountain ridges covered with eternal snow, beautiful and ro mantic lakes, and verdant vallies, traversed by ro mantic rivers, silent forests and roaring cataracts, blended with all the varied pictures of gigantic na ture, are the characteristics of this interesting country, and render minute description almost im possible.
It is particularly distinguished by its mountains. Even those cantons that are regarded as the most level, viz. Thurgau, Basil, Berne, Zurich, Schaff hausen, Soleure, and Fribourg, present mountains that rise between 2000 and 3000 feet above the level of the sea. The Alps form the most striking and elevated range, not only in Switzerland, but in Eu rope. This celebrated range, which traverses Switzerland in almost every direction, especially in the south and east districts, extends nearly 600 miles in the form of a crescent, with various ine qualities, from the river Var, which separates France from Italy, to the Hadriatic, presenting generally an abrupt face towards Italy, and sloping more gradually on the opposite side. Their principal
peaks are Mont Blanc, the loftiest mountain in Eu rope, 15,646 feet ; Mount Rosa, supposed to be only 100 feet lower ; Cervin, 13,800; Jungfrauhorn, 730 ; Schrekhorn, 13,812 ; St. Bernard ; St. Go thard ; Simplon, over which is the great military road formed by Bonaparte. Though Mont Blanc is the highest, St. Gothard may be regarded as the nucleus, for, though not remarkable in height, it merits this distinction, that the rivers which rise in it and the surrounding group, flow towards every point of the compass. The summit of all these mountains is covered with eternal snow, the snow line in Swit zerland at the 46th degree of latitude having been discovered to vary between seven and eight thou sand feet above the level of the sea. The sides of many of these stupendous eminences are clothed with glaciers, large masses of ice, formed by the consolidation and partial melting of the snow. These glaciers occupy the plains or hollows of the mountains ; their formation takes place about the snow line, or line of perpetual congelation ; though, in a winter of unusual severity, they extend con siderably lower. "The glaciers," says Mr. Coxe, (Travels in Switzerland, i. may be divided into two sorts ; the first occupying the deep valleys, situated in the bosom of the Alps; the second cloth ing the sides and summits of the mountains. As to the first, when the plane on which they rest is hori zontal, or only gently inclined, the chasms are but few and narrow ; the traveller crosses on foot with out much difficulty." Their lower extremities, where they approach the valleys, are in a constant state of solution, giving rise to brooks and rivers, and are maintained, without any apparent diminu tion of size, by the gradual descent of the masses at the rate of several inches daily in summer. The channels of all the rivers, therefore, that have this origin, are fullest in summer, when ice and snow are melting in great abundance. In their external character, the glaciers present the most varied and fantastic forms, sometimes exhibiting the appear ance of a city of crystal, with glistering spires, col umns and turrets. Their number is immense, it having been reckoned that there are no fewer than 400 of them in the range along the south of Swit zerland. Some of them are known to extend from twenty to thirty miles in length, by one or two in breadth: their depth cannot be so easily ascertained, but is supposed to vary from 100 to 600 feet ;t while their total superficial extent has been calcu lated at 1200 square miles, their formation, it may be added, requires the action of cold to such in tensity, that they are peculiar to the Alps, with the exception of a small hut elevated tract of the Py renees, and a few spots of the mountains of Norway and Lapland. None are found in any other part of Europe.