HTDEOGEAPHY. Owing to the Alps, the coun try is especially well supplied with water. Near ly every valley is traversed by a larger or smaller stream, often interropted by picturesque water falls. The country possesses the headwaters of some of the important rivers of Europe—the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po. The Rhine and its tributaries flowing to the North Sea form the principal system of rivers, but all the rivers in Switzerland are so rapid that they are almost useless for navigation, though their impetuous character fits them for industrial purposes. The only navigable stream of importance is the Aar tributary of the Rhine. which carries a larger vol ume of water to that river than the Rhine itself supplies above their point of junction. The Rhone. flowing to the southwest and to the Alediterra n'ean. reaches Lake Geneva as a muddy stream and leaves it to enter France as a clear blue river. The Ticino is the largest river sent down by Switzerland to the Po. It has a larger catch ment basin than any other Swiss river and is the least fed by olaciers. The Inn flows east through the deep, narrow valley called the Engadine, and falls into the Danube at Passau. where it is much larger than the Danube itself. The glaciers are a source of perennial water supply. and since
they melt most rapidly in summer. the Swiss riv ers are larger in summer than in winter.
The Alps are the Lake Country of Southwest ern Europe. The lakes are remarkable for size, depth. and the grandeur and beauty of the scenery which surrauuds them. Among the fif teen important lakes in Switzerland. eleven are in the basin of the Aar and none in the basin of the Inn. Lakes Geneva and Constance. the largest lakes, balance each other at the oppo site ends of the country. Lake Geneva, partly in France, is over 200 square miles in area and has a maximum depth of 1000 feet, its bottom extending almost to the level of the Mediterra nean. Lake Constance is a little smaller than Geneva, not quite so deep, lies partly in German territory, and is the filter of the Rhine. Lake NenehAtel, the largest lake entirely in Swiss ter ritory, lies on the tableland. and hence is not so deep as the lakes in the longitudinal mountain valleys. Lucerne, Zurich, Brienz, Thou. and Menne are also important lakes. Lake Lugano lies partly in Italy, and only nine miles of Lake Maggiore belongs to Switzerland. The Ticino flows through the latter on its way to the Po.