arranged the objects round a garden. About five miles beyond our road crosses the Birs, and we are at Basle (see page 20).

CHUR TO ZÜRICH.

As far as Sarganz, this route has already been traced in that from Chur to Constance. The traveller in haste, by taking the diligence which leaves Chur at 5 A. M., may arrive in Zürich at 6 the same evening, as he will find the diligence and steamers working in conjunction.

At Sarganz, we are on the ridge which divides the valley of the Rhine from that of the Scez; and to reach Zürich, instead of re-descending towards the former, as in the route to Constance, we follow the latter in its descent to the Wallenstadter-see. The distance from Sarganz to Wallenstadt is nine miles; a diligence runs twice a-day. From Wallenstadt to Wesen, at the other end of the lake, is an hour and a half's voyage by the steamboat, which runs twice a-day. From Wesen to Schmerikon, on the lake of Zürich, is eleven miles, and at the latter place the steamboat again receives the traveller, and carries him in about four hours to Zürich. The descent of the Scez is through a very pleasing country.

WALLENSTADT (inns: Adler-arn-See, Rossli, and Hirsch, all bad) is built close under the mountains, about half a mile from the lake. The town is poor, and the meadows between it and the lake marshy.

The lake of Wallenstadt (according to Keller) is rather less than ten miles in length by one and a half in breadth at its widest part; it is, however, actually wider and larger by a mile. Its northern shore is composed of a continuous range of cliffs, which rise sheer out of the water. The general surface of the rock is perpendicular, and attains the height of nearly 3000 feet above the level of the lake. The flat crown of the rocks, which extend for miles, is covered with luxuriant fields and populous villages. The southern side is also rocky, but slopes so as to afford a position for woods, roads, villages, and occasionally meadows. The high mountains to the right, as the traveller embarks at Wallenstadt, and which are visible above the north shore, are the Kurfirsten (Kur, high; first, summit). A curiously perforated mountain, called the Murtenstock, rises on the south

Y

of the lake. Its peak, which is 7270 feet in height, is pierced as if by an immense shot. When the boat is over against Mühlehorn, the voyager may see right through this singular eye. The names of the villages on the banks of this lake Prörusch (prima), Sigundo (secunda), Terzen, Quarten, and Quinten, together with the description of Gaster (Castra Rhætica), applied to the whole district, remind us that this was once the quarters of some cohorts of a Romish legion.

WESEN (inns: Schwert, Adler, Rossli) is a small village, finely situated at the western end of the Wallenstadler-see. Behind the Rossli inn there is a pretty fall. Diligences await the arrival of the steamer from Wallenstadt, and convey passengers to Glarus and to Schmerikon. A boat also leaves for Schmerikon by the Linth canal, and is as quick a conveyance as the diligence. When it is impracticable to obtain a place in the diligence, from which the country may be freely seen, the boat is in every respect to be preferred.

The LINTH CANAL is one of the most interesting public works in Switzerland. It had its origin in the following circumstances. Until the year 1807, the Wallenstadter-see discharged its superfluous waters near Wesen into the channel of a small river called the Matt, flowing into the Lake of Zürich. About two miles from the first-mentioned lake the Matt was overtaken in its course by the Linth, a very rapid torrent, which brought down from the mountains of the Glarus valley a collection of stones and gravel, so large as to block up the channel of the Matt, and by raising its bed to dam up the waters of the Wallenstadter-see, so that the towns of Wesen and Wallenstadt were overflowed, and the valley between the two lakes filled with marshes. In 1807, Mr. Conrad Escher submitted to the Diet a plan for converting this devastating torrent of the Linth into a means of navigation. He proposed to turn the Linth from its natural course, and bring it into the Wallenstadter-see, where its force might be harmlessly expended, and then to cut a deeper channel for the transmission of the overflow of the upper lake of Wallenstadt as a substitute for that of the Matt. This project was not carried out until 1822, since which period the valley has been secure from inundation, and is now as well cultivated as any in Switzerland. For this great service M. Escher received from his country the

title of Von der Linth, one of the most honourable and dignified, though simple distinctions, that can be conceived of as a reward.

The valley of Glarus is seen on the left, almost the entire distance between Wesen and Uznach. The road to St. Gall turns off at this latter town.

At SCHMERIKON (inn, Ross) the Linth boats and the diligences stop, and the steamer completes the distance to Zürich, already described in the route Zug to Zürich (page 99).

ZÜRICH TO BASLE.

From Zürich (see page 101), the trains of the Swiss Northern Railway, an exceedingly well-conducted line, and at present the only iron-road in Switzerland, convey passengers to Baden, a distance of 25 English miles, in 45 minutes. Four trains run daily each way, except on Sundays. Those from Zürich start at 8 A.M., and 2, 34, and 7 P.M.: fares, first class, 1 franc 40 rappen; second class, 1 franc; third class, 60 rappen. The remaining half of the route is performed by diligence from Baden. Diligences also leave Zürich for the whole distance, 55 miles; in the morning at 74, and evening at 64 o'clock, performing the journey in ten hours and a half.

Between Zürich and Baden the only place of note is Dietiklon (to be reached either by diligence or railway train), where, in 1799, Massena effected his famous passage of the Limmat, drove back the Russians, and took Zürich. The old town of

BADEN (inns, Wage and Löwe), known to the Romans as Vicus Thermarum, destroyed by Cæcina and the Legio Rapar, and rebuilt as a fortress in the middle ages, was often the seat of the Princes of Austria, especially of Albrecht (1306) before his murder, Leopold I. (1315), and Leopold II. (1388), before the eventful days of Morgarten and Sempach. The ruins of the fortress, called Der Stein zu Baden, destroyed in 1712, and almost as large as the town itself, commands the latter from an eminence. In the Rathhaus, on the 7th September, 1714, Prince Eugène on the part of Austria, Marshal Villars for France, and deputies on behalf of the German empire, signed the treaty of peace which terminated the war of the Spanish succession.

The Baths, which have given their name (Baden) to the town, are warm (37° Réaumur) and sulphurous. They lie in a basin, about a mile to the north of the town; the lesser upon the right, and the greater (inns, Verenahof, Stadhof, Schiff, Limmathof, Frechof, Rabe), which are most frequented, on the left bank of the Limmatt. The population of Baden is under 2000: in the year 1846 it was visited by 20,000 bathers and travellers.

BRUGG (inns, Rothes Haus and Rossli) is a town of less than 1000 inhabitants, just above the confluence of the Aar, the Reuss, and the Limmat. A little nearer to this confluence stood Vindonissa, the most important military station of the Romans in Switzerland. It was destroyed in the fifth century, and of its magnificent buildings, aqueducts, amphitheatre, temple, and villas, nothing whatever remains.

A mile from the town stands the former abbey of Königsfeld, founded by the Empress Elizabeth and Agnes of Hungary, in 1310, upon the spot where two years before their husband and father, the Emperor Albrecht, had been slain by Johann of Suabia and his companions.

The Castle of Hapsburg, the original seat of the now Imperial house of that name, is situated about two miles from Brugg, on a hill called Wulpelsberg. The castle dates from 1020, but frequent renewals and restorations have left little of the original building. The traveller disinclined to go out of his way to see this memorial, may get an excellent view of the castle, as well as of the Alps, from the top of the hill beyond Brugg.

FRICK (inns, Adler and Ange) is a village of nearly 2000 inhabitants. The next village reached is Stein, where the Zürich road joins that of Basle and Schaffhausen, described on page 316.

TABLE OF DISTANCES.

THE figures signify Swiss stunden or leagues,-a variable distance, not exceeding two English miles upon very steep ascents, and in places less steep, two miles and a-half. On a level road, the stunde is equivalent to three English miles.

Aarau to Aarburg 34, Aarwangen 7, Baden 6, Basle 10, Balsthal 7, Berne 14, Bienne 14, Bremgarten 6, Brugg 4, Frick by the Stahleck 3, Gelterkinden by the Schafmatt 5, Hallwyl 3, Kaiserstuhl 8, Langenthal 7, Laufenburg 5, Lenzburg 2, Lostorf (Baths of) 2, Lucerne 10, Mellingen 4, Munster 5, Muri 6, Olten 3, Rheinfelden 7, Schinznach 3, Schoenenwerd 1, Soleure 10, Sursee 6, St. Urban 6, Wohlen 4, Zofingen 4, Zürich 10, Zurzach 6.

Airolo to Acqua 24, Andermatt 5, Bellinzona 12, Domo d'Ossola 15, Eginen 6, Faido 4, Fusio 4, Giornico 7, Gothard (Hospice of St.) 2, Lukmanier 6, Obergestelen 7, Toccia (the Fall of the) 7, Turba 3.

Altorf to Airolo 13, Amstag 3, Andermatt 73, Bellinzona 26, Burglen, Engelberg by the Surènes 9, Erstfelden 2, Fluelen Goschenen 6, Linththal by the Klausen 9, Lucerne (by the steam-boat) 3, Mayenthal 6, Meyringen by the Susten 17, Rhône (Glacier of the) by the Furca 14, Schwyz 5, Seelisberg 4, Spiringen 2, Unterschæchen 3, Wasen 5.

Andermatt to Airolo 5, Altorf 7, Amsteg 43, Disentis 8, Furca 5, Gothard (Hospice of St.) 3, Grimsel (Hospice of the) 9, Ilanz 14, Rhône (Glacier of) 6-7, Wasen 23.

Appenzell to Altstetten 3, Brullisau 14, Eggerstanden 1, Fæhlernalp 3, Gais 14, Gonten 14, Heiden 4, Herisau by Hundwyl 4, Hundwyl 3, Kamor 34, Lichtensteig 7, St. Gall 4, Sæmtisthal 2, Santis 7, Seealp 2, Sennwald by Brullisau 34, Teufen 2, Trogen 4, Urnæsch 2, Weissbad 4, Wildhaus 6, Wildkirchli 2.