tinually augmented by additional streams from the mountains of Switzerland, it swells to a mighty river, on which ships of war may sail, and fleets engage in battle. It pours its waters into the Euxine sea.

XXXVI. FALL of the RHINE.

1.HE Rhine has its sources among the Alps, in the country of the Grisons. At Lauffen is a cataract where the water tumbles over a rock, and falls perpendicularly about sixty feet. A scaffolding is erected within the very spray of the fall, where the traveller may view this interesting scene. A sea of foam rushing down the precipice- cloud of spray rising and spreading to a distance the roar of the tumbling waters and the magnificence of the scenery, surpass the powers of description.

2. On one side of the river is the castle of Lauffen, upon the edge of the precipice and projecting over the river; near it is a church and some cottages; a cluster of rustic dwellings near the fall; in the back ground, rocks clothed with vines or tufted with hanging wood; a beautiful hamlet upon the summit, skirted with trees; the body of water which seems to rush from the bottom of the rocks; two crags lifting their heads from the midst of the cataract, their tops sprinkled with shrubs, and resting secure on their base, mucking the force of the raging current-Such are the objects which add beauty and grandeur to this stupendous scene.

1.TH

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XXXVII. LAKE of CONSTANCE.

1. HE Lake called Constance is one of the boundaries between Germany and Switzerland; fifteen leagues in length and six in breadth. It is of an oval form, its waters of a greenish hue, and its borders consist of gently rising hills. It is deeper in summer than in winter, being swelled by streams from the melting snow of the Alps. It abounds with fish, and especially with a large species of trout larger than a salmon, of a deep blue colour on the back and sides, and beneath of a silvery white. In spring and summer, the flesh is of a fine red colour, and very delicate food.

2. Near this lake is the town of Constance, in which is still seen the room in which sat the council which condemnto the stake, John Huss the reformer. Here is also the reon in which he was imprisoned, and the stone to

which he was chained. But reason has triumphed over bigotry, and this place is now the seat of freedom and liberality.

XXXVIII. BRIDGE of SHAFFHAN.

1. HE Rhine at Shaffhausen is rapid, and had de

struction. A carpenter of Appenzel, offered to throw a bridge of a single arch over the river, which is near four hundred feet wide. The magistrates however would not permit the attempt, but required that it should consist of two arches, with a pier in the middle. The architect obeyed, but constructed the bridge in such a manner as to render it uncertain whether the pier aids in supporting the bridge. His descendants say that it does not; but more probably it does.

2. This is a hanging bridge of two arches; one of a hundred and ninety feet chord, the other of a hundred and seventy-two feet.--The road is not over the arches, but on a horizontal line suspended from the timbers above.-The bridge trembles under the feet of the traveller, but has stood a great number of years, and sustains the heaviest loads.

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XXXIX. MODEL of SWITZERLAND. 1.EN. PFIFFER, a native of Lucerne, has formed a model of the most mountainous parts of Switzerland, representing in miniature, all the mountains, hills, valleys, lakes, rivers, roads, cottages, and the like. The composition is a mixture of clay, lime, charcoal, a little pitch, and a thin coat of wax. It is painted so as to represent every object as it exists in nature. Even the different sorts of trees are distinguished, as well as the stratums of rocks, which have been shaped on the spot, and composed of granite, gravel, calcareous stone, or such other substances compose the real mountain.

2. This model contains one hundred and forty-two compartments, of different forms and sizes, all numbered, and they may be taken apart and put together with as much ease as a dissected map, used by children in learning geography. It comprehends a space of about fifty-five miles by thirty-three. The dimensions of the model are twenty feet/ by twelve; each foot of the model representing about tw miles and a quarter of territory. An inch of elevation

the model represents about nine hundred feet of elevation in a mountain, and the highest point of the model is about ten inches, representing mountains of nine thousand feet high, above the level of the lake of Lucerne, which is the central ohject.

3. The General began this curious work at the age of

fifty, and was employed most of his time till seventy, in completing it. To make it perfect, he visited every place which he meant to represent, obtaining an accurate knowledge of every object, and laying down every part in exact proportion. Being suspected as a spy, he was obliged, in some of the Cantons to work by moonlight, to avoid the notice of the peasantry. When obliged to ascend mountains where no provisions could be procured, he used to drive a few goats along, and subsist on their milk. In this manner, with immense industry, patience and skill, he finally brought his model to be an exact representation of nature.

XL. Singular STATE of PROPERTY.

Na promontory extending from the western shore of the Lake Zug, the property of the soil belongs to the Canton of Lucerne, the timber to Zug, and the leaves of the trees to Shwitz.

XLI. Happy CONDITION of SOCIETY.

N the road that runs along the valley of Muotta in Shwitz, there are several ranges of shops filled with goods, the prices of which are marked. The owners do not attend these shops, but leave them open: and when any person wants an article, he takes it and leaves the price on the counter. In the evening, the owner visits his shop and takes his money. Such an instance of moral rectitude in a society, and of confidence between men, is probably without a parallel in the history of nations.

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XLII. Account of a SALT MINE in Poland.

N Welitska, a village about eight miles from Cracow in Poland, is a celebrated mine, sunk in a solid bed of salt. It is at the northern extremity of a spur of the Carpathian mountains.

2. laving fastened hammocs to a large rope, which is used to draw up salt, we seated ourselves in a convenient

manner, and were let down gently, without any apprehension of danger, about one hundred and sixty yards below the first layer of salt.

3. Quitting our hammocs we passed along a gradual descent, in some parts of which were broad passages or galleries capable of admitting several carriages abreast; in other parts we descended by steps cut in the solid salt, which had the grandeur and commodiousness of the stair case of a palace. 4. Each of us carried a light, and several guides preceded us with lamps, whose light, shining upon the glittering sides of the mine, was extremely beautiful, but did not cast that luminous splendour, which some writers have compared to the lustre of precious stones.

5. The salt dug from this min is of an iron gray colour; when pounded, it is of a dirty ash colour, like what we call brown salt. Its quality improves in proportion to the depth of the mine. Towards the side, and surface, it is mixed with earthy or stony particles; lower down it is said to be perfectly pure; but probably is not so, for it has less strength than common sea salt.

6. Being almost as hard as stone, this salt is hewed with pick axes and hatchets into large blocks,many of which weigh six or seven hundred pounds. These are raised by a windlas; but smaller pieces are carried up by horses along a winding gallery, which reaches to the surface of the earth.

7. Besides gray salt, the miners sometimes find small cubes of white salt, as transparent as crystal, but not in any considerable quantity. They sometimes also dig up pieces of coal and petrified wood inclosed in this mass of salt.

8. The mine already extends to the depth of seven hundred and fifty feet, It is more than eleven hundred feet in breadth, and nearly a mile in length. This body of solid salt is supposed to branch out in various directions, but its extent is not ascertainable.

9. The greatest curiosity in this mine, is several chapels formed in the bosom of this immense body of salt. One of these is thirty feet long and twenty-five broad; the altar, the crucifix, the ornaments of the church, and the statutes of several saints, are carved out of solid salt, and here mass is said on certain days in the year.

10. Many of the excavations or chambers are of an immense size; some are supported by timber; others by vast pillars of salt left standing for this purpose; and some are

left unsupported. One of these I judged to be eighty feet high, and it was so long as to appear in the subterraneous gloom without limits.

11. The vast size of these chambers, with the spacious passages or galleries, together with the chapels, and a few sheds for horses, which are foddered below, probably gave rise to the accounts of some travellers, that this mine contains villages inhabited by colonies of miners who never see the light. But there is no truth in these accounts. The miners remain below not more than eight hours, and are then relieved by others.

12. This mine is as dry as an apartment above the earth. We observed only one small spring of water running through the salt. There is certain evidence that this mine has been worked more than six hundred years, and how much longer is not known.

13. Formerly the kings of Poland derived from it an annual revenue of more than three millions of florins. But when Poland was dismembered, this mine fell to the emperor, whose commissioners, by raising the price, lost a great part. of the market for salt, which could be imported by the Vis-, tula, and sold at a lower price.

14. Such a mass of rock salt is a stupendous phenomenon in the structure of the globe. But similar masses of solid salt are found in every quarter of the earth, either in beds beneath the surface, or in mountains. A mountain of this kind in Spain is five hundred feet high, and several leagues in circuit. The like are found in Asia and Africa.

15. Similar masses of salt are found in America, impregnating numerous springs of water, as at Onandago, in Kentucky, and in Louisiana. And as these beds of salt are usually at a great distance from the sea, they evince the wisdom of the Creator, who seems to have intended these inexhaustible magazines of a necessary article, to accommodate those inhabitants of the globe, who cannot be supplied with it by means of navigation.

XLIII. Market for MOVEABLE HOUSES in RUSSIA.

1.

MONG the curiosities of Moscow, is the market for the sale of houses. This is held in a large open space in one of the suburbs, and exhibits a great variety of ready made houses, thickly strewed upon the ground.

2. The purchaser who wants a dwelling, repairs to this