INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION. § 1. PASSPORTS. A TRAVELLER cannot reach Switzerland without a passport from a minister of one or the other of the states of Europe (See Handbooks N. Germany and France); and though no Swiss passport or visé is necessary for entering Switzerland, and although a passport is seldom called for while he is in the country, yet he must be prepared to produce it whenever it is required. At the gates of Geneva, Bern, Lucerne, and perhaps in one or two other capitals of the cantons, passports are demanded on entering. Persons proceeding from Switzerland to Savoy or Piedmont, the Austrian states, or Bavaria, must have the signatures of the ministers of these countries attached to their passports; or they will not be allowed to pass across the frontier. The ministers accredited to the Swiss Confederation reside at Bern, or have their passport-offices there. Strangers, therefore, should take care to secure their visé as they pass through Bern. § 2. MONEY. The coinage of Switzerland, by a decree of the Diet of 1850, has been reduced to conformity with that of France. The current money is francs and centimes, and accounts are now kept in these, the old Swiss batz being no longer a legal tender. This new and uniform coinage for the whole of Switzerland is distinguished by the word HELVETIA on the obverse. The 36th Article of the New Constitution of the Swiss Confederation decrees that the right of coining money possessed by the different cantons shall cease-that after the year 1851 all the various cantonal moneys shall be called in and re-coined. Previously to this salutary change there was hardly a country in Europe which had so complicated a currency as Switzerland; almost every canton had a coinage of its own, and those coins that were current in one canton would not pass in the next. It is at present scarcely worth the traveller's while to perplex himself with the intricacies of obsolete Swiss coins. French Napoleons and francs, current all over Switzerland, are the best money he can take with him. In the cantons of St. Gall, Appenzell, and Grisons, which border on Germany, and where Bavarian florins (= 20 pence) and kreutzers occur, zwanzigers (or 24-kreutzer pieces) are very convenient coin, and will often go as far as a franc, in payment of fees, pour-boires, &c. English sovereigns are taken at inns throughout Switzerland, at a value of 25 francs. The Value of one or two old Swiss Coins. 1 Swiss franc, containing 10 batz or 100 rappen (1 franc 48 cents.), (nearly) 1s. 2d. English. = 1 French franc N.B. This distinction between the value of French and Swiss francs should be particularly attended to. 1 batz contains 10 rappen, and Value of some Foreign Coins in old Swiss Currency. (commonly) 7 batzen, or exactly 6 batzen 8 rapps. 1 French franc = 1 Brabant dollar = - 17 Swiss francs 4 batzen 6 rapps. 4 Swiss francs, or 40 batzen. The long existing perplexities and variations in the measures of distances bid fair to be soon terminated in Switzerland, in consequence of recent enactments of the Swiss Diet. In 1848 the New Federal Constitution decreed that the Swiss foot should consist of 30 centimètres, or ths of a French mètre:-that 16,000 of these feet should go to a Swiss league 2 Eng. miles, 7 furlongs, 190 yards :4800 mètres, or 23 Swiss leagues, to a degree. In the following routes, = upon highroads which have been measured, the Swiss leagues have been reduced to English miles at the rate of 3 Eng. m. per league. Upon this authentic basis the measurement of distances on the roads of Switzerland has been commenced, and upon some of them mile posts have been already erected. An official Post Office Directory (Verzeichniss der Schweitzerischen Post Kurse) of the public conveyances, Distances, &c., between the principal towns of Switzerland has been published at Bern. See also the New Post Map of Switzerland published under direction of Gen. Dufour, Winterthur, 1850. On bye roads and in mountainous districts, where the distances are not actually measured, it is the tacit custom of the country to calculate distances by the time taken in walking from place to place, and to apply the term stunde or lieue to a space which can be traversed on foot in one hour. The length of the old Swiss league or stunde may be computed at 5278 mètres 3 Eng. m. 2 furlongs 53 yards. To make this measurement agree with the actual pace in walking, it is necessary to advance 288 Eng. ft. in a minute, or 1 French kilomètre in 11 minutes. = The distances along bye roads and mountain paths in the following routes have been calculated in Swiss hours (stunden) at the rate of 31 Eng. m. to one Swiss hour. The Swiss stunde, however, varies according to the nature of the ground. In very steep ascents it does not exceed 2 Eng. m.; in lesser acclivities 2 m., and in the mountains it is never more than 24 m. It has been ascertained by an experienced Alpine traveller, that to clear 2 Eng. m. an hour up a steep mountain, requires very good walking. § 5. MODES OF TRAVELLING IN SWITZERLAND.-POSTING. The means of travelling in Switzerland have been greatly improved and increased within the last 20 years. The great roads are excellent, and those over the Alps stupendous in addition. Upon almost all of them diligences run; and since 1823, when the first experiment with steam was made on the Lake of Geneva, every one of the large lakes is navigated by steam-boats. Posting was scarcely known in any part of Switzerland before 1830. It is now introduced into the following cantons : Aarau to Zürich (by Brugg), Schaffhausen, and Bâle. Bâle to Aarau-to Zürich, to Schaffhausen. Bern to Freiburg and Morat. Freiburg to Berne-to Lausanne. St. Gall to Frauenfeld, to Arbon, Bregenz to Coire, to Utznach, to Glarus. Geneva to Chamouny, to Chambery, to Lyons, to Nyon, and Lausanne --to St. Maurice by Thonon along the S. side of the Leman Lake. Glarus-Wesen or Lachen to Glarus and Stachelberg. Grisons—Coire to Bellinzona (by the Bernardin), to Chiavenna (by the Splügen), to St. Gall, to Feldkirch, to Rorschach. Lugano to Milan, to Bellinzona. Neuchâtel to Yverdun and to Pontarlier. |