Uri-Flüelen to Airolo over the St. Gothard, to Bellinzona and Lugano. Vaud Lausanne to Nyon, to St. Maurice, to Freiburg, to GenevaYverdun to Orbe-Nyon to Les Rousses.

Vallais St. Maurice to Lausanne and Geneva, to Domo d'Ossola (over the Simplon), to Milan.

The tariffs are not yet uniform, but, as far as can be ascertained, are as follows:

Cantons Geneva, Vaud, Freyburg, and Vallais.-The tariff is the same as the old French tariff, viz. 1 fr. 50 centimes each horse per post, and 75 c. to the postboy, usually increased to 1 fr. 50 c. or 2 fr. per post. The traveller with 4 horses need not take 2 postilions unless he wishes.

Bern.-Posting was established by the Government in 1840, and afterwards suppressed; but on the road from Bern to Freyburg, the former postmaster will always supply horses at the above rate.

Canton Ticino (or Tessin).—6 Fr. francs per post for a pair of horses. Trinkgeld to postilion, 14 fr. per post. Bolletonefr.

Schaffhausen.-The taxes or fixed charges are at the rate of 15 kr. each horse per post more than the Baden tariff. Thus, in Baden, the charge is 1 fl. 28 kr. ; in Schaffhausen, 1 fl. 43 kr. Postilion 20 kr. for each horse.

=

St. Gall-Tariff.-The post is 2 stunden each 16,000 Swiss ft. The charge for each horse per post is 1 fl. 12 kr. (the florin of the value of 20d.) The drink-money for the postilion is 12 or 15 kr. per post for 1 horse 24 kr. for 2 horses, and 36 kr. for more horses. Rather less than double the tariff satisfies the postilion.

Tolls for roads and bridges are paid to the postmaster at each stage, who generally presents the traveller with a printed zettel or ticket.-C. D.

Grisons. The traveller should ask for a printed billet de post (cost 8 kr.) on entering the Grisons. The tariff varies according to the price of corn. It may be reckoned at 1 fl. 52 kr. (Grisons) = 3 F. fr. 25 c. each horse per post.

The postilion receives per post, for 1 horse 30 G. kr., 2 horses 45 kr. ; 3 or 4 horses, or more, 1 fl. each post. The rate of posting is good. The postilion's drink-money is paid to the postmaster (though not included in his bill), but it is usual to give the driver something independent at the end of the stage. 2 zwanzigers is perhaps more than enough, and will quite satisfy him.—C. D.

"Generally, posting in Switzerland is far dearer than in Germany or Italy, and in fact approaches very near to the English charges, especially where the tariff requires the traveller to take an extra horse. The remuneration to the postilion, however, both by tariff and extra, is much less, in proportion to the price for the horses, than in Germany and Italy."-C.D.

§ 6. DILIGENCES-LUGGAGE.

Diligences run daily between most of the large towns of Switzerland, also over the chief passes of the Alps traversable by carriages, as the Mont Cenis, Simplon, St. Gothard, Bernardin, and Splügen, and there are few carriage-roads in the country not traversed by them twice or thrice a week

at least.

They belong to the Federal Government, are managed by persons officially appointed, and are attached to the post-office, as in Ger

many, conformably with an enactment of the new Swiss Constitution of 1848. The places are numbered, and all baggage exceeding a certain fixed weight is charged extra, and often greatly increases the expense of this mode of conveyance, which is one reason among many why travellers should reduce their baggage to the smallest possible compass. The public conveyances are by no means so well organised as in Germany. On some routes, particularly in going from one canton into another, passengers are sometimes transferred into another coach, and run the chance of waiting several hours for it, being set down in a remote spot to pass the interval as they may, and this not unfrequently in the middle of the night.

The conductor's fee is included in the fare, but the postilion's trinkgeld is paid separately by the passengers in some parts of the country; in St. Gall, for instance, they expect from 6 to 9 kr. per stage.

Travellers in Switzerland will frequently be glad to avail themselves of the public conveyances to forward their luggage from one place to another, while they are making pedestrian excursions among the mountains. In such cases, they have only to book their packages at the coach-office, after carefully addressing them, and, in some cases, entering a specification of their value in a printed form. They will then receive a receipt, and the article will be forwarded and taken care of until reclaimed. The cost of carriage, however, is heavy.

In making application for packages so consigned, as well as for letters at the post-office, the Englishman should present his name in writing, as our pronunciation is frequently unintelligible to foreigners, and without this precaution the applicant may be told that his luggage has not arrived, when in reality it is all the while lying in the depôt. The traveller may also request to look over the packages in search of his own.

§ 7. VOITURIER.-LOHNKUTSCHER.-CHARS-À-BANC.

Posting, except along the routes mentioned already in p. xv., ceases at the Swiss frontier, and those who have been travelling post must therefore engage a voiturier at the first Swiss town, with a suitable number of horses to draw their carriage. If it be light, and the party small, two horses will suffice; but the coachman must then drive from the box; with a heavy carriage, three or four horses must be taken, and the driver will ride as postilion. The towns of Basle, Schaffhausen, Zürich, Bern, Thun, Vevay, Lausanne, and Geneva are the head-quarters of the voituriers; at all of them there are many persons who keep job-horses for hire, and will either conduct the traveller themselves, or send coachmen in their employ. At most of the frontier towns return horses are to be met with, and the traveller may save some days of back-fare by availing himself of them.

Before making an engagement, it is prudent to consult the landlord of the inn, or some other respectable inhabitant, to recommend a person of approved character to be employed. As there are many very roguish voituriers, ready to take advantage of the traveller on all occasions, such a recommendation will be a guarantee, to a certain extent, for good behaviour. The landlord should be referred to apart, not in presence of the coachman, nor, indeed, with his cognizance. It is a bad plan to intrust an inferior person with the negotiation; he will most probably sell the traveller to the voiturier, and make a job for his own advantage. The most judicious mode of proceeding is, to discard all go-betweens and subordinates,

to insist on seeing the principal, the owner of the horses, and to make the bargain at once with him. Besides ascertaining that the voiturier is a respectable man, that his horses are good, and his carriage (when a carriage is also required) is clean and stout, it is desirable in many cases that he should speak French as well as German, and, in all, that he is acquainted with the roads to be traversed. The engagement should, in the first instance, not be made for any specific time, at least not for a long period, until man and horses have been tried and have given satisfaction. It is better to take him on from day to day, holding out the prospect of his being continued if he behaves well.

Some persons engage a voiturier for a certain sum, to perform a stated journey in a fixed number of days; a bad plan, since it ties down the traveller to a prescribed route, without the power of diverging, if he choose to alter his plans, or of tarrying by the way. The employer should reserve to himself the power of dismissing his voiturier as soon as he reaches a post-road (see the map).

The established charge throughout Switzerland, per diem, is 9 Fr. francs for each horse, and 1 Fr. franc per horse trinkgeld for the driver. This includes the hire of a carriage when wanted.

For this consideration the coachman keeps himself and his horses, supplying fresh ones if his own fall ill or lame; he ought also to pay all tolls, and the charge for leaders (vorspann) to drag the carriage up steep ascents. These two last conditions, however, are not always acceded to, and these charges often fall upon the master.

When the traveller has no servant of his own, the voiturier cleans the carriage, greases the wheels, and assists in packing and unpacking the baggage.

The usual rate of travelling is from 10 to 15 leagues, 32 to 46 miles a-day, proceeding at the rate of about 5 miles an hour 10 stunden a-day should be guaranteed by the driver. It is necessary to halt in the middle of the day, about two hours, to rest the horses. On the days during which a halt is made in a town or elsewhere, the charge is reduced one-half; and, should the traveller require the horses for a short drive of an hour or two through the town, this should make no difference.

This

Back-Fare. In addition to the daily charges while employed, the voiturier requires, if dismissed at a distance from his own home, to be paid back-fare for the number of days necessary to take him thither. payment should be calculated at the rate of the longest day's journey, say 12 stunden (nearly 40 m.), which is not too much with an empty carriage. At this rate, the back-fare to be paid between some of the principal places in Switzerland would be nearly according to the number of days set down in the following table :

It is more for the traveller's advantage to take one set of horses through the journey than to trust to the chance of engaging them from one town to another—a method subject to delay and vexation from the uncertainty of finding them at all times, and from the manoeuvres of petty innkeepers, who will often pretend that none are to be had, and will throw every impediment in the way of his departure. Besides which, by such an arrangement, the employer must inevitably pay back-fare for every day, whereas, if he engage the same voiturier for a length of time, he may so arrange his tour, in a circle as it were, as to discharge him within one or two days' journey from his home, and thus considerably reduce the amount of the back-fare. It is sufficient to pay only half the usual drink-money for the days reckoned as back-fare, i. e. half a franc per horse.

It is advisable, before setting out, to have an agreement drawn up in writing, including the stipulations which have been recounted above. A piece of money, called in German daraufgeld, in Italian la caparra, is then given by one of the contracting parties to the other, after which the bargain is held to be concluded.

There are many excursions in Switzerland that are not to be made in a travelling carriage; in such cases it must either wait for the traveller, or be sent round to meet him at an appointed spot.

The system of vetturino travelling, with all its advantages and disadvantages, has been so fully explained in the Hand-book for North Germany, that it is unnecessary to enter again into fuller details here than have been given above.

CHARS-A-BANC.

The char-à-banc, the national carriage of French Switzerland, may be described as the body of a gig, or a bench, as its name implies, placed sideways upon four wheels, at a very little distance from the ground. It is surrounded by leather curtains made to draw, whence it has been compared to a four-post bedstead on wheels. There is a larger kind of char, in which the benches are suspended by thongs, not springs, across a kind of long waggon, and are arranged one behind the other. The char-à-banc is a very strong and light vehicle, capable of carrying two persons, or three at a pinch, and will go on roads where no other species of carriage could venture. It is convenient, from being so low that one can jump in or alight without stopping the horse, while it is going on; but it is a very jolting conveyance. Such a carriage is to be hired even in the smallest Swiss villages, and the usual charge, including the driver, is twelve French francs a day; but the charge will be doubled by back-fare if the driver cannot reach home the same night, after the time when he is dismissed.

In German Switzerland, one-horse calèches, or chaises, einspänner, are universally used, instead of chars-à-banc, and may be hired at every inn. They hold comfortably 2 persons, and are furnished with a hood affording shelter from rain, while not shutting out the view. In front there is a board for the driver. They go at a rate of 5 or 6 m. an hour, except on very hilly roads. The fare is about 1 franc an English mile; and the driver receives 1 fr. trink-geld for 8 or 10 ms.-With some few interruptions, the tour of all Switzerland, as far as car and carriage roads extend,

might be economically made by one or two persons in vehicles of this class The luggage may be attached behind on springs.

§ 8. RAILWAYS.

The only railway entirely on Swiss ground is that from Baden to Zürich, a short line of 9 or 10 English miles.

A RAILWAY SYSTEM FOR SWITZERLAND.

The Administration of Public Works in Switzerland is at present actively occupied in establishing a complete system of railways, which will include the different cantons. They are to be laid down according to the following plan-1st, a railway uniting Bâle and the railways of the Rhine; 2nd, a grand line to traverse the valley of Aar, following the course of the Limmat as far as Zürich, extending along one side of Lake Constance, and on the other by Soleure to the Lake of Geneva; 3rd, a union of that line with Lucerne, in order to connect it with the pass of Saint Gothard; 4th, a line of transit along the south bank of Lake Constance, with a branch towards the lakes of Wallenstadt and of Zürich, as far as the centre of the Grisons, whence it can be at a future period continued across the Alps; 5th, a branch uniting Berne with the principal line; 6th, some secondary lines for the use of the central populations, not near the principal lines of transit, and, in particular, Schaffhausen, Winterthur, Berne, and Thun. The whole net work of these lines presents an extent of 650 kilomètres (570 miles English). The sum necessary for its construction is estimated at from 102 to 123 millions of francs. This project is to be submitted to the Federal Assembly.

§ 9. GUIDES-PORTERS-CHAISES-A-PORTEURS.

The services of a Guide are needful when the traveller is about to plunge into the recesses of the mountains on foot. He makes himself useful, not only in pointing out the way, but in acting as interpreter to those unacquainted with the language of the country, and also in relieving the traveller of the weight of his knapsack or travelling-bag. As a general rule he may be said to be indispensable in ascending very lofty mountains, in exploring glaciers, and in crossing the minor passes of the Alps, not traversed by highroads, but by mere bridle or foot paths, which, being rarely used, and in many places not distinctly marked, or confounded with innumerable tracks of cattle, will often bewilder the inexperienced traveller not acquainted with the mountains. Nevertheless, travellers having a good knowledge of German, in addition to some experience of mountain journeys, and provided with Keller's map, may cross some of these passes alone with impunity; but there are others, such as the Bonhomme, Col de Ferret, Mont Cervin, Monte Moro, Ramin, &c., which no one would be justified in attempting without a guide. When snow is threatening to fall, or after a snow-storm has covered the path and obliterated the footsteps of preceding travellers, a guide may be required in situations where, under ordinary circumstances, his presence might be dispensed with.

Guides by profession are to be met with in most parts of Switzerland; those of Chamouni (in Savoy) are deservedly renowned, being regularly