Often, during the summer months, the lake is ruffled by the _Bise_, or regular north-east wind; but the east and west winds occasion the most destructive tempests. The climate of Switzerland is in general much colder than in the countries by which it is surrounded. Its numerous lakes, mostly very elevated, add greatly to the freshness of the air, and the frequent rains from the Alps bring with them the temperature of those mountains. But, although the climate is so variable, being often changed in a few hours, from the great heat which the reflection of the sun occasions in the valleys, to the cold rains which proceed from the surrounding mountains, yet these sudden transitions do not appear to have an ill effect on the health of the inhabitants. On the contrary, the celebrated physician _Haller_ attributes the salubrity of the air of Switzerland to the currents from the Alps, which preserve it continually pure, and prevent its stagnation in the valleys. The soil of Switzerland is, in general, stony and unfertile, but the peasants spare no pains to render it productive. I have had more than once before occasion to express my astonishment at the sight of mountains divided into terraces, and cultivated to their very summits. I have been informed by a gentleman, who has devoted much of his attention to agricultural pursuits, that the general return of grain in Switzerland is about five times the quantity sown, and that Switzerland does not produce much above a tenth part of the corn necessary for the subsistence of its population, which he calculates at 130 to the square mile, or nearly two millions; but if the parts which it is impossible can ever be cultivated, were left out of the calculation, the average population to the square mile would be of course greatly increased; as the present scheme includes the whole superficies of the country. The proportion which some other countries bear to Switzerland, in respect to the population subsisting on each square mile, is as follows, viz. China, the most populous country in the world, of the same extent 260 Holland, which has a greater population than any country of its limited extent 275 France, as in 1782 174 United kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 145 Russia in Europe 30 Iceland 1