FIG. 15--The shady arcades and sunny streets of Lugano in the Swiss area of Italian languages recall the typical aspects of Italian cities.] [Illustration: FIG. 16--The basin of Lake Geneva is an ancient domain of French language in Switzerland.] [Illustration: FIG. 17--Basel in German Switzerland recalls German cities. The Marketplace and the Government House (on left) are seen in this view.] It should not be taken for granted from what has been said that the cause of French in Switzerland is related to Catholicism. The case of Fribourg is an isolated one. At Bienne, another of the cities on the linguistic divide, the growth of French has an entirely different origin. This city is the center of an important watch-making district. The growth of its native industry favored rapid increase in its population. But the new citizens were drawn principally from the mountainous region of which Bienne is the outlet. The French-speaking highlanders swelled the ranks of the city’s French contingent to such an extent that, from numbering one-fourth of the population in 1888, it had grown to one-third in 1900. The German-speaking farmers of the plains surrounding Bienne, however, were never attracted by the prospect of factory work. At present Bienne’s population is believed to be equally divided between the two tongues. [Illustration: FIG. 18--The boundary between French and German in Switzerland. Scale, 1:1,435,000.] From Fribourg the line takes a straight course to the Oldenhorn. Here it elbows eastward to Wildstrubel and attains the Valais country. In the upper valley of the Rhone, the line becomes well defined as it coincides with the divide between the Val d’Anniviers and Turtman Thal. In the Haut Valais the construction of the Simplon tunnel appears to have affected German adversely and to have caused an extension of French speech in the region. The recession of German from the Morge valley to the east of Sierre lies within the memory of living natives. The linguistic line finally cuts across the Rhone valley above Sierre and strikes the Dent d’Hérens on the Italian frontier. In southeastern Switzerland, French surrounds the uninhabited massif Mont Blanc. One would naturally expect to find this language confined to the western slopes of the uplift only. But the inhabitants of Bas-Valais districts and of the Aosta valley speak French as fluently as the population of the elevated valleys of Savoy.