The Rhæto-Roman inhabitants of Graubünden--for they still occupy the high valleys of the Engadine and of the Vorder-Rhine--present much interest in point of language and antiquities. The sturdy Rhætians belonged to the art-loving Etruscan race, whose proficiency in the _amphora-technic_ we so highly value. An old legend calls their ancestor Rætus a Tuscan. And not without show of reason, says Mommsen, for the early dwellers of Graubünden and the Tyrol were Tuscans, and spoke a dialect agreeing with that of the district of Mantua, a Tuscan colony in the time of Livy. In Graubünden and Ticino were found, some thirty years ago, stones bearing inscriptions in that dialect. The Rhætians may have dropped behind in these Alpine regions on the immigration of Etruscans into the valleys of the Po; or, they may just as likely have fled there on the advent of the Celts, when that warlike race seized on the fertile plains of the river, and drove the Etruscans from their home southward and northward. Be that as it may, however, it is certain that the Rhætians, once blended with the Romans, have preserved the Latin tongue and customs to this day, for Romaunsh a corrupt Latin, with no doubt some admixture of Tuscan, is still spoken by more than one-third of the population of the Grisons. [Illustration: HOUSE (FORMERLY CHAPLE) IN THE ROMAUNSH STYLE, AT SCHULS, LOWER ENGADINE, GRAUBÜNDEN. (_After a Photograph by Guler_.)] FOOTNOTES: [7] Valais (German, _Wallis_) means valley, and is so called from its being a long narrow dale or vale hemmed in by lofty mountains. [8] Mommsen, "Roman History," vol. ii. p. 166. [9] "Story of Alexander's Empire," by Mahaffy, p. 79. III. HELVETIA UNDER THE ROMANS. [Illustration: SILVER COIN, VERCINGETORIX. (_Dr. Imhoof, Winterthur._)]