Switzerland is triangular in shape, and occupies an almost imperceptible space upon an ordinary map of the world. Voltaire used to say he “shook his wig and powdered the republic.” It is bounded on the north and east by Germany, on the south by Italy, and on the west by France; and is situated between latitude 45° 50′ and 47° 50′ north, and longitude 6° and 10° 25′ east. Its greatest length from east to west measures two hundred and sixteen miles; its greatest breadth north and south is one hundred and fifty-six miles. Nearly its entire boundary is formed by rivers, lakes, and mountains. The Rhine constitutes almost two sides of its boundary, from the point where the various streams from the glaciers of the Grisons have met to form a river into the Lake of Constance, and from its exit thence to where the Jura Mountains turn its course to the Northern Ocean. The Jura separates it from France; and with merely an outlet for the Rhone, the Alps take up the line, dividing its rugged regions from the plains of Northern Italy. On the eastern side is an entangled mass of mountains; on the western side is a succession of parallel ridges, separated from each other by longitudinal valleys. The elevation varies from six hundred and forty-six feet, at Lake Maggiore, to fifteen thousand two hundred and seventeen feet on Monte Rosa. Only two per cent. has an altitude less than one thousand feet, and six per cent. of the whole surface is covered with snow-fields and glaciers. Two-thirds of its surface consist of lofty mountain chains and valleys; the remainder a plain thirteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. That portion which lies to the east of the Rhine rises from a platform no less than three thousand two hundred feet in height, even in the valleys. All of Switzerland, with Savoy, and indeed the Tyrol and other adjoining countries, lie on a huge mountain. They all have their valleys, it is true, but their valleys are more elevated than even the hills of the lower regions. Two of the mightiest European rivers, the Rhine and Rhone, have their sources in Switzerland. Their head-waters are separated only by the tangled mass between the Pizzo Rotondo and the Oberalp Pass,--the Rhine running towards the east and the Rhone towards the west. The St. Gothard may be regarded as the central point of the country, and from its sides these two rivers take their rise in a great transversal valley of the Central Alps. On the east, the Rhine, springing from the glaciers, flows through the Grisons to the north and loses itself in the Lake of Constance, issues from it at Stein, and flows to the westward as far as Basel, where it commences its perpendicular course towards the German Ocean. On the west, the Rhone, rising in the blue and glittering glacier of the same name, descends through the long channel of the Valais, expands into the Lake of Geneva, and takes its rapid course to the Mediterranean. Both of