Peter, and destined to open the iron gates of their long slavery. Emile de Laveleye, in his “Primitive Property,” gives the following touching legend as to the method in which the boundary between the _Marks_ or Communes of Uri and Glarus was formerly fixed: “The two Cantons are separated by frozen peaks and a lofty chain of mountains everywhere except at the Klaussen passage, through which one can easily pass from the valley of the Linth to that of the Reuss. In times past, there were disputes and struggles between the people of Uri and Glarus as to the debatable boundary of their pastures. To decide the question, they agreed that, on St. George’s day, a runner should start at the first cock-crow from the bottom of each valley, and that the frontier should be fixed at the point where they met. The start was to be superintended by inhabitants of Glarus at Altdorf, and by inhabitants of Uri at Glarus. The people of Glarus fed the cock, which was to give the signal to their runner, as much as possible, hoping that, being in full vigor, it would crow early in the morning. The people of Uri, on the contrary, starved their cock; hunger kept it awake, and it gave the signal for the start long before dawn. The runner started from Altdorf, entered the _Schaechenthal_, crossed the top, and began to descend on the other side towards Linth. The Glarus cock crowed so late that their runner met the one from Uri far down the slope on his side. Desperate at the thought of the disgrace which would be reflected on his countrymen, he begged earnestly for a more equitable boundary. ‘Hearken,’ answered the other, ‘I will grant you as much land as you can cross, ascending the mountain with me on your back.’ The bargain was struck. The Glarus man ascended as far as he could, when he fell dead from fatigue on the banks of the stream called _Scheidbaechli_ (the boundary line). This is why Urner Boden, situated on the slope facing Glarus, beyond the division of the water, belongs to Uri. It is a curious legend in which, as so often in Swiss history, the citizen gives his life for the good of his country.”