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Coire is the oldest bishopric in Switzerland. Behind the Palace is a kind of ravine, lined with vineyards, across which a path leads to the Catholic Seminary, from which is a remarkably picturesque view of the town.

Besides the roads from Coire to Italy by the Splügen (Route 88) and Bernardin (Route 90). and those to Zurich and St. Gall, and along the rt. bank of the Rhine to Feldkirch and Bregenz, several new lines are in progress, leading in different directions through the Grisons. A carriage road, commenced some years ago, between Coire and the Engadine, over the Julier Pass, is already finished as far as Tiefenkasten, and will probably be completed the whole way in 1838. See Route 82.

Diligences go 4 times a-week to Zurich (Route 14), communicating with steamers on the Lakes of Wallenstadt and Zurich; 4 times a-week to St. Gall; 4 times to Milan; once a-week to Lindau.

Post horses are kept on all the great high-roads leading from Coire through the Grisons and canton of St. Gall. The postmaster at Coire will furnish travellers with a printed tariff of the charges and distances. (See also p. 236.)

Money. The canton of the Grisons has a coinage of its own; though, since napoleons and francs, Austrian florins, and Brabant dollars, are current on all the high roads, the traveller need not perplex himself with the intricacies of this currency, but may desire his bills to be made out in francs or florins. It will probably suffice to remember that 1 Grison flor. 2 zwanzigers, or 1 French fr. 74 centimes.

1 Fr. fr. 34 Grison kreutzers.

1 Brabant dollar-3 Gris. flor. 20 kr.

The Grison florin, or gulden, is composed of 60 kr., or 70 blützgers.

1 batz. 5 blützgers.

The Romansch Language.

A newspaper is printed at Coire in the Lingua Romanscha, a dialect peculiar to the Grisons and neighbouring alpine country of Tyrol, derived, like the Italian, Spanish, and French, from the Latin, but corrupted by the admixture of other languages. In this remote part of Europe it has kept its ground since the destruction of the Roman empire. It is said, however, to be gradually disappearing before the German language.

It may be divided into at least three distinct dialects:- 1. The Ladin, spoken in the Lower Engadine, and vale of Münster it comes nearest to the Latin, and is, perhaps, not very dissimilar from the vulgar tongue, spoken by the Roman pea

santry, as described by Livy. 2. The Romansch of the UpperEngadine, the valleys of Bregaglia, Oberhalbstein, Schams, etc. 3. The patois of the Grison highlanders in the vale of the Vorder and Hinter Rhine.

The difference between the three may be shown in the following translation of the first sentence in the Lord's. Prayer:

Pater noster qui es in cœlis.

1. Bab noss, qual ca ti eis entschiel, etc. 2. Pap noss, quel tii est en cêl, etc.

3. Pap noss, quel chi esch in in'ls cêls, etc.

According to a very obscure tradition, the inhabitants of this part of the chain of Rhætian Alps are the descendants of some Tuscan fugitives, driven out of Etruria by inroads of the Gauls. Many curious resemblances have been traced between the existing names of obscure villages of these remote valleys and those of places in ancient Etruria and Latium as Lavin, Lavinium; Thusis, Tuscia; Ardez, Ardea; Romein, Roma; Falisc, or Fläsch, Falisci; Madullein, Medullinum; Peist, Pæstum; Umbrien and Mount Umbrail, Umbria. Owing to the scanty literature, there being but few printed books, except a translation of the Bible, one or two of the New Testament, and a few other books, the Romansch language is not rich in words. From the circumstance, however, of its having been made the language of the pulpit at the Reformation, when the greater part of the population of the Grisons became Protestant, it has kept its ground till the present day.

The whole of Romansch literature may be comprised in about 30 books, mostly religious works, including the Bible, liturgy, and catechisms. The first grammar and dictionary of the Romansch language was published by a clergyman named Conradi at Zurich, in 1820 and 1823. In 1836 a newspaper, called Il Grischun Romansch, was printed in the Romansch dialect at Coire.

History and Government of the Grisons.

The government of the Grisons deserves some consideration from the traveller.

It must not be supposed that the conspiracy on the Grütli, in 1307, and the exploits of Tell, gave freedom to the whole country now called Switzerland, or even influenced more than a very small part of it—the forest cantons-except in as far as such a spirit-stirring example is capable of influencing the minds of a neighbouring people. For more than a century after the first Swiss union, the country of Rhætia, now called Grisons, groaned under the tyranny of almost numberless

petty lords, who, though they possessed but a few acres of land, or even no more than the number of square feet on which their castle stood, yet assumed the rights of independent sovereignty, waging perpetual petty war with their neighbours-oppressing their own subjects, and pillaging all travellers the ancient form of levying duties and customs. The best notion of the state of society which existed during this period of the Faustrecht (club law), may be formed from the quantity of feudal ruins which stud not only the main valleys of the Rhine, but even the lateral valleys and gorges of the Rhætian Alps. At last a day of retribution came. The peasants rose in revolt, and threw off the yoke of the nobleswith less violence than might be expected, chiefly because the great ecclesiastical potentates, the Bishop of Coire, the Abbots of St. Gall and Dissentis, and some of the more influential barons sided with the peasants, directing, instead of opposing, the popular feeling.

The result of this was a Rhætian Confederacy, quite distinct from the Swiss Confederacy, composed of Three Leaques (Bünden)-the Upper, or Grey League (Ober, or Graue Bund), 1424 (named from the simple grey home-spun coats of those by whom it was formed); the League of God's House Cadde in Romansch, in Germ, Gotteshaus Bund), so called from the church of Coire, the head of this league, and its capital, 1396; and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions (ZehnGerichte), of which Mayenfeld is chief town (1428).

The government produced by this revolution presents, perhaps, the most remarkable example the world has yet seen of the sovereignty of the people and of universal suffrage. Not. only every valley, but, in some cases, every parish, or even hamlet, in a valley, became an independent commonwealth, with a government of its own, with peculiar local administraLive rights and privileges, in many instances existing at the present day. Sometimes one of these free states, sometimes several together, form a commune or schnitze, literally slice (gemeinde or gericht); each commune has its own general assembly, in which every citizen of the age of 18, sometimes younger, has a vote, and by which the magistrates and authorities, down to the parson and school-master, are elected. A number of communes forms a Hoch-Gericht, under a magistrate, styled Landamman, Podesta, or Landvoght. Above this. comes the Diet of the League; and, above all, the Diet of the. Three Leagues. There still are 26 Hoch-Gerichts; the number of communes was 49; that of the smaller communities is not known. Amidst such a labyrinth of government-a complication of machinery, wheel within wheel-It is difficult to understand how any government could have been carried on; and we accordingly find the history of the Grisons little better

than a long series of bickerings, feuds, revolts, conspiracies, massacres, intrigues, and peculations. The wisest decisions of the diet of the canton were annulled or frustrated by the votes of the general assemblies, according as the interest or caprices of the most influential popular leader might sway these meetings at the moment. Two great families, those of Planta and De Salis, in the end, long monopolised the chief influence, as well as the patronage and offices of the federal government.

Such, then, was the practical result of this democracy of the purest form in theory.

The Grisons were united with the Swiss Confederation in 1803, and are represented by a deputy in the diet. The Three Leagues are still composed of 26 high jurisdictions (Hoch-Gerichte), each possessing its own constitution, which often differ entirely from one another. The supreme federal government of the canton is vested in the great council of 15 members, which meets at Coire.

ROUTE 68.

CANTON APPENZELL.-ST. GALL TO THE BATHS OF GAIS AND APPENZELL, WITH EXCURSIONS TO THE STOSS, TO THE WEISSBAD, THE WILDKIRCHLEIN, AND THE HOCH SENTIS.

The canton Appenzell lies out of the beat of travellers, completely surrounded (enclavé) by the territory of canton St. Gall, and shut in, at its south extremity, by the Alps; no great high-roads pass through it; and Appenzell itself lies in a cul de sac of the mountains, except for such as will take the difficult paths over the high Alps and glaciers. On this account, it is but little visited by English travellers. The canton is divided into 2 parts or districts, called Rhoden, quite independent of each other, but enjoying only one vote at the diet. Outer Rhoden is a very thickly peopled district, having 8781 inhabitants to the German sq. mile. These are almost exclusively engaged in manufactures, chiefly of cotton, muslin, tambouring, etc. Inner Rhoden, on the contrary, is a land of herdsmen: its high and bleak mountains produce nothing but rich pasturage and sweet grass, upon which vast herds of cattle are fed. The government, in both states, is a pure democracy-the General Assembly, or Landesgeineinde, is composed of every male born in the canton.

To Appenzell, 3 1/2 stunden=11 3/4 English miles. (35/12 Lutz).

To Gais, 2 1/3 stunden-8 English miles.

Travellers going from St. Gall to Coire may, instead of

following the beaten track by Rorschach (Route 67), proceed to Altstetten by way of Gais, and make an excursion thence to Appenzell.

The road quits the canton of St. Gall and enters that of Appenzell (Ausser-Rhoden) a little before reaching

11/6 Teuffen-(Inns: Hecht; Bär). The inhabitants of this village are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of muslin. Grubenman, the carpenter, who built the celebrated bridge of one arch at Schaffhausen, was born here.

1 1/6 Ga is—(Inns: Ochs (Bœuf); Krone (Couronne); the two best, and both said to be good. Rooms cost from 4 fl. to 10 fl. weekly; table d'hôte, 1 fl.; whey, 20 kr. daily-it is brought from the high Alps every morning. The bread is very good here. This little village of 42 houses, mostly converted into lodging-houses by the peasants their owners, irregularly scattered over lawn-like meadows, is situated in a bare, bleak country, with scarce a tree or shrub: nothing but pastures around, at an clevation of 2900 ft. above the sea level. Yet the reputation of its pure and bracing air, and of its cure of goat's whey (molken-kur; cure de petit lait), annually attract hither many hundred invalids from all parts of Europe; and during the season, in July and August, the principal inns are generally crammed full.

The peasants' houses are particularly neat and clean, trimly painted outside, as though they had just issued from a bandbox.

Gais lies at the S. side of the Gäbris, and the view from the top of that mountain is said to be very fine.

The native songs of the cow-herds and dairy-maids of Appenzell are highly melodious.

It is a walk of about five hours from Gais to Herisau (see Route 69).

2 miles to the E. of Gais, on the road to Altstætten, is the Chapel of Stoss, erected on the summit of the steep pass leading down to the Rhine Thal, to commemorate the almost incredible victory gained by 400 men of Appenzell over 3000 Austrians in 1405. The Archduke of Austria and the Abbot of St. Gall had hoped to take the Swiss by surprise with this preponderating force. But a handful of the mountaineers, under the conduct of Count Rudolph of Werdenberg, assembled in haste, gave them battle, and defeated the invaders, with a loss of 900 men, losing only 20 of their own party. The blood of the slain discoloured the mountain torrent which flowed past the battle-field as far as its influx into the Rhine. The view from the Stoss over the valley of the Rhine, 2000 ft. below, and of the snowy mountains of Tyrol and Voralberg beyond, is of great beauty.

A very steep descent leads from the Stoss to Altstetten in

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