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BERNE.
Berne, the most extensive of the Swiss cantons, in which the Oberland is situated, contains 150 geographical square miles, and 226,000 inhabitants. Its mountains, its natural beauties, and the moral qualities of its inhabitants, render it one of the most remarkable districts in Switzerland. Sublimely magnificent mountains, such as the Finsteraar-horn, the Schreck-horn, the Wetter-horn, the Eiger, the Jungfrau, the Gross-horn, the Breit-horn, the Tschingel-horn, the Blumlis-alp, the Dolden-horn, and others, little inferior in elevation to Mont Blanc itself, are situated in the canton of Berne, on the frontiers of the Valais, and support the most extensive glaciers in Switzerland.
The
city of Berne, the capital of the canton, is 1708 feet above the level of
the sea, and 522 feet higher than the Lake of Geneva. Owing to this elevated
situation, it enjoys an extremely salubrious air; so that one out of every
four children born, attains the age of 70 years; and out of 100 persons who
die, there are "always from twenty to twenty-five, from seventy to one hundred
years old.
Berne seems to have been inhabited in the time of the Roman emperors. Various antiquities, discovered in and near the place, give <2> probability to this conjecture. Express mention is made of Berne in 1182: it cannot therefore be said, that Berthold, Duke of Zähringgen, founded the city in 1191; but soon afterwards, when he had defeated the insurgent nobility in the Grindelwald, he caused the little village of Berne, near the castle of Nydeck, to be surrounded with walls and ditches. In 1218, Berne was declared a free imperial city by the emperor Frederic II., which occasioned a rapid increase in its extent and prosperity: nevertheless, till the year 1345, this rising state possessed nothing beyond the walls of the city, except the village of Habstadten, which it acquired by purchase. In 1353, it was admitted a member of the Swiss confederacy, as the eighth canton. From this period to the conclusion of the 18th century, it added to its possessions, partly by purchase and partly by conquest, various districts, comprehending, among others, almost the whole of the Oberland.
The various accessions which Berne obtained, during a period of six centuries, rendered it the most powerful canton of Switzerland; but after it had been gradually raised by the heroism and virtue of its citizens to fame, consequence, and wealth, its fortune suddenly changed. All that had been acquired, with such an expenditure of blood, and so many sacrifices of every kind, was lost, in 1798, in the course of a few weeks. The French government, immediately after the peace concluded with Austria at Campo Formio, directed its particular attention towards Switzerland. The bishopric of Basle was occupied by French troops, and on the 5th of March, 1798, after a few days' hostilities, their victorious army entered Berne. After many sanguinary conflicts, all the cantons were compelled to accept the constitution prescribed by France. Berne was the seat of the Helvetic government from 1799 to 1803; when, through the interference of Buonaparte, the act of mediation introduced a new constitution, which lasted till his downfall, when things reverted nearly to their former state. <3> The most remarkable edifices in Berne are the mint, the corn-magazine, the infirmary, the hospital, the orphan-houses, the arsenal, which was stripped of its most valuable contents by the French in 1798; the cathedral, the first stone of which was laid in 1421, and which was completed at an expense of more than 100,000 guilders; the church of the Holy Ghost, erected in 1704, and the city library. The latter contains, besides books and manuscripts, a collection of Roman, Greek, and Gothic coins, a cabinet of Swiss coins and medals, various Roman antiquities discovered in different parts of the canton, drawings of the mosaic pavements found at Avenche, Cheyre, and Attiswyl, and other antiquities; the portraits of the chief magistrates of Berne, and cabinets of subjects in natural history.
The place, in front of the cathedral, planted with trees, affords a charming promenade, which commands a beautiful and extensive view. It is elevated 108 feet above the river Aar, along which is a wall of that height, built in 1344, at the expense of 50,000 guilders, by Matthias von Steinbach, son of the architect of the minster of Strasburg. In this wall is inserted a marble tablet, with an inscription recording the following remarkable event: On the 25th of July, 1654, a student, named Weinzäpfli, in a frolic, mounted a horse which was grazing on this spot; some of his comrades chased the horse, and the rider was thrown over the low palisades with which it was at that time surrounded. He fell into a garden, broke his arms and legs, but nevertheless recovered from these severe injuries.
The
annexed engraving represents a view of this spot, taken from the opposite
side of the river.
The traveller, who sets out on his tour of the Oberland from Berne, may easily procure in that city whatever is requisite for the journey. He will also have opportunities of purchasing many things at Thun, Meyringen, and Unterseen. Suitable clothing, not too light, but <4>durable and convenient, is a principal point. Fresh supplies of provisions may be obtained at most of the inns. Tourists generally take a carriage as far as Thun, and then embark to cross the lake of Thun, because the pleasure of a walk along its shore is not adequate to the fatigues of such an excursion. It is time enough to look out for guides when they have reached Unterseen.
On starting from Berne, the traveller has the choice of two principal routes: he may either begin with Hasli, and finish with Lauterbrunn; or, vice versâ, proceed first to Lauterbrunn, and conclude the tour with the Haslithal. For this tour, different persons will take more or less time according to circumstances. It may be performed in six or eight days; but those, who have nothing to consult but their own convenience, may devote to it a fortnight, or even twice that period, without finding any want of interesting objects to engage their attention. The following route might be pursued by those whose plans prevent them from allotting more than fourteen days to this excursion.
First day.--From Berne to Thun to breakfast--Schadau--Bachihölzlein--lake
of Thun--cavern of St. Beatus--Unterseen.
Second day.--Halt at Unterseen--walk to Bönigen--ride to Ringgenberg,
and return by Hohbühl.--In the evening, walk to the little Rügen.
Third day.--To Zweylütschinen, by way of Unspunnen and Wilderswyl--ascend
the mountains to Eisenfluh and Mürren--sleep at Mürren.
Fourth day.--From Mürren by Gimmelwald to Stichelberg, and to
the beautiful fall of the Schmadribach--ancient mine at Trachsellauinen--sleep
at Lauterbrunn. <5>
Fifth day.--From Lauterbrunn to Grindelwald--the Wengen-Alp--view of
the Jungfrau and the two Eigers--sleep at Grindelwald.
Sixth day.--To the Faulhorn, or to the two glaciers of Grindelwald--sleep
in the Schwarzwald.
Seventh day.--To the Grimsel.
Eighth day.--To the glacier of the Rhone, and return to the hospital
of the Grimsel, or to the glacier of the Lower Aar; or ascend the Sidelhorn,
and return to the hospital.
Ninth day.--To Meyringen, making a small detour to the Kirchhet.
Tenth day.--Meyringen--the Reichenbach, with its falls, and the heights
above, near Falcheren.
Eleventh day.--To mount Hasli, and through its villages to the Brünig--descend
into the valley of Hasli by the bridge of Wyler.--Sleep at Tracht or Brienz.
Twelfth day.--View the Giessbach--thence to Iseltwald and Interlacken.
Thirteenth day.--Lake of Thun--Spiez--by land to Gwatt--to Amsoldingen,
or the bath of Blumenstein.
Fourteenth day.--By Thurnen to Berne, or to the Gurnigel, and thence
to Berne.
This plan is of course susceptible of additions or retrenchments, according to the circumstances of the traveller; and in the following <6> tour we shall not hesitate to conduct him to any interesting or remarkable object, though not situated in the direct line of his route.
It should be observed, that the season for performing this tour with the greatest pleasure, embraces the months of June, July, and August, when the weather is most likely to be favourable, and the herdsmen are resident on the mountains. Unfortunately, June is too often rainy, and travellers are in consequence frequently obliged to protract their journey into September, which is attended with inconvenience, from the shortness of the days, and the necessity of carrying along larger supplies of provisions, because the herdsmen have quitted their elevated abodes on the Alps for lower situations. In May, the waterfalls and valleys would indeed be extremely beautiful, but then there is often a great deal of snow on the heights, to which the herdsmen have not yet removed. July and August are therefore to be preferred on all accounts, though an irregular season may occasion a difference in this particular.
The traveller may spend the day before his departure from Berne on this tour in the most profitable manner, in visiting the public library, which contains numerous subjects in natural history, the productions of the Alps; and may inspect some relievos of the Oberland, which furnish the most accurate and satisfactory representations of that country. A walk to the pass called the Enge, to survey the great chain of the Alps, which he is about to visit, will assist to make him acquainted with the respective situations of their colossal peaks, and form an appropriate conclusion to the day.
It would be difficult to form any thing like an accurate estimate of the expense of such a tour, which must depend on the circumstances and pleasure of the party by whom it is made. So much, however, may be premised, that the charges at the inns will be found higher <7> in these Alpine regions, than in many other parts of the Continent. Here the inkeepers' harvest is of short duration. In cold wet summers, the travelling season frequently lasts no more than two months, and even in the best years scarcely four or five. In this short period, they must make a sufficient profit to pay a very high house-rent, as well as the interest of the capital expended in beds and other furniture, besides the cost of provisions and attendance; and when the heavy charge of carriage is considered, it cannot appear surprising that wine and other liquors should here be considerably dearer than in some other countries.
It will be necessary for the traveller to provide himself with a supply of the coins current in these parts. Of the large silver coins, French and Brabant crowns are the most serviceable; and of the small money, that of Berne, the small coin of the other cantons having been a few years since prohibited. In gold, the French coins and the Dutch ducats are best known and generally preferred.
