Picturesque Tour through the Oberland; index
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LAKE OF THUN.
The road from Berne to Thun, a distance of about six leagues, runs parallel with the river Aar, through the villages of Muri, Münsingen, Wichtrach, Kiesen, and Heimberg. Thun is pleasantly situated on the Aar, not far from its exit from the lake which derives its name from this town. A public stage-coach travels from Berne to this place four times a week, and once or twice there is a passage-vessel on the Aar, which performs the distance in about two hours. The inns are called the Freyhof and the White Cross.
Near
the chateau, on the east side of the town, there is a magnificent prospect
over the whole country and the neighbouring lake, towards the lofty chain
of the Alps, in which the valleys of Grindel, Lauterbrunn, Frutigen, Kander,
Adelboden, and Simmen, are situated. There is also a delicious walk from the
town to the castle of Schadau, on the margin of the lake, where the spectator
likewise enjoys an inexpressibly beautiful and sublime prospect, especially
when illumined by the evening sun.
Thun is a place of considerable antiquity, and formerly had its own counts, on the extinction of whose family, it devolved to the then powerful house of Kyburg. At the commencement of the 14th century, Count Hartmann of Kyburg, who resided at Thun, possessed the whole of the Oberland, as far as the High Alps, the Emmenthal, to Landshut and Burgdorf, and many estates in Aargau. He resided at Thun, and at this period upwards of seventy families, dispersed through the Oberland, were numbered among the citizens of that town. His eldest son, Hartmann, after his father's death, caused his brother Eberhard, when on a visit to him at his mansion at Landshut, to be secured, and detained him a prisoner in the fortress of Rochefort, near Neuchatel. Duke Leopold of Austria <9> decided that Hartmann should remain sovereign of the country, and that Eberhard should reside in the castle of Thun. To this place a great assemblage of the nobility was summoned for the purpose of celebrating their reconciliation; but after the entertainment, Hartmann spoke of his brother in such offensive terms, that some of the attendants of the latter drew their swords. In the scuffle which ensued, Hartmann was killed on the staircase of the castle, and his body was precipitated over the walls. This event happened in 1323. Count Eberhard, in this dilemma, sent to the city of Berne, promising to be one of its citizens, and to make over to it part of his possessions and the sovereignty of Thun, which was accepted. In 1375, his eldest son, Hartmann, mortgaged the town of Thun to Berne, since which time it continued to be a municipality of that canton; till, in 1798, it became, but only for a short period, the capital of a distinct canton, formed out of the Oberland.
From Thun a passage-vessel sails twice a week, on Monday and Friday, and a
market-vessel on Wednesday and Saturday, for Unterseen and Brienz. Those who
prefer a separate conveyance may hire a sailing boat, with two men, to go as
far as Neuhaus, which is four leagues, at the rate of 21 gulden, or about five
shillings.
