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t h e town, and displaying an appearance of fertility botli cheerful and romantic. This
town is at present accounted the capital of a government, from which it takes its
name, composed of four department s ; for which reason it is not considered as making
a part of the Pays-de-Vaud, or Pays Romand, but of the Pays Allemand, or Germany.
T h e senate of Berne send hither a governor, every six years, to administer justice, as in
their other bailiwics. The Bernese have been in possession of this government for nearly
three hundred years back, at which period it was taken from the House of Savoy, to
whom it had belonged in full sovereignty ever since the year 1076. the time at which
it had been ceded to them by the emperor, Henry IV. Its inhabitants enjoy many privileges,
granted by the senate. Each department has likewise an exciusive right to exercise,
in its own particular district, the police and inferior jurisdiction ; and their councils,
in general, consist of twelve members, chosen from among the inhabitants by a
majority of votes, presided by the châtelain.
This province or government, which does not exceed eighteen miles in length and
fifteen in width, is extremely fruitful, for com and v^g^tahies are cultivated in great
abundance, the fruit is excel lent , and the wine made on the spot esteemed good ; in fine,
most of the productions congcnia! to the south of France are to be met with here, as
well as those of the frozen climate or region of the Alps, though standing only in
lat. 46» 12', and long. 7= T . Besides the above advantages, which enable this province
t o furnish its inhabitants with the first necessaries of life, it also contains within its
mountains and valleys a variety of curious productions, belonging to the three kingdoms
of Nature ; which circumstance, most probably, induced the celebrated Haller to reside
here for some time.
Among these productions, the mineral are the most various and valuable, consisting,
as before mentioned, of beautiful and different-coloured marbles, selenitic spar, gemma;
of salt, lead-mines containing particles or veins of silver ore, others of fossile-coal, as
also virgin sulphur of the purest kind, found, as it were, incrusted in the rock ; several
kinds of copperas pyrites i and, lastly, salt-springs, from which the government of Berne
has drawn, and still continues to draw, a considerable profit.
T h e one contiguous to the village of Panex was discovered in 1554; but it was
soon after buried, and for a time totally lost, by immense rubbish or fragments belonging
to the mountain of Yvorne, which, in 1584, suddenly gave way and fell, in consequence
of an earthquake, which was so fatal and tremendous, that several villages were like-
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wise destroyed by the ruins, not only of the same mountain, but of others in the
vicinity, which experienced the same shock,—a catastrophe which, according to the
tradition of the people of the country, lasted two days and a half. One thing, however,
worthy of observation, is, that this part of the valley of the Rhône is subject to frequent
succussions of the earth, and that, during the last earthquake at Messina, in the month
of February, 1783, the shock experienced in that chain of the Alps nearest the valley
was very considerable.
Nevertheless, if what I have advanced concerning the formation of the Lake of
Geneva be duly considered, the inference deduced from it must assuredly be found to
account for that circumstance, it being extremely probable that the focus of the present
existing volcanoes may have deep subterraneous galleries, which srill communicate, at a
vast distance, with others which are either in force or extinguished : and as a further
proof of the probability of this conjecture, on the 1st of November, 1755, about ten in
t h e morning, the time of the earthquake so fatal at Lisbon, in the mines of Haycliff and
Ladywash, at Eyam in Derbyshire, the rocks which surrounded the miners were so
much disturbed, that soil, &c. fell from their joints or fissures ; and they likewise heard
violent explosions, as it were of cannon.—See mitehurst' s Inquiry into the original
State and Formation of the Earth.
T h e springs which are in the vicinity of Bevieux, a village situate more towards
t h e south, were not known till 1591 j but being also entombed beneath the rubbish of
the neighbouring mountains, though not from a similar cause with the former, these
having been hur led or carried away, and then left b y the velocity or impetuousness of the
torrents in one of their risings, they remained totally concealed till the year 1674,
when, after much labour, time, and perseverance, they were again recovered. Since
that time the proprietors spared neither pains nor expense to guard them from similar
misfortunes ; and, to secure them more effectually, they caused the salt water to be
conveyed by means of large tubes or pipes as far as Bevieux, nine miles from Bex, another
village remarkable for its situation, as wel l as being in the proximity of the salt-works.
T h e government of Berne, at all times attentive to the happiness and prosperity of
their country, began to be sensible of the value of such a discovery, and the great
advantages which would naturally result from it, and agreed to purchase them of the
original proprietors for the sum of ¿.103,493. This sum was extremely inconsiderable
for such a treasure, considering the vast difficulty the Swiss before had in procuring salt,
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