The Calvinistic tenets (which are those of the state) are most generally adopted at Geneva; but the Lutherans, the Germans of the Confession of Augsburg, and the Roman Catholics, have each a church.  The ministers are appointed by the Government, and care is taken that the Roman Catholic minister be subject to a Swiss Bishoprick.  In the Calvinistic churches, the hours of divine service are nine in the morning and two in the afternoon.  The service consists in the reading the commandments, a few prayers, a chapter in the Bible, and the sermon; and concludes with a psalm or hymn, accompanied by the organ; the whole service generally occupies an hour.  The Sunday is principally distinguished by the sermon, the rest of the week being allotted for reading the Scriptures.—­A stranger is much surprised at seeing many persons wear their hats during the sermon, a custom which indicates a want of respect to the place that cannot be excused, however inferior the compositions of a preacher may be to the rest of the service.  There is one thing to be noticed here as worthy of imitation:  no burials are allowed within the city.  At Paris also, most of the burial places near the churches have been removed to the catacombs, a change which has tended greatly to purify the air of the city.  There is a box at each door of the churches here, and as the congregation retire after divine service, a person is stationed near it, to desire them to remember the poor.  These collections must be liberal, as few places are so free from beggars as Geneva.

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CHAP.  XI.

The Perte du Rhone, or the spot where the Rhone suddenly sinks into the ground, forms one of the objects usually visited from Geneva, and I accepted a proposal to join a party in making an excursion thither.  We were careful in providing a carriage, which was so constructed, as to allow us a view on both sides, as some only afford a prospect of half the country, the passengers all sitting on one side, and the cover being immoveable.

We set out at an early hour, and arrived at Vanchy about noon, from whence we proceeded on foot to the spot where the vast waters of the Rhone, in approaching a ridge of rocks, with inconceivable rapidity, sink into the earth.  The cavern is covered with foam, from the agitation of so great a body of water being forced into so small an aperture; and the sight is at once magnificent and solemn.  The emersion of the Rhone is not far distant from the place of its ingulphation, but presents a very different spectacle, as the river ascends so gradually as to be completely smooth, which in attributed to the depth of the caverns from which it issues.  It seems probable that these caverns have some undiscovered outlet, as the Rhone, after its rise from them, is but inconsiderable, compared with what it is before its disappearance.