The proportion which some other countries bear to Switzerland, in respect to the population subsisting on each square mile, is as follows, viz.

    China, the most populous country
      in the world, of the same extent 260

    Holland, which has a greater population
      than any country of its limited
      extent 275

    France, as in 1782 174

    United kingdom of Great Britain and
      Ireland 145

    Russia in Europe 30

    Iceland 1

I have been assured that in one part of the Canton of Appenzell, the population amounts to 562 per square mile.  It is one of the most secluded parts of Switzerland, and is famous for the music called the Ranz des Suisses.  The Alps greatly increase the surface of Switzerland when compared with less mountainous countries, and it therefore can support vast flocks in situations where agriculture would be impracticable.  I have been frequently surprised to see cattle in places, whither they must have been carried by the inhabitants.  The number of the cattle, in many of the Swiss Cantons, greatly exceeds that of the inhabitants.

Haller has observed that Switzerland presents, as it were, three distinct regions; that on the tops of the mountains are found the plants indigenous in Lapland; lower down, are found those of the Cape of Good Hope; and the valleys abound with plants peculiar to Switzerland, besides others which are found in the same latitude.  I observed in a former chapter, that the great occupation of the inhabitants of Geneva consists in the manufacture of watches, clocks, &c. and having a desire to see some specimens of their workmanship, I accompanied a friend, who had purchased a musical snuff-box, to the workshop of its fabricator, who although he was of the first celebrity in Geneva, had no warehouse in a more accessible situation than his workshop on the fifth story.  I afterwards found that most of the watchmakers had their workshops at the tops of the houses, which here, as in Edinburgh, are mostly occupied by several families, who have a common stair-case to their apartments.  I was much pleased with the display of ingenuity in this warehouse, and found that many of the articles were intended to be sent to Paris, to Asia, &c.  Geneva itself could not, of course, supply purchasers for such a profusion of expensive mechanism.  The taste of many of the articles, is by no means such as would ensure them a ready sale in London.