The world: historical and actual . »• the case. With oc- Icasionalinterrup-tions thecantonshave al-ways beenfree andunited. T h enationalhero wasWilliamTell. Hisvery ex-iste neehas beenquestion-ed, andcertain itis that allknown ofof him ismore le-gendary than historical. The story is this: Tell wasa hunter living in the canton of Uri in the early partof the fourteenth century. At that time the Haps-burg dynasty claimed sovereignty over Austrian bailiff named Gessler raised a cap on apole in the market-place of Altorf to which every-body was ordered to bow in token of submission
The world: historical and actual . »• the case. With oc- Icasionalinterrup-tions thecantonshave al-ways beenfree andunited. T h enationalhero wasWilliamTell. Hisvery ex-iste neehas beenquestion-ed, andcertain itis that allknown ofof him ismore le-gendary than historical. The story is this: Tell wasa hunter living in the canton of Uri in the early partof the fourteenth century. At that time the Haps-burg dynasty claimed sovereignty over Austrian bailiff named Gessler raised a cap on apole in the market-place of Altorf to which every-body was ordered to bow in token of submission tothe government. Tell belonged to an organizationformed for the purpose of throwing off the yoke ofoppression, and he refused obedience. Greasier con-demned him to death, but reprieved him on conditionthat he would shoot an apple from the head of hisown son. Being a remarkable bowman, he venturedthe shot, and hit the apple without harming the The tyrannical bailiff noticed that Tell had two ar-rows, and asked him why he had more than one, towhich the intrepid archer replied, If I had hit myson I should have shot you. The critics pronouncethis story a legend common to all Aryan nations,found, with slight variations, in Persia, Denmark,Ioeland and elsewhere. But the chief interest of Switzerland is thatvast system of mountains which culminates inMont Blanc. The Alps extend from the Mediterra-nean Sea,betweenMarseil-les andNice, ir-regularlyeastw ardto about18° eastlongitudeand 45°,Rhoneand theDanubeare thegreat riv-ers which VIEW OF BASLE. rise in those m o u 11 - tains. The Alps cover an area of nearly 100,000 scpiaremiles, extending some 700 miles fEom east to west,varying hi breadth from 50 to 200 miles, with anaverage elevation of 7,700 feet. There are no lessthan seven hundred peaks which tower into the re-gion of perpetual snow. Among these are MontBlanc, 15,784 feet high : (irand Ceroin, 14,8
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectworldhistory, bookyea
