Valais

Valais (Ger. Wallis), a frontier canton of Switzerland (q.v.), bounded on the N. by the cantons of Vaud and Bern, and on the S. by Italy. Area, 2036 sq. m.; pop. (1888) 101,837. It forms one long and deep valley, included between two of the loftiest mountain-chains of Europe—the Pennine and the Bernese Alps—and is drained by the Upper Rhone, which, rising at its north-eastern extremity, falls at the western boundary of the canton into the Lake of Geneva. The greater part of the surface consists of barren mountain-slopes—in their higher elevations covered with the greatest of the Swiss glaciers. The forests and pasture-lands supply the inhabitants with their chief occupations. The heat at the bottom of the valley, where there is a strip of corn-land, is intense in summer, and Indian corn and the vine are grown with great success. The Grimsel and Gemmi passes connect the eastern part of the valley with German Switzerland; and the Great St Bernard and Simplon (q.v.) passes connect it with Italy. Sion (q.v.) and Martigny (q.v.) are the chief towns.