A large number of rivulets, issuing from Swiss glaciers, unite to form
the upper Rhine; but two are recognized as the principal sources--the
Nearer and the Farther Rhine. The former emerges on the northeast slope
of the St. Gotthard pass (seven thousand six hundred and ninety feet
above sea-level), the other side of which is the cradle of the Rhone;
the Farther Rhine has its origin on the flank of the Rheinwaldhorn,
seven thousand two hundred and seventy feet high, not far from the Pass
of Bernardino. The two mountain torrents meet at Reichenau, six miles
southwest of Coire (Chur), in the Grisons canton, Switzerland, after
they have descended the Nearer Rhine five thousand seven hundred and
sixty-seven feet in twenty-eight miles, the Farther Rhine five thousand
three hundred and forty-seven feet in twenty-seven miles.