Freiburg
or FRIBOURG, a canton of Switzerland, between the canton of Berne and the Pays de Vaud; area, 564 square miles; rivers, the Broie and the Sarine. The principal lake is Morat.
Freiburg is finely diversified with every kind of scenery, Alpine mountains, and verdant valleys. It lies principally in the basin of the Aar, and in the S. and E. is traversed by branches of the Bernese Alps, in which are Mt. Moleson, Dent de Folligrau, and Dent de Breulaire, respectively 6,580, 7,710 and 7,720 feet above the level of the sea. Cattle rearing and dairy husbandry are extensively followed. The annual product of cheese is about 40,000 hundredweight, principally the famous Gruyère cheese. Peat and timber are important products. Of the population, seven-eighths are Roman Catholics. Its capital, of the same name, occupies a wild and romantic situation on the Sarine, 16 miles from Berne. The best buildings are the Jesuits' Church and the Cathedral of St. Nicholas; the latter has a spire of 376 feet in height, and an organ of 7,800 pipes. There are four bridges across the Sarine, one of which is a suspension bridge 905 feet in length. Manufactures straw hats, earthenware, tobacco, playing cards; also tanning and dyeing. Pop. about 14,000.