Lucerne
LAKE OF, called also VIERWALDSTATTERSEE ("Lake of the Four Forest Cantons" - Uri, Unterwalden, Schwyz, and Lucerne), one of the most beautiful sheets of water in Europe. In shape it resembles roughly a cross with a crumpled stem; its shores are mostly steep and rocky. Length from Lucerne to Flüelen, 23 miles; average breadth, about 1½ miles; area, 44 square miles.
The chief places on its banks are Lucerne, Küssnacht, and Alpnach at the N. W., and Flüelen near its S. W. extremity.
It forms part of the St. Gothard route, and is navigated by steamboats, but is liable to sudden and violent storms. See TELL, WILLIAM.