Aare
Aar, or Aare, is the most considerable river which both
rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.
Its total length (including all bends) from its source to its junction
with the Rhine is about 291 km (181 miles), during which distance it
descends 1565 m (5135 feet), while its drainage area is 17,620 km2 (6804 square
miles).
It rises in the great Aar glaciers, in the canton of
Bern, and west of the Grimsel Pass. It runs east to the Grimsel
Hospice, and then northwest through the Hasli valley, forming on the
way the magnificent waterfall of the Handegg, 46 m (151 feet), past
Guttannen, and pierces the limestone barrier of the Kirchet
by a grand gorge, before reaching Meiringen, situated in a
plain. A little beyond, near Brienz, the river expands
into the lake of Brienz, where it becomes navigable. Near
the west end of that lake it receives its first important
affluent, the Lutschine (left), and then runs across the
swampy plain of the Bodoli, between Interlaken (left) and
Unterseen (right), before again expanding in order to form
the Lake of Thun.
Near the west end of that lake it receives
on the left the Kander, which has just before been joined
by the Simme; on flowing out of the lake it passes Thun, and
then circles the lofty bluff on which the town of Bern is
built. It soon changes its northwesterly for a due westerly
direction, but after receiving the Saane or Sarine (left)
turns north till near Aarberg its stream is diverted west by the
Hagneck Canal into the Lake of Bienne, from the upper end of
which it issues through the Nidau Canal and then runs east to
Henceforth its course is northeast for a long distance,
past Soleure (below which the Grosse Emme flows in on the
right), Aarburg (where it is joined by the Wigger, right),
Olten, Aarau, near which is the junction with the Suhr on the
right, and Wildegg, where the Hallwiler Aa falls in on the
right. A short way beyond, below Brugg, it receives first the
Reuss (right), and very shortly afterwards the Limmat or Linth
(right). It now turns due north, and soon becomes itself an
affluent of the Rhine (left), which it surpasses in volume
when they unite at Coblenz, opposite Waldshut.