IS
to the new road formed by Napoleon, but
it seems utterly ridiculous where it is, by
forcing upon the attention a comparison
between the two undertakings.
Carolus Emanuel II.
Subaudiae Dux. Piedmontis Princeps, Cypri Rex,
Publica felicitate parta, singulorum commodis intentus,
Breviorem, securiorem, viam regiam,
A Natura occlusam, Romanis intentatam,
Cfeteris desperatam, dejectis scopulorum repagulis,
AEquata montium iniquitate
Quae cervicibus imminebant, prsecipita pedibus
substernens,
iEternis populorum commerciis patefacit
Anno Domini MDCLXX.
The physical structure of the valley of
les Echelles is very remarkable. Its excavation
cannot be explained by the erosion
of currents of waters running through it.
The bottom of the valley is of a semi-elip-
tical shape. There is no river, nor any
thing deserving the name of a rivulet,
running along it. The river Guiers, rising
in the mountains of the Grand Chartreuse,
crosses the bottom of the valley, transversely,
at about three miles distance from
the upper end. Standing at the town of
les Echelles, and looking eastward up the
valley, you have, on the south side, a range
of mountains, capped with strata of limestone,
forming mural precipices, one thousand
feet in height, which cover steep and
verdant slopes, formed of softer strata, and
much furrowed ; these slopes decline rapidly
to the valley, and rest on other strata
of limestone, near the bottom of it. On
the north, mountains of less elevation decline
gradually into the valley, and in
front, instead of a narrow ravine, which
commonly terminates the upper end of
valleys, we have here a wall of limestone
rock, a mile in length, stretching across
the valley from one side to the other, and
closing it up. There are, it is true, mountains
of higher elevation beyond this wall,
and it might have been supposed that the
waters descending from thence had once
passed over it in a mighty cataract, which
had excavated the present valley ; but this
is impossible, as the wall is detached from
the mountains behind it, and is not much
more than 1000 feet wide: hence it is
evident that the waters descending from
these mountains passed off in a different
direction, and could not have effected the
excavation of the valley. At Malham
Cove, near Settle, in Yorkshire, we have
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