Shi“
I observed the crops had all failed in the
cold summer of 1821.
I believe the greatest height at which
oats are cultivated in England does not exceed
1200 fe e t: sheep graze on the summit
of Helvellyn, which is 3052 feet above
the level of the sea, and is covered with
herbage.
All the rivers and lakes of Savoy empty
themselves into the Rhone, or the Isere;
and the latter river falls into the Rhone, at
Valence. The three principal rivers are
the Arch, which rises on the west side of
Mont Iseran, and takes a nearly circular
bend through the valley of the Maurienne,
along a course of about sixty miles, before
it joins the Isere. The Isere, which rises
on the east side of Mount Iseran, and flows
through the Tarentaise, where it joins the
Arly, and turning westward, runs along
the great valley of Savoy till it enters
France: its course through Savoy is about
seventy miles. The Arve, which rises from
the glaciers of Chamouny, and after receiving
all the waters from the north side
of Mont Rlanc, and a number of lateral
valleys in its course, joins the Rhone about
one mile below the issue of the latter river
from the Lake of Geneva. As the waters
of the Arve come in a rapid descent from
the glaciers, they preserve a temperature
considerably below that of the Rhone : in
summer, the difference exceeds 15° of Fa-
renheit, and this difference occasions a proportionate
increase of specific gravity, from
which cause it is that the two rivers, after
their junction, do not blend their waters
together for a considerable distance; the
clear blue current of the Rhone passing on
the western bank, and the limpid stream of
the Arve on the eastern. Sometimes the
waters of the Arve are so much increased
by sudden thaws, as to force back the Rhone
into the Lake of Geneva. The waters from
the lakes of Annecy and Bourget flow into
the Rhone.
As the rivers in Savoy are subject to
vast and sudden inundations, from the
thawing of the snow on the mountains, they
bring down, at such times, an immense
quantity of stones, and spread them over
the bottoms of the valleys. Many a stream,
which appears in ordinary times inconsiderable,
has a stoney bed of half a mile
in breadth, in various parts of its course;
-s-ii