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the traveller. While our voiturier was
resting his horses, I observed a singular
instance of sagacity in some ducks that
were collected near the carriage. On
our throwing out pieces of hard biscuit,
which were too large for them to swallow
whole, they made many efforts to break
them with their beaks ; failing in this, the
younger ones gave up the spoil, but some
of the older ducks carried pieces of the
biscuit to a pool of standing water, and
held them to soak, till sufficiently soft to
be broken and swallowed with great facility.
I must leave it to metaphysicians to determine,
whether this process was the result
of induction or instinct.
Bex is a large village, under the mountains,
on the north side of the B,hone.
The hills in its immediate vicinity are most
richly adorned with wood, and afford a
great variety of picturesque views to the
artist. On the opposite side of the valley,
a pyramidal mountain, called the Dent du
Midi, rises most majestically, to the height
of eight thousand feet above the river ; and
at some distance behind Bex, is the Dent
de Morcles, a mountain nearly equal in
height, and similar in form. Farther north
is the terrific range of the Diablerets, which
separate the Pays de Vaud from the Valíais.
From one part of this range, called the
Chute de Diablerets, tliere were two extensive
and fatal eboulements in the last century
; one of the peaks falling in the year
1714, and another in 1749 ; a great number
of peasants and cattle were destroyed. A
variety of interesting Alpine excursions
may be taken from Bex, and there is a
very good inn here.
The mountains near Bex abound in gypsum,
which is intermixed with rock salt>
and there are also salt springs. The process
of evaporation, by faggots, already described,
Vol. I. Chap. VII. was first invented
at Bex. There is a considerable establishment
for the manufacture of salt, about a
mile from the town, but the evaporating
houses are not on so extensive a scale as at
Moutiers. A large portion of the salt
made here is procured from a solution of
the rock salt, disseminated in the gypsum,
with which the water can be saturated, before
it goes to the boiler. Hhe galleries
cut in the rock (which may more properly
be called salt mines) are very extensive,
and can be visited without difficulty. The
reservoirs for the salt water are also excap
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