iíí
<É
F AL
* I
212 CANTON OF VALLAIS.
vated in the rock. The gypsum here is oi
two kinds, anhydrous and common ; but I
must refer to the appendix for an account
of the geology of this district. My principal
object in visiting Bex a second time,
was to see M. Charpentier, the superintendant
of the mines, and well known for
several valuable geological papers, but he
was unfortunately absent.
I shall here introduce some observations
on the Canton of the Valíais, which we
passed through the preceding year after
leaving Bex.
This canton comprises the whole of the
valley of the Upper Rhone, from the source
of that river, at La Fourche, to its entrance
into the Lake of Geneva, with the
exception o f a small portion of the northern
bank of the river below St. Maurice, which
belongs to the Pays de Vaud. La Fourche
may be regarded as the western termination
of St. Gothard, and is sometimes
called the Glacier of the Bhone. The
upper valley of the Rhone is upwards of
one hundred Fnglish miles in length ; the
flat part of the bottom of the valley is
often less than two miles in breadth, but
the breadth of the Canton, taken from the
CANTON OF VALLAIS.
summits of the two ranges of mountains,
which bound it on the north and south, is,
on the average, more than twenty miles.
At the upper end of the valley these two
ranges meet and unite.
The direction of the river Rhone, from
its source to Martigny, a distance of about
seventy miles, is south westerly, when it
turns suddenly at right angles to its former
course, and runs in a north westerly direction
to the Lake of Geneva, whicli it
enters below Port Valíais.*
Before the French revolution, the Canton
of the Valíais was divided into the Haiit
Valíais and the Bas Valíais. The part of
the valley, from below Sion to St. Gin-
«■olph, was called the Bas Vallais, and that
dbove the Haut Valíais. Sixteen lateral
valleys, some of considerable extent, open
into the main valley of the Rhone, and
where they unite the width of the flat part
of the valley is increased. Thirteen of
these lateral valleys are inhabited.
* The Bas Valíais was conquered from Savoy by the
inhabitants of the Haut Valíais, and the inhabitants
were treated as subjects till the French revolution, when
they were emancipated. In the Bas Valíais, French is
the prevailing language, but above Sion, German is
most commonly spoken.
p 3