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velocity these waters acquire in their descent,
and the great quantity of earth and
stones they carry with them, render their
force irresistible. The water is seen approaching
like a moving wall, bearing
down every thing opposed to its progress.
In this manner Martigny has been several
times nearly destroyed, and in the year
1818 it experienced a similar calamity.
The valley of the Rhone has frequently
suffered severely from earthquakes, as already
mentioned. Vol. I. Chap. IX.
In such a situation as the Valíais, man
seems to be placed amid the ruins of nature,
in a state of warfare with the elements,
and he is compelled to be incessantly on
his guard against the powers that threaten
his destruction. It is this constant exposure
to dangers too mighty for human
strength to resist, which is supposed to
give to the aged Vallaisiens an air of uncommon
seriousness and melancholy, a
melancholy which even travellers must in
some degree partake, in passing through
this canton, notwithstanding the grand objects
that it frequently presents to the view,
and the picturesque appearance of the villages
and churches on the heights.
The air at the bottom of the valleys is
often hot and suffocating, when the cold is
severe upon the mountains. From various
causes, but principally from the stagnation
of air in the valleys, from the mineral impregnation
of the water, and from want of
cleanliness and wholesome diet, cretinism
in its most horrid forms, is more prevalent
in this canton than in any other part of the
Alps. The places most subject to cretinism
are where the lateral valleys enter the
valley of the Rhone, and the torrents are
most charged with minute particles of
mineral substances, and also where the air
is most stagnant. It is observed that in
the villages that are situated about 3800
feet above the level o f the sea, the inhabitants
are not affected with this malady.
Intermittent fevers are also frequent in
the marshy parts of the valley, and the
inhabitants are affected with cutaneous
disorders, from living on cheese and salted
meat : indeed the general appearance of
the peasantry is indicative of poverty
and misery.
The canton of the Valíais was the
first part of Switzerland that we travelled
leisurely through, in the year 1820.