hiftory and formation of the extenfive and beautiful plain of Lombardy, as aJfo a defcription
of the moil intereiHng traits relating to the origin and fituation of the city of Coni,
I purpofe continuing my travels and remarks acrofs tlie Alpes Maritime, or Maritime
Alps. DEPARTURE FROM CONI,
PASSAGE OF THE COL DE TENDE.
THE city of Conij from the nature of its fituation, at the extremity of one of tliofe three
grand valleys, which I have heretofore clafled as primitive, may be faid to form a ccnü-al
point of union at the foot of the Cottiau and Maritime Alps, to a number of fecondary
valleys which defcend from thefe tremendous heights.
Thofe of Maira, Grena, and Stura, which come from the Cottian Alps, are in a northweft
dire<Slion. The Gezzo, Geffe, or Limon (which extend to the bafe of the Maritime
Alps), tend toward the fouth, and a number of fmaller, or ti"anfverial, bound it on the
eaft. Thefe tranfverlal valleys are molUy formed by branches of the fecondary mountains,
belonging to the fame chain of Alps, and the rich and fertile hills of Montferrat; which
hills I am led to fix on as the beginning of the Apennines, which crofs Italy in its whole
length, as is well known, nearly in a direéHon tending from north-weft to foutli-eaft.
Thofe long, crooked, and deep valleys, which I call fecondary in comparifon to the
firft, are each watered by rivers or torrents which have their fource among the permanent
fiiow which covers the fummit of the Alps; but they cannot be faid entirely to owe their
form and depth to thefe rivers, it being rather probable that the tremendous mountains
which fcreen tliem, have not totally rifen to their prefent fiupendous height above the valleys,
but in gradual proportion as the plains and foil at their bafe, have been originally
lowered by the current of the fea at the time of its laft retreat.
It is therefore apparent tliat the fummits of thofe mountains could not then have been
in the fame region where tlie fnow is now pemianait; and confequently the torrents and
rivers which flow in the centre of thefe valleys, which are now generally maintained by the
melting of tlie fiiow, not being at that epoch either fo large or fo rapid as tliey are at prefenl,
fi-om the above caufe, could not entirely have dug the deep and extenfive valleys which
I term middle or fecondary.