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evident that the bed of the lake has retained its original height, a supposition no ways
improbable.
On this bank, called Le Travers, which is In great part covered with sand and pebbles,
stands, near the Pagnis, a huge granitic stone, universally known to the Genevese
by the appellation of Pierre-à-Nitlon, being a corruption of the word Neptune it being
a received opinion among them that on this stone originally stood an altar dedicated to
that god.
This block of granite, as well as many others of similar kind, found on the hUls
which screen the basis of the Jura, the Vouaches, and the Salêve, to an elevation of
five hundred feet at least, mèrit attention, and must be deemed curious, being visibly
foreign to the places where they now stand, and cannot possibly have come from any
part, except the highest primordial peaks of the Alps. Similar pieces have I likewise
remarked, as well as lamellated hornstone and primitive rock, in several places on the
banks of the lake, and on the road from Geneva to Evian. Now, as to the manner in
which they may have been conveyed to those places, the force which has acted on them,
or rather by what convulsion or operation of Nature they may have been thrown there,
are questions difficult to resolve ; yet I shall hereafter venture to hazard my opinion on
this subject.
But to return to Geneva.—Considering this city as seated at the extremity of this
noble lake, and on the declivity of two hills, separated only by the course of the Rhône,
which, on breaking out of the lake, flows through the city nearly from east to west, in
a smooth, deep, and transparent stream, it may be said not only to command one of the
most pleasing and well-cultivated countries it is possible to conceive, but in fact to
become, from whatever point it is viewed, an interesting object. {Vi<k N® XI I I . )
Contiguous to a deep ravine, near the hills Labatie and St. Jean, at the eastern part
of the city, the polluted Arve, which takes its source among the glaciers of Fancignie,
mingles, with great rapidity, its muddy waters with those of the Rhône. The swelling
of this river, at the melting of the snow, becomes so considerable, that it overflows its
banks, and inundates the surrounding fields and gardens. Its impetuosity is then so
rapid, that, not finding scope proportionate to its bulk and velocity in the deep narrow
channel dug by its water, in conjunction with that of the Rhône, it has frequently been
known to cause a retrograde motion in the latter, forcing it to return again into the
lake. Even when I was last at Geneva, several people recollected the mills working