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Naturalists, who purpose visiting this paTt of the A]ps, ought by no means to omit
examining the land-accumulations formed by the Rhône at its entrance into the lake,
which are continually upon the increase, as they will by this excursion be enabled to
form a just idea of those which invariably exist at the mouths gf all rivers, whether they
throw themselves into seas or into lakes. They will likewise perccive, that those
accumulations may reasonably be considered as nothing more than true alluvions, or a
kind of mud-banks, formed by the successive sediments of rivers, which the greater or
lesser degree of undulation of the waters of the sea or lakes (it matters not which)
obliged those rivers to deposit near their banks. Hence I have been led to believe
that the continents continually, though imperceptibly, encroach on the surface of the
waters,—which circumstance can however only be properly said to affect lakes and mland
seas, as the Mediterranean, &c.
The land-accumulations of the Rhône, contiguous to its running into the lake, are
considerable, visibly extending five miles from north to south, and three from east to
west, and, like those of the Po, are totally composed of fragments from the primitive
mountains, intermixed witli quartzose strata of fine sand, and particles of mica and
argil, of different colours : they likewise, from every appearance, seem to have formed
the major part of the lower valley, or the whole tract of country which stretches to the
village of Grand Colombier, in an extent of more than fourteen miles in length. This
is not only evident from the structure of the spot, its plane surface, and the various
islands formed in the interior of the bed of the Rhône, but is further strengthened by
geographical evidence ; for the village of Port Valíais, or Porlus Valesia, now five miles
from the lake, was originally considered as one of the principal ports or harbours of the
Nantuates, a people who anciently inhabited that part of the Alps } so that, though the
lake at present bends more eastward than westward, there is every reason to presume
that this curve is considerably decreased from what it was at first.
The Rhône, after having thrown itself into the lake, retains, for a considerable
extent, its greyish earthy colour, owing to the variety of clay and argillaceous matter
through which it passes ; but as there is a vulgar error, which some travelers may have
been induced to credit, that in its progress through the lake it flowed without at all
mixing its waters, and kept, as it were, to itself, I think myseif bound not only to
notice, but indeed to contradict, such an idea. At no greater distance than four miles
from the mouth of that river, it is impossible to discover the least difference in their
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waters; besides, the appearance at the draining of the lake, which takes place near
Geneva (again called the Rhône), sufficiently proves the contrary, the transparency of
the river being there equal to that of the lake.
But to return to Villeneuve ¡—the high road from hence passes through La Roche,
at about three miles distance, a village in which most commonly resides the magistrate
to whom the senate of Berne confides the care or superintendence of the saltworks
which are near it, and the spot where the great Haller, from having been
appointed to that ofiice, remained some years, and completed, during his residence, his
great work on Physiology, the History of the Swiss Plants, and some others. The inhabitants
of this village may be considered as being almost all marble-cutters, owing to
the many valuable quarries of that species of stone which abound in the environs,—for
vast quantities of beautiful and ornamental sculpture, if they may be so called, are
exported from hence, and sent even as far as Lyons, a distance of near one hundred
and thirty miles.
No sooner had I quitted T.a Roche, than the road led me by the basis of an abrupt
rock, consisting of different-coloured marbles, which projects considerably into the valley.
The most conspicuous kind appeared to be streaked or mottled with red, white,
and grey ; and I even observed, in the same species of stone, a number of fossils, or
rather petrifactions, imbedded in it,—for the animal, in this kind of matter, seems
totally changed, and becomes susceptible of taking the same polish as the other part of
the marble. Tlie petrifactions which I mostly noticed were exuvire of madreporoe and
pectinitoe ; but the sides of the rock, though more particularly its northern one, are in
several places covered with calcareous strata, similar to those of the Jura, From hence
to Aigle, which is computed to be about one league, or three English miles, the road is
rendered interesting by the curious and singular form and direction of the strata of the
mountains, which there screen the valley, both on the right and the left, as likewise by
the heterogeneity which exists in the major part of their mass and structure. But a
circumstancc, among others, which much surprised me, is, that though their nuclei
appear to be of similar species to those of the Salêvc and the Jura, and do not, of
course, c^-ntain fossils, in the upper stratum of these mountains vast quantities are
found imbedded.
The town of Aigle is delightfully seated at the basis of a succession of fruitful
hills, rising one above the other, forming a noble amphitheatre on the eastern side of
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