578 
St. Plomb to St. Gothard, along -the 
Hant Vallois. 
The Rheetian Alps comprised the 
country of the Grisons, the Tyrol, and 
Trient, 
The Julienne, or Noric Alps, com- 
prised the chain of mountains extending 
through Friuli, the lower Austria, and 
Istria. 
VEGETATION AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES. 
The following table of the height at 
which different vegetables and trees are 
cultivated, or will grow, may serve as an 
index of the temperature of the Haut 
Vallois and of Savoy. The two coun- 
tries adjoin; a great part of both are in 
the same parallel of latitude, and they 
are both bounded on the south by the 
central chain of the Alps. In the 
Vallois, the line of vegetation has been 
attentively examined, and is given be- 
low, in English feet. It must be ob- 
served, that where the extreme height 
is given at which plants and trees can 
grow, it should be understood to imply 
in situations exposed to the southern 
and western sun, and sheltered from 
the Bise, or north-east wind, as the ex- 
treme line of vegetation in the same 
Jatitude varies with the aspect very 
much in an alpine country. 
English feet above the level of the 
sea. Lat. 45% to 46}. 
Vines will grow - - 2380 
Maize - - = 2772 
The oak - - = 35518 
The walnut-tree - - 5620 
The yew-tree - - 3740 
Barley - « - 4180 
The cherry-tree - - 4270 
Potatoes’ - = -» 4450 
The nut-tree =.= +4500 
‘The beech-tree - - 4800 
The mountain maple - 5100 
The silver birch-tree 5500 
‘Phe larch-tree - = 6000 
"Phe fir le sapin - - 6300 
Pinns cembra - - 6600 
The Rododendron - 7400 
The line of trees extends to the height 
of 6700 feet above the level of the sea, 
and the line of shrubs to 8500 feet. 
Some plants on a granitic soil, grow at 
the height of 10,600, above which are a 
few lichens; and vegetation ceases en- 
tirely at the height of 11,000 feet. In 
ithe garden of the inn, kept in summer 
at the Schwarrepbach, on the passage 
of the Gemmi, carrots, spinage, and 
onions, are cultivated at the height of 
6900 fect. 
In the southern part of Savoy we may 
estimate the height at which vines will 
grow at 2600 feet, but near this ele- 
vation I observed, the crops had all 
failed in the cold summer of 1821. © - 
‘was called juga montium. 
Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaise, &c. 
I believe the greatest height at whicly 
oats are cultivated in England docx not 
exceed: 1200 feet: sheep graze on the 
summit of Helvellyn, which is 3052 feet 
above the level of the sea, and is ca- 
vered with herbage. 
DEFINITIONS. 
There are a few words uscd by the 
natives of the Alps, or by geologists, ta 
denote certain forms or accidents of 
mountains, which are very expressive ; 
but they cannot be translated without 
circumlocution, or the substitution of - 
English words which do not convey the 
same idea. A previous explanation of 
such words may be useful. 
Aguille, or Dent, Fr.; and German, 
Horn, are synonimous; they denote 
a sharp and lofty pinnacle of rock, 
throughout Savoy and Switzerland. 
Col, Fr., literally signifies the neck, 
but is used in Savoy and Piedmont to 
denote a depression in a mountainous 
range or ridge, considerably lower than 
the other parts. It is over these cols 
that the roads pass from one alpine val- 
ley to another, as the Col de Balme,. the 
Col de Ferret, &c. 
Eboulement, Fr., denotes a falling 
down of a mountain or mass of rock, 
and consequent covering of the lower 
grounds with its fragments; when an 
immense quantity of stones are suddenly 
brought down from the mountains by 
the breaking or thawing of a glacier, 1% 
is also called an eboulement. 
Escarpment of a mountain denotes 
the steepest side or declivity. Almost 
every mountain, or mountain-range, 
rises more gradually on one side than 
the other; the side opposite to the 
escarpment is called the back of the 
mountain. Matlock High Tor, in Der- 
byshire, presents a good illustration 
of a mountain with an escarpment, 
nearly perpendicular ; it faces the river 
Derwent. Some of the summits of the 
calcarcous mountains in Savoy have 
perpendicular escarpments on every 
side; they resemble castles placed upon 
a hill. 
Gorge, Fr. literally the throat, de- 
notes a narrow straight or passage in a 
valley, where the rocks on each side 
approach near to each other. 
The highest part of mountain ranges 
from whence the descent on each side 
begins, has no appropriate term to de- 
signate it, either in our own or the 
French Janguage. By the Romans it 
The word 
ridge, the top of a furrow, or xig, the 
top of a roof, might be sufficiently ex- 
pressive, 
