210 Account of the Fall 



lakes of Zug and Lowertz on two sides, and the mountains 

 of Rosenberg and Rosi on the others. Here, but three weeks 

 ago, was one of the most deHghttuIly fertile valleys of all 

 Switzerland ; green and luxuriant, adorned with several little 

 villages full of secure and happy farmers. Now, three of 

 these villati;es are for ever effaced from the earth, and a broad 

 waste of ruins, burying alive 1400 peasants, overspreads the 

 valley of Lowertz. 



About five o'clock in the evening of the 3d of September, 

 a large projection of the mountain of Rosenberg on the north- 

 east gave wav, and precipitated itself into this valley : in less 

 tlian four minutes it completely overwhelmed the three vir- 

 lages of GoUiau, Busingen, and Rathlen, with a part of 

 Lowertz and Oberart. The torrent of earth and stones was 

 far more rapid than that of lava, and its effects as irresistible 

 and as terrible. The mountain in its descent canied trees, 

 rocks, hou-cs, every thing before it. The mass spread in 

 every direction, so as to bury completely a space of charm- 

 ing countrv more than three miles square ! The force of the 

 earth must have been prodigious, since rt not only spread 

 over the hollow of the valley, but even ascended far up tire 

 opposite side of the Rigi. The quantity of earth, too, is enor- 

 mous, since it has left a considerable hill in what was before 

 the centre of the vale. A portion of the falling mass rolled 

 into the lake of Lowertz, and it is calculated that a fifth part 

 is filled up. On a minute map you will see two little islands 

 marked in thi? lake, which have been admired for their pic- 

 tnresqueness. One of them is faa)ous for the residence of 

 two hermits, and the other for the remains of an antient 

 chateau, once belonging to the house of Hapsberg. So 

 large a body of water was raised and pushed forward by the 

 falling of such a mass into the lake, that the two islands, 

 and the whole village of Seven, at the northern extremity, 

 were for a time completely submerged by the passing of the 

 swell. A large house in this village was lifted off its foun- 

 dations, and carried half a mile beyond its place. The her- 

 mits were absent on a visit to the abbey of Emsidein. 



The disastrous consequences of this event extend further 

 than the loss of such a number of inhabitants in a catiton of 



liitl.- 



