126 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



and some of them have been projected to the 

 distance of four miles from the mountain. This 

 limestone rests on beds of softer materials, by 

 the gradual crumbling away of which, it is sup- 

 posed the mass above them was undermined and 

 precipitated into the valley. In the course 

 of years, the rains or torrents, produced by dis- 

 solving snows, have washed away the loose 

 earth, and thus the little conical mounts have 

 been separated and detached as they are seen at 

 present. 



So deep is the mass that has covered the town 

 of St. Andre, that nothing belonging to it has 

 been discovered, except a small bronze statue. 

 The ancient chronicles do not inform us, 

 whether the catastrophe was preceded by any 

 warning that allowed the inhabitants time to 

 escape. The quantity of matter sufficient to 

 cover the plain to such a depth and extent, 

 rushing from the height of three quarters of a 

 mile into the plain, must have produced a shock 

 inconceivably awful. A great part of the dis- 

 trict has been gradually planted with vines, but 

 it still presents a most impressive scene of ruin. 



My uncle said that this is one of the most re- 

 markable eboulements of which he has ever seen 

 a description he read it to us from travels very 

 lately made in Switzerland and Savoy *. 



* Bakewell's Travels. 



