TEN YEARS' ALPINE TRAVEL (1774-84) 157 



Of the Gries a full topographic account is given, and when 

 de Saussure gets to the Tosa Falls he allows himself a description 

 of that splendid cataract, which, by force of accumulation of precise 

 detail, becomes picturesque : 



' This oratory is built on the edge of a cliff of 500 or 600 feet, over 

 which the Tosa throws itself, forming the most beautifully diversified 

 features possible. It starts by falling perpendicularly into a deep 

 horizontal hollow in the rock resembling an immense shell, from which 

 the water rebounds to a great height in jets of admirable beauty and 

 volume. All these streams fall back on to a protruding crag, which 

 they envelope, forming a cylindrical column of water which breaks 

 upon rocks inclined and coloured like those of the Grimsel, and ends 

 by sliding over them in an infinity of diverging and varying sheets.' 

 [Voyages, 1742.] 



I add another picture from this noble valley : 



' The Tosa suddenly throws itself with a terrible roar into a chasm, 

 along which the path follows it. As we approached, a dense mist rose 

 out of the gulf, hiding the path we had to follow and appearing like the 

 smoke of a great caldron, while the falling torrent represented the 

 boiling contents. A pine wood, dark and thick, which clothed the 

 approach to this ravine, rendered its aspect more alarming. It is 

 new and extraordinary spectacles of this sort, such unlooked-for 

 incidents, which lend its indescribable charm to travel among the 

 great mountains and make those who have once enjoyed them unable 

 any longer to endure the monotony of the plains.' [Voyages, 1746.] 



At Formazza he found 



' the inn in the Italian style, rooms crowded with images, but at 

 least well whitewashed, and far more cleanliness and friendliness than 

 in the Upper Vallais. As a rule the houses are larger and better built, 

 and the peasantry appear in much better circumstances.' [Voyages, 

 1744.] 



The beauty of the lower Val Formazza made a deep impression 

 on de Saussure, who could appreciate romantic scenery, even 

 though he missed in it the classical grace of a Claude or a Poussin 

 landscape. 



' It does not offer, like the Vale of Chamonix, the great spectacle 

 of glaciers, but in its place has a softer and more pastoral air ; its crags, 

 mixed with fields and forests, have no rude or savage features. The 

 valley is sprinkled with hamlets whose neat white houses have a 

 charming effect set in the rich verdure which carpets its slopes, and 



