ALPINE SCULPTURE 249 



seems split across, and the river Aar rushes throtigli the 

 fissure. Behind the barrier we have the meadows and 

 pastures of Imhof resting on the sediment of an ancient 

 lake. Were this an isolated case, one might, with an appar- 

 ent show of reason, conclude that the Finsteraarschlucht 

 was produced by an earthquake, as some suppose it to have 

 been ; but when we find it to be a single sample of actions 

 which are frequent in the Alps — when probably a hundred 

 cases of the same kind, though different in magnitude, can 

 be pointed out — it seems quite unphilosophical to assume 

 that in each particular case an earthquake was at hand to 

 form a channel for the river. As in the case of the bar- 

 rier at Pontresina, the Kirchet, after the retreat of the Aar 

 glacier, dammed the waters flowing from it, thus forming 

 a lake, on the bed of which now stands the village of 

 Imhof. Over this barrier the Aar tumbled toward Mey- 

 ringen, cutting, as the centuries passed, its bed ever deeper, 

 until finally it became deep enough to drain the lake, leav- 

 ing in its place the alluvial plain, through which the river 

 now flows in a definite channel. 



In 1866 I subjected the Finsteraarschlucht to a close 

 examination. The earthquake theory already adverted to 

 was then prevalent regarding it, and I wished to see 

 whether any evidences existed of aqueous erosion. Near 

 the summit of the Kirchet is a signboard inviting the 

 traveller to visit the Aarenschlucht^ a narrow lateral gorge 

 which runs down to the very bottom of the principal one. 

 The aspect of this smaller chasm from bottom to top 

 proves to demonstration that water had in former ages 

 been there at work. It is scooped, rounded, and pol- 

 ished, so as to render palpable to the most careless eye 

 that it is a gorge of erosion. But it was regarding the 



