Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SWITZERLAND. 59 



332. One of the most extraordinary gboulemens ever known was that of Mont Grenier, five miles 

 south of Chambery. A part of this mountain fell down in the year 1248, and entirely buried fiVe 

 parishes, and the town and church of St. Andr^. The ruins spread over an extent of about nine 

 square miles, and are called Les Abymes des Myans. After a lapse of so many centuries, they still 

 present a singular scene of desolation. The catastrophe must have been most awful when seen from the 

 vicinity ; for Mont Grenjer is almost isolated, advancing into a narrow plain, which extends to the valley 

 of the Isere. 



3SS. Mont Grenier rises very abruptly upwards of 4000 feet above the plain. Like the mountains of 

 Les Echelles, with which it is connected, it is capped with an immense mass of limestone .strata, not less 

 than 600 feet in thickness, which presents on everyside the appearance of a wall. The strata dip gently 

 to the side which fell into the plain. This mass of limestone rests on a foundation of softer strata, 

 probably molasse. Under this molasse are distinctly seen thin strata, probably of limestone, alternating 

 with soft strata. There can be little doubt that the catastrophe was caused by the gradual erosion of the 

 soft strata which undermined the mass of limestone above, and projected it into the plain ; it is also pro- 

 bable that the part which fell had for some time been nearly detached from the mountain by a shrinking 

 of the southern side, as there is at present a rent at this end, upwards of two thousand feet deep, which 

 seems to have cut off a large section from the eastern end, and that now " Hangs in doubtful ruins o'er 

 its base," as if prepared to renew the catastrophe of 1248. 



334. Avalanches, or falls of immense masses of snow from the mountains, often occasion dreadful 

 effects. Villages are overwhelmed by them ; and rivers, stopped in their course by them, inundate narrow 

 valleys to a ruinous extent. In February 1820, the village of Obergestelen, with eighty-eight of its inha- 

 bitants, was overwhelmed by an avalanche. 



335. The glaciers, or ice-hills, or ice-heaps, slide down into the mountain valleys, and form dams across 

 them, whicn produce large lakes ; by the breaking up of the glacier, these lakes are sometimes suddenly 

 poured into the lower valleys, and do immense mischief. Man, in such a country, as Bakewell has 

 observed, is in a constant state of warfare with the elements, and compelled to be incessantly on his guard 

 against the powers that threaten his destruction. This constant exposure to superhuman dangers is 

 supposed to have given the aged inhabitants, especially of the Vallais, an air of uncommon seriousness and 

 melancholy. 



336. The Swiss cottages are generally formed of wood, with projecting roofs, covered 

 with slates, tiles, or shingles. A few small enclosures surround or are contiguous 

 to them, some of which are watered meadows, others dry pasture ; and one or more 

 always devoted to the raising of oats, some barley, and rye or wheat, for the family con- 

 sumption. In the garden, which is large in proportion to the farm, are grown hemp, 

 flax, tobacco, potatoes, white beet to be used as spinach and asparagus, French beans, 

 cabbages, and turnips. The whole has every appearance of neatness and comfort. There 

 are, however, some farmers who hire lands from the corporate bodies and others at a fixed 

 rent, or on the metayer system j and in some cases both land and stock are hired ; and 

 peasants are found who hire so many cows and their keep, during a certain number of 

 months, either for a third or more of the produce, or for a fixed sum. 



337. The villages of Switzerland are often built in lofty situations, and some so high 

 as 5000 feet above the level of tlie sea. " In a country where land is much divided, and 

 small proprietors cultivate their own property on the mountains, it is absolutely necessary 

 that they should reside near it, otherwise a great part of their time and strength would 

 be exhausted in ascending and descending, as it would take a mountaineer four hours 

 in each day, to ascend to many of these villages and return to the valley. In building 

 theii houses on the mountains, they place them together in villages, when it can be done, 

 and at a moderate distance from their property, to have the comforts of society, and be 

 more secure from the attack of wolves and other wild animals. Potatoes and barley can 

 be cultivated at the height of 4500 feet in Savoy, and these, with cheese and milk, and 

 a little maize for porridge, form the principal part of the food of the peasantry. The 

 harvest is over in the plains by the end of June, and in the mountains by the end of 

 September. Several of the mountain villages, with the white spires of their churches, 

 form pleasing objects in the landscape, but on entering them the charm vanishes, and 

 nothing can exceed the dirtiness and want of comfort which they present, except the cabins 

 of the Irish." {BakeweW s Travels, vol. i. 270.) Yet habit, and a feeling of independence, 

 which the mountain peasant enjoys undeir almost every form of government, make him 

 disregard the inconveniences of his situation and abode. Damsels and their flocks form 

 pleasing groups at a distance ; but the former, viewed near, bear no more resemblance to 

 les bergeres des Alpes of the poets, than a female Hottentot to the Venus de Medicis. 



338. The vine is cultivated in several of the Swiss cantons on a small scale ; and either 

 against trellises, or kept low and tied to short stakes as in France. The grapes, which 

 seldom ripen well, produce a very inferior wine. The best in Switzerland are grown in 

 the Pays de Vaud round Vevay. They are white, and, Bakewell says, " as large and 

 fine-flavoured as our best hot-house grapes. " The physicians at Geneva send some of their 

 patients here during the vintage, to take what is called a regular course of grapes ; that is, 

 to subsist for three weeks entirely on this fruit, without taking any other food or drink. In 

 a few days a grape diet becomes agreeable, and weak persons, and also the insane, have 

 found great relief from subsisting on it for three or four weeks. {Bakewelts Travels, 

 ii. 206.) 



339. Of fruit trees, the. apple, pear, cherry, plum, and walnut, surround the small field 

 or fields of every peasant. The walnut tree also lines the public roads in many places, 

 and its dropping fruit is often the only food of the mendicant traveller. 



340. The management of woods and forests forms a part of Swiss culture. The 

 herbage is pastured with sheep and swine as in Italy j the copse wood and lop are used 



