VALLEYS AND GREAT LEVELS OF THE EARTH. 219 



" Free rover of the hills, pray tell me now 

 The chances of thy journey, since first thou 

 From thy deep-prison'd well away didst break, 

 A solitary pilgrimage to take. 

 Among the quiet valleys, I do ween 

 Thou with the daisied tufts of tender green 

 Hast loving linger'd ; didst thou not awake, 

 With thy soft kiss, the hare-bell bending low, 

 Stealing her nectar from the wild bee's wooing ? 

 And thou hast toy'd (though thou wilt tell me, no !) 

 With many a modest violet, that looks 

 Into thy grassy pools in secret nooks. 

 Come, tell me, rover, all thou hast been doing ! " 



The larger Pyrenean valleys differ from the Alpine in being transverse, running at 

 various angles with the principal range. There are those which are longitudinal, but 

 not of equal extent with the former. It is common also for a Pyrenean valley to present 

 the form of a succession of basins, at various distances from each other, called " oules," 

 meaning pots or boilers, in the language of the mountaineers. These basins are large 

 circular spaces covered with alluvial soil, sometimes eight miles in length by four in 

 breadth, through which the streams flow sluggishly, owing to their level surfaces. They 

 have all the appearance of having once been lakes, the beds of which have been emptied, 

 by the waters bursting through their mountain ramparts. In fact, in the upper parts of 

 these valleys, the basins exhibit lakes at present, some of which are on very elevated 

 sites. Malte Brun enumerates eight which are at the height of 6557 feet ; but that of 

 the Pic-du-Midi is 8813, and is perpetually covered with ice. In the regions of the 

 Andes, the longitudinal and transverse valleys constitute the most majestic and varied 

 scenes which the Corderillas present, and produce, says Humboldt, the most striking 

 effects upon the imagination of the European traveller. The enormous height of the 

 mountains cannot be seen as a whole except at a considerable distance, when in the plains 

 which extend from the coast to the foot of the central chain. The table-lands which 

 surround the summits covered with perpetual snow are, for the most part, elevated from 

 8000 to 10,000 feet above the level of the ocean. That circumstance diminishes to a 

 certain degree the impression of grandeur produced by the colossal masses of Chimboraso, 

 Cotopaxi, and Antisana, when seen from the table-land of Quito. Deeper and narrower 

 than those of the Alps and Pyrenees, the valleys of the Corderillas present situations so 

 wild as to fill the mind with fear and admiration. They are formed by vast rents, clothed 

 with a vigorous vegetation ; and of such a depth that Vesuvius might be placed in them 

 without overtopping the nearest heights. Thus, the sides of the celebrated valleys of 

 Chota and Cutaco are 4875 and 4225 feet in perpendicular height ; their breadth does 

 does not exceed 2600 feet. The deepest valley in Europe is that of Ordesa in the 

 Pyrenees, a part of Mont Perdu ; but this, according to Ramond, is not more than 3200 

 feet deep. 



The valley form in more open regions is that of a depression, generally a water-course, 

 with rounded and gently swelling embankments. The largest specimens of this class in 

 Europe are found along the course of the Danube. Of a similar character are the 

 celebrated valleys of Cashmere in Asia, with the vale of York, the vale of the Severn, 

 and the vale of Exeter, upon a minor scale, in our own island. Some of the spots, too, 

 which pass in our own country under the humble name of dales, are true pictures, though 

 in a miniature form, of the high-walled valleys of Alpine and Andean districts. Perhaps 

 the best representation, and certainly one of the mose exquisite specimens of scenery we 

 have, is the Dovedale of the Peak, so styled from its locality being in the Peak of Derby- 



