VI THE GORGE OF THE AAR AND ITS TEACHINGS 131 



moved downwards, while it would hardly penetrate at all 

 into the narrow valley bottom, or if it did, would be so 

 checked in its motion by the friction of the rugged sides, 

 craggy projections, and constant change of direction as 

 to cause very little erosion. For this reason the higher 

 narrow and deep valleys exhibit only those indications of 

 superficial grinding which have been thought to prove 

 that glaciers, however large, have no great erosive power ; 

 but whenever we reach the lower levels, where the original 

 valleys were themselves wider, we find proofs of much 

 greater grinding power, both vertical and horizontal, lead- 

 ing to the characteristic U-forms, which are so well seen 

 in the valley of Meiringen and in the lakes below it, in the 

 Lauterbrunnen valley in the Rhone valley between Mar- 

 tigny and Brieg, and especially in the grand vertical 

 precipices which bound the Lake of Lucerne throughout 

 its eastern half and its south-western arm. 



It is, however, after passing through the narrow gorge 

 between the hamlets of Inner and Outer Urweid, with its 

 picturesque waterfall, which the coach road passes by 

 tunnelling under it, that we approach the most remarkable 

 feature of the district. The valley rapidly widens, with 

 a perfectly flat bottom, till at Innertkirchen it becomes 

 nearly a mile wide. Here, on the right, the united waters 

 of the Gadmen and Genthal valleys form a junction with 

 the Aar, issuing out of a narrow gorge between lofty 

 rocks ; but the most striking object is the barrier of the 

 Kirchet, which extends quite across the valley, rising 

 abruptly to the height of 500 feet above it, and appearing 

 entirely to dam the course of the foaming torrent which 

 has now become a good-sized river. Passing along the 

 high road, which by three great zigzags mounts up the 

 steep ascent, the entrance to the gorge is not visible ; and 

 it is only after crossing the hiJl and descending on the 

 other side into the wide alluvial plain of Meiringen that 

 the stream is again seen as a considerable and rapidly 

 flowing river. It has passed through the hill by the 

 celebrated Aarschlucht, one of the most remarkable gorges 

 in Europe, which is now rendered easily accessible by a 

 wooden platform suspended a few feet above the surface of 



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