AUSTEIA-HUNGAEY. 



Fig. I. — The Gap between the Inn and the Adige, 



AND THE MaLSER HeIDE. 



MO 10 P )t i,r 



Geologically there obtains great variety. The central range, which is upon 



the M'hole of the greatest average 

 height, is formed of crystalline rocks. 

 Limestones prevail in the Northern 

 Alps, whilst the Southern Alps, 

 abruptly sinking down into the plains 

 of Italy, exhibit a great diversity of 

 geological formation. There are 

 schists, sandstone, black and red por- 

 phyry, limestone, and, above all, dolo- 

 mites. The division into Rhaetian, 

 Noric, Garnie, and Julian Alps origin- 

 ated with the Romans, and is not a 

 happy one, for in Austria, as in France 

 and Switzerland, the Alps are divided 

 naturally into a number of mountain 

 masses, forming as many secondary 

 mountain systems. 



Th e range of the Rhiitikon separates 

 Vorarlberg from the Grisons, and ex- 

 tends from the Rhine to the valley of 

 the Inn. Five glaciers descend from 

 it into the valley of the Montafon, and 

 the summits in the south rival in 

 height those lying within the Swiss 

 frontier.* 



The principal mountain group of 

 Austria, that of the Orteler (12,814 

 feet), is cut off from the other moun- 

 tains of the Tyrol by the deep valley 

 of the Adige, but a ridge, over which 

 runs the road of the Stelvio (Stilfser 

 Joch, 9,172 feet), joins it to Piz 

 Umbrail (9,954 feet), in Switzerland. 

 This group rises to the south of the 

 central axis of the Alps. It culminates 

 in a superb pyramid of dolomite, and 

 glaciers creep down its slopes in all 

 directions, that of Sulden carrying a 

 larger quantity of rocks upon its sur- 

 face than any other in the Alps. The 

 Scale 1 : 175,000. Ortclcr has frequently been ascended 



since the beginning of this century ; but though its beautiful summit is seen to rise 

 * Scesaplana, 9,738 feet; Piz Buin, 10,916 feet; Fluehthorn, 11,143 feet. 



