THE GERMAN ALPS. 7 



above all others when contemplating the Alps from the top of the cathedral of 

 Milan, it is only within a few years comparatively that it has attracted a large 

 number of tourists. The view from its summit is incomparably beautiful, whilst 

 from the Stelvio the Orteler itself presents a most formidable aspect. The 

 Pass of Tonale (6,155 feet) separates the Orteler from the mountain mass of the 

 Adamello (11,687 feet), which rises to the south of it. It presents exceedingly 

 steep slopes towards Italy ; and its glaciers on that side, which formerly were of 

 vast extent, have nearly melted away. Their old terminal moraines now hide the 

 Lake of Garda and Verona from an observer standing upon its summit. 



The mountains of the Oetzthal, to the north of the Adige, are bounded on all 



Fig. 2. — The Group of the Ortelek and the Sulden Glacier. 

 Scale 1 : 25,000. 



iio°30' E.of Gr 



I0°30 



2 Miles. 



sides by deep valleys or gorges, and form a well-defined group of rocky pinnacles. 

 The Brenner, and the pass above the Malser Heide (see Fig. 1), are the low^est 

 passages over the Alps between Liguria and Styria, a distance of over 500 miles. 

 This group of the Oetzthal constitutes the most formidable mountain mass of the 

 German Alps. The Wild,spitze (12,389 feet), its culminating point, yields in 

 height to the Orteler and the Great Glockner ; but there are at least a hundred 

 summits which attain an elevation of 10,000 feet, and they rise from a platform 

 5,320 feet in height. If the summits of the Oetzthal were to be levelled, and 

 uniformly spread over this platform, the latter would still rise 8,330 feet above the 

 sea. About one-seventh of the surface of this mountain group is buried beneath 



