418 



LAKE OF GENEVA. 



[Ch. XVIII. 



somewhat less than 600 feet, and from that part to the 

 Rhone, the fluviatile mud is always found along the bottom * 



may 



in 



duced are thrown down upon a slope about two miles 

 length ; so that, notwithstanding the great depth of the 

 lake, the new deposits are inclined at so slight an angle, 

 that they would be termed, in ordinary geological language, 



horizontal . 



The strata probably consist of alternations of finer and 



coarser particles ; for, during the hotter months from April 

 to August, when the snows melt, the volume and velocity of 

 the river are greatest, and large quantities of sand, mud, 



stable matter, and drift-wood are introduced ; but, dur 

 the rest of the year, the influx is comparatively feeble, so 

 much so, that the whole lake, according to Saussure, stands 

 six feet lower. If, then, we could obtain a section of the 

 accumulation formed in the last eight centuries, we should 



see a great series 



from 



thick, and nearly two miles in length, inclined at a very 



slight angle. 



more 



stratified ma/tter, of an age antecedent to the historical, 

 would be seen extending to the original head of the lake five 

 or six miles distant from the accumulations of the last 800 



years 



growth 



a great number of rapid torrents are bringing down large 

 masses of sand and pebbles, and forming smaller deltas at 

 their mouths round the borders of the lake. The body of 



small to enable them 



in 



exam 



Rhone does. Thus, for 

 fathoms within half a mile of the shore, immediately opposite 

 the great torrent w T hich enters east of Ripaille, so that the 

 dip of the strata in that minor delta must be about four 

 times as great as that of the deposits formed by the mam 

 river at the upper extremity of the lake.f 



The capacity of this basin being now ascertained, it would 

 be an interesting subject of enquiry, to determine in what 



* De la Beche, MS. 



t Ibid. 



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