^82 ME. A. YAUGHAN JENNINGS ON [^^^g- 1 898, 



built. The Albertitobel, south of Davos Platz, contains only a small 

 stream, but one which is powerful and even disastrous in lioodtime. 

 Its talus-fan is of immense thickness and spreads right and left, 

 underlying the rounded hillocks of the Gemsjager hay-meadows 

 and the southern extension of the town.^ Opposite to it, the rapid 

 weathering of the Jacobshorn has resulted in the accumulation ^f a 

 great fan on the eastern slope. 



These great deposits at the mouths of the incurrent valleys, and 

 the weathering of the slopes between them, have not only disturbed 

 the general level of the area, but add greatly to the difficulty of the 

 geologist in tr3'ing to ascertain the real contour of the solid rock. 

 It is important to note that the edges of these talus-fans are 

 abruptly truncated by a former river-cutting, so that there is a 

 series of steep banks, sometimes 30 feet in height, terminating the 

 detrital slopes of the Schiatobel, the Kajolertobel, and others. Had 

 the Landwasser occupied its present course " while these talus-fans 

 were accumulating, they would not have assumed their actual form. 

 The sharp angle between their surface-slope and the steep-cut 

 terminal bank indicates some comparatively sudden change in the 

 drainage-conditions of the district. 



The main tributaries of the Landwasser, as before mentioned, 

 come from the three great valleys on the east : — the Fluela, the 

 Dischma, and the Sertig. These have their origin far back on the 

 chain of peaks west of the Engadine, and receive the waters from 

 the snow- and ice-fields of the Schwarzhorn, the Piz Yadret, the 

 Kiihalp, and the Ducan. 



The Muela Bach drops through a steep gorge at the foot of the 

 Seehorn and then turns southward, receiving, by an insignificant 

 stream winding through meadows, the discharge of the Davoser See. 

 Where it emerges from the mouth of the Fluela Thai the simplest 

 engineering would divert the stream into the lake ; and, indeed, 

 within the last 30 years it has been known in floodtime to force its 

 way thither across the hayfields. 



The Dischma Bach drains a wider valley, and finds its way down 

 the middle of its alluvial triangle into the Landwasser. It may be 

 noted that while the foot of the talus-slopes of the Bremenbiihl 

 creeps out, tree-clad, to the level, with no sign of stream- cutting at 

 its base, the opposite slope is steep and bare, as if the current had 

 formerly scoured its surface. 



Such being the general character of the Davos level, it becomes 

 necessary to examine the structure of the district round and north 

 of the lake. Here we find on the east the great rock-walls of the 

 Seehorn, the Hornli, and the Eiicken, dipping so steeply that in 



^ Herr Pfarrer Hauri informs me that the upper part of this mass was 

 formed by a great ' sUp ' from the gorge above, during floods, at the end of the 

 last century. The contour of the older, slowly-accumulated fan can, however, 

 be easily seen a short distance south of the railway-station. 



2 In speaking of the ' present course ' I refer to the recent natural course 

 before the ' correction ' or canalization was undertaken some years back. 



