55 SINGULAR ARRANGEMENT OF STRATA. 



serves on mAny accounts to be visited loth by the naturark^t 

 and the lover of the arts. 



T},e valley of la Loue beo-ins above the village of Men- 

 The vale de- •' '^_. ,. , ^ . . 



■sci.bed. thier-Haute-Pierre, between Pontarher and Ornans, m the 



subprefecture of Pontarlier, in the department of Doubp. 

 This valley, very narrow at its origin, and very deep, and 

 almost perpendicular throughout, exhibits in this part the 

 appearance of a vast well, opened on one side to let the 

 vater flow out. Its sides are composed of compact, gray, 

 calcareous rocks, veined with white carbonate of lime in a 

 f tate of confused crystallization. At the foot of these rocks, 

 but nine or ten yards above the bottom of the valley, a dark 

 Cavern, from cavern, the depth of which is unknown, and the mouth of 

 vhich issues a ^\^\^i-^ jg about seventy yards wide and thirty-five yards high, 

 pours out with great noise a very copious torrent of clear 

 water, that tumbles foaming among the rocks, which it has 

 torn off and driven before it. The depth of the valley, the 

 beetling cliffs that form it, the aspect of the cavern, the 

 roar of the torrent rushing out of it, the mist it throws up, 

 the gloom that reigns in this savage place, the bottom of 

 which has never been illumined by the rays of the Sun con- 

 fined to the tops of the rocks, all conspire to give an idea 

 of the chaotic disorder, that prevailed before human industry 

 had laid earth, water, air, and fire under contribution for 

 the benefit of the arts. 

 Number of ma- By regulating the course of these waters, or of part of 

 ""m'TT^ % them; gaining by the explosion of gunpowder a few yards 

 of surface from the adjacent rocks ; and by suspending erec- 

 tions over the torrent itself; a number of different manufac- 

 tories have been established at the foot of this precipice, 

 ''forming a complete contrast between art and nature. The 

 Loue, after it issues from the cavern, is divided and turned 

 in numberless directions to set in motion eight or ten flour 

 mills, oil mills, mills for bruising hemp, forge bellows, large 

 and small hammers, flatting mills, cylinders for cutting iron 

 into bar;>, and savy-mills. These wonders, which are daily 

 increasing by the addition of fresh structures, are owing to 

 the industry and activity of Mr. Besson, administrator of 

 saltworks. I had forgotten to mention, that you get to the 

 bottoirt of tins enchanted precipice by a flight of steps, the 



windings 



