310 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



was pushed on one side by the Borgne. The 

 Rhone, however, had no choice, it was obliged 

 to force, and has forced its way over the cone 

 deposited by the Borgne. The Rhine, on the 

 contrary, had the option of running down by 

 Vaduz to Rheinach, and has adopted this 

 course. The watershed between it and the 

 Weisstannen is, however, only about 20 feet 

 in height, and the people of Zurich watch it 

 carefully, lest any slight change should enable 

 the river to return to its old bed. The result 

 of all these changes is that the rivers have 

 changed their courses from those shown in Fig. 

 43 to their present beds as shown in Fig. 44. 



Another interesting case is that of the 

 Upper Engadine (Fig. 45), to which attention 

 has been called by Bonney and Heim. The fall 

 of the Val Bregaglia is much steeper than that 

 of the Inn, and the Maira has carried off the 

 head-waters of that river away into Italy. 

 The Col was formerly perhaps as far south as 

 Stampa : the Albegna, the Upper Maira, and 

 the stream from the Forgno Glacier, originally 

 belonged to the Inn, but have been captured 

 by the Lower Maira. Their direction still 



