vni EIVEKS AND LAKES 295 



south, until it reaches St. Genix, where it falls 

 into and adopts a transverse valley which 

 properly belongs to the little river Guiers ; it 

 subsequently joins the Ain and finally falls 

 into the SaQne. If these valleys were attrib- 

 uted to their older occupiers we should there- 

 fore confine the name of the Rhone to the 

 portion of its course from the Rhone glacier to 

 Martigny. From Martigny it occupies succes- 

 sively the valleys of the Dranse, Guiers, Ain, 

 and SaSne. In fact, the Sa6ne receives the 

 Ain, the Ain the Guiers, the Guiers the 

 Dranse, and the Dranse the Rhone. This is 

 not a mere question of names, but also one of 

 antiquity. The Sa6ne, for instance, flowed 

 past Lyons to the Mediterranean for ages 

 before it was joined by the Rhone. In our 

 nomenclature, however, the Rhone has swal- 

 lowed up the others. This is the more curious 

 because of the three great rivers which unite 

 to form the lower Rhone, namely, the SaSne, 

 the Doubs, and the Rhone itself, the Saone 

 brings for a large part of the year the 

 greatest volume of water, and the Doubs 

 has the longest course. Other similar cases 



