ANCIENT GLACIERS IN EASTERN HEMISPHERE. 135 



one hundred and twenty miles. From the snow-fields in 

 the vicinity of Mont Cenis, also, glaciers extended down 

 the Dora Ripera to the vicinity of Turin, and down other 

 valleys to a less extent. The lateral moraines of the Diore, 

 on the south side of Mont Blanc, at the head of the Dora 

 Baltea, are 2,000 feet above the present river, and extend 

 upon the left bank for a distance of twenty miles. 



From the eastern Alps, glaciers descended through all 

 the valleys of the Italian lakes and deposited vast terminal 

 moraines, which still obstruct the drainage, and produce 

 the charming lakes of that region. A special historic 

 interest pertains to the series of concentric moraines south 

 of Lake Garda, since it was in the reticulations of this 

 glacial deposit that the last great battle for Italian liberty 

 was fought on June 24, 1859. Defeated in the engage- 

 ments farther up the valley of the Po, the Austrian 

 general Benedek took his final stand to resist the united 

 forces of France and Italy behind an outer semicircle of 

 the moraine hills south of this lake (some of which are 

 500 or 600 feet above the surrounding country), with his 

 centre at Solferino, about ten miles from Peschera. Here, 

 behind this natural fortification, he awaited the enemy, 

 who was compelled to perform his manoeuvres on the open 

 plain which spread out on every side. But the natural 

 fortifications furnished by the moraine hills were too ex- 

 tensive to be defended by an army of moderate size. The 

 troops of Napoleon and Victor Immanuel concentrated at 

 Solferino and broke through the line. Thus the day was 

 lost to the Austrians, and they retired from Lombardy, 

 leaving to Italy both the artificial and the natural fortifi- 

 cations that guard the southern end of this important 

 entrance to the Tyrolese Alps. When once his attention 

 is called to the subject, the traveller upon the railroad 

 cannot fail to notice this series of moraines, as he enters 

 it through a tunnel at Lonato on the west, and emerges 

 from it at Soma Campagna, eighteen or twenty miles dis- 



