Vol. 58.] ALPINE VALLEYS IN RELATION TO GLACIERS. 697 
which only two tributaries—the Binnenthal and the Eginenthal— 
descend from the actual watershed on the south: the former being 
in its upper part a valley of strike, in its lower, where it is more or 
less a gorge, one of dip. The Eginenthal, on the contrary, is fairly 
open at its mouth, and the rise for a considerable distance is com- 
paratively gentle (rather over 300 feet a mile), till at last an abrupt 
ascent (at least 2300 feet) leads to the Gries and Nufenen Passes. 
But the outlines of this valley, if we attribute great effects to 
glacial erosion, would oblige us to admit that the snowfields near 
the Gries Pass (which now are, and, so far as we can tell, always 
have been, of minor importance), aided by the absolutely petty con- 
tingent from the Nufenen Pass,’ plunged at once precipitately down- 
ward and excavated the comparatively open Eginenthal. In other 
words, the smaller ice-stream of the Kginenthal was more effective 
than the larger one of the Binnenthal. The head of the main valley 
is also rather anomalous, for-its trough seems to extend in a direct 
line to the Furka Pass: the Rhone Glacier occupying a glen more 
immediately connected with the Oberland massif. This also is a 
kind of hanging valley ; for, from just below Gletsch (5755 feet). to 
near Obergestelen (4450 feet) is a rather steep and rocky descent— 
that is to say, the valley in which a glacier would appear late and 
vanish early is a more important physical feature than that where 
a rather large one still remains.” 
The Bernese Oberland, as already stated, was probably more 
affected than the Pennines and Hastern Alps by the second great 
set of movements: these, however, so far as we can tell, did not so 
much initiate features, as intensify those the outlines of which had 
been already sketched. But the valleys, especially in the upper parts 
of the region, are probably on the whole more modern than in corre- 
sponding parts of the Pennines.* So a few words may be said about 
one of the principal Oberland valleys, that of the Upper Aar.* This 
iver may be said to rise from a glacier formed by the union of ice- 
streams descending from beneath the Berglistock, the Schreckhorn, 
and the Finsteraarhorn, between which are passes about 11,000 feet 
1 The Nufenen Pass is just over 8000 feet above sea-level ; the Gries slightly 
higher, but the glacier crossed on the way to it comes from a rather large névé 
occupying a kind of strike-trough between ridges from 10,000 to 11,000 feet in 
altitude. 
2 It is worth notice that the sudden steepening in the descent of the Rhone 
Glacier is but a little higher than the top of the Grimsel Pass, also approached 
by a steep ascent from Gletsch. It may also be worth noting, that below 
Martigny, the Val de Trient, with the steep ascent to Salvan and the famous 
gorge through which that torrent descends to the Rhone Valley, indicates the 
water to be far more effective than the vanished glacier as an erosion-agent. 
3 This may partly account for the fact that ‘beheaded valleys’ seem more 
common on the watershed of the Alps than elsewhere. Hanging valleys, so 
far as I remember, are rare, except when the water is discharged into the trench 
of the Rhone. 
* The larger rivers have cut their own paths, like the Lutschine, the Linth, 
and the Aar, the last being barred rather than ‘stepped’ at the Kirchet. There 
are slight steps at the entrances of the tributary Urbachthal and Gadmenthal. 
