84 
SCENERY OF SWITZERI.AND. 
Jardin Anglais, are two erratic blocks which project 
above the water. They are known as the Pierres de 
Niton, and it is said that in Roman times sacrifices 
were offered to Neptune upon them. 
The Lake of Geneva has somewhat the form of 
a crescent, and if we remember that the valley, as 
far at anyrate as St. Maurice, if not to Brieg, was 
once part of the lake, the resemblance must have 
been even more marked formerly. Port Valais is 
supposed to have been on the lake in Roman times. 
The primary rocks nowhere make their appear- 
ance round the Lake of Geneva. The east end of 
the lake is a transverse valley cut through a suc- 
cession of synclinal and anticlinal folds in strata 
extending from the Triassic to the Tertiary. The 
rest of the lake from Clarens on the north, and 
Meillerie on the south, lies in Miocene (Mollasse), 
which, however, is in many places covered by glacial 
deposits. On the south especially, these attain a 
considerable thickness. 
Most of the promontories round the lake are 
traversed by a stream; they are, in fact, river cones. 
That of Yvoire, however, cannot be so accounted for; 
and Favre* has pointed out that it is, in fact, a great 
moraine. It is one of the most picturesque districts 
* Rech. Gcol., vol. I. 
