THE VALAIS. 
125 
their welcome, and spread for him their hospitality in 
the wilderness.” 
At Martigny the Rhone turns at a right angle. 
In fact it leaves the great longitudinal fold and enters 
a transverse valley properly belonging to the Dranse. 
During the Ice Age the ancient glacier in making 
this sharp turn pressed with enormous force against 
the rock-face opposite Martigny, which is tremendously 
worn and polished, affording in Ruskin’s opinion the 
most remarkable illustration of ice action to be found 
in the whole Alps. Above Martigny we come to the 
true Rhone valley — the only part of its course which 
really belongs to the Rhone, for the valley below 
Martigny originally belonged to the Dranse, that below 
Bellegarde to the Valserine, and below Lyons to the 
Saone. 
The valley from Martigny to Oberwald is a 
longitudinal valley of geotectonic origin, due to a 
fold created during the elevation of the Alps. This 
great fold stretches west by Chamouni and the Isire 
to Chambery, eastwards by the Urserenthal and 
Rhine valley as far as Chur, reappearing indeed still 
further to the east. 
At Martigny itself the strata are nearly vertical 
(Fig. III). The old Tour de la Batiaz stands on a 
narrow band of Jurassic rock, which extends west 
