132 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
landslip took place above Cordon, under the Varener 
Alp. It was prehistoric, but must have taken place 
after the retreat of the great glacier. A beautiful 
bronze sword was found in a grave on the hill of 
Tevent, below Sierre, showing that the fall was be- 
fore the Bronze Age. 
Opposite Leuk is the grand cone of the 111, which 
has again driven the Rhone to the north side of its 
valley, and to some extent dammed back the river. 
The valley of the 111— the Illgraben*— affords one of 
the most striking instances of recent rapid denuda- 
tion with which I am acquainted, and is well worth 
a visit. 
Between Turtmann and Raron well-marked lines 
may be seen on the north side of the valley. These 
are “Bises” or artificial water-courses, and are fringed 
with lines of trees. The north side, being most ex- 
posed to the sun, is comparatively dryer and more 
bare than the south, which is greener and well- 
wooded. The side of the valley above Gampel is 
much smoothed and rounded. 
Many of the lateral valleys, for instance, on the 
south side those ofiserable, Nendaz, Herins, Reschy, 
Anniviers, Turtmann, and Ginanz, though broad in 
* Murray’s Handbook, though as a rule marvellously ac- 
curate, gives the Illgraben as a case of rockfall. 
