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SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
THE BERNESE OBERLAND. 
The Bernese Oberland seems at first sight a 
chaotic wilderness of mountains and valleys, snow- 
fields, and glaciers, without any plan or regular ar- 
rangement. 
The more however the district is studied, the 
more the details are ascertained, the more do dif- 
ficulties and anomalies disappear, and the points 
which still remain a mystery will doubtless be ex- 
plained by future observations. 
The Aar massif may be described as an ellipsoid 
mountain mass, running from S.W. to N.E.; bounded 
on the N.E. by the Upper Reuss; on the S.E. by 
the Urserenthal and the Rhone from its source down 
to Leuk; on the N.W. by the great wall of the 
Bernese Oberland; and on the S.W. by the valley of 
Leuk. These lines of demarcation, however, though 
practical and convenient, are, it must be remem- 
bered, somewhat arbitrary. The valley of the Reuss 
is a transverse valley of erosion, cut out by the 
