THE UPPER AAR. 
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fracture, but the whole section has evidently been 
cut by the river, and the characteristic marks of river 
erosion occur from top to bottom. 
Below Meiringen the river flows through a broad 
flat valley, which was evidently once much deeper, 
and formed part of the Lake of Brienz. On each 
side are bold walls of Jurassic rock, with well-marked 
weather-terraces. As in other cases it is evident that 
the lake formerly extended some distance up the 
valley, in the present instance as far as Meiringen, 
and that it has been gradually filled up by the river. 
The Lake of Brienz is g miles long, 2 wide, 
566'4 metres above the sea, and 305 in depth. The 
lake follows the line of junction of the Cretaceous 
strata on the north, with the Jurassic on the south. 
Both sides are precipitous, and the celebrated falls 
of the Giessbach are near the east end, opposite 
Brienz, where the stream in a succession of cascades 
descends the steep wall of Jurassic strata. The ridge 
on the north is Neocomian capped by Urgonian. 
The Lakes of Brienz and Thun were originally 
one, and the level plain upon which Interlaken stands 
has been formed by the deposits of the Lutschine 
coming from Grindelwald on the south, and of the 
Lombach which drains the valley of Habkern on the 
north. To judge from the depth of the lake, these 
Scenery of Switzerland, lit ^ ^ 
