174 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
course open to it, viz. its present bed between the 
Albis range and the great moraine on the west of 
the Lake of Zurich. The present — third — course of 
the Sihl, therefore, only dates back to the close of 
the glacial period. It is remarkable that similar 
conditions, though not so well marked, occur with 
reference to several of the other Swiss Lakes: thus 
the Kander has been dammed back from the Lake 
of Thun, and the Arve from the Lake of Geneva. 
The Walen See. 
The Lake of Walen, or Walenstadt, offers a great 
contrast to that of Zurich. It is about lo miles long, 
II. in breadth, 423 metres above the sea, and 151 
in depth. The scenery is grand and stem. The 
south side slopes steeply, and the north is almost 
perpendicular, the clitfs rising to a height of nearly 
3000 feet. As will be seen by Fig. 129, the strata 
are folded on themselves. Beyond them are ex- 
tensive pastures, which rise to the edge of the cliff. 
The figure shows the remarkable contortions to which 
the strata have been subjected. 
The district on the south, between the lake and 
the Rhine valley, has also been the seat of tremendous 
changes. 
