THE REUSS. 
219 
The first or oldest . 
1,150,000 years. 
330.000 years. 
130.000 years. 
23,000 years. 
The second 
The third 
The fourth 
From the commencement of the excavation of 
the valleys to the present there would, he estimates, 
be required at the present rate of erosion a period 
of 3.750,000 years.* 
At GOschenen is the entrance to the railway 
tunnel, and above it we soon come to the gorge of 
Schbllenen, a grand instance of the power of falling 
water. The road and the river here acquire their 
greatest mclination. The road winds round a colossal 
plate of Granite, whose immediate predecessor in 
numerous great fragments hangs over the river to the 
Devil’s Bridge, and the Urnerloch is bored tlirough a 
reef, which once extended across the valley. The 
gorge is so narrow, that an avalanche might well 
block it and flood the Urserenthal again, though 
happily this is unlikely. 
The 2000 metre terrace is broad here, and 
intercepts most of the debris which fall from the 
Batzberg. 
The Urnerloch is one of the wildest and most 
striking scenes in Switzerland. Unfortunately of late 
* lleim, Mech. d. Geh., vol. I. 
