9 8 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
which gradually diminish in intensity, while the inner 
side terminates in an immense fold, the anticlinal, or 
arch of which, in the case of Switzerland, constitutes 
the outer crest of the Alps, while the synclinal, or 
area of depression, has given rise to the great valley 
of the Po, which appears to be an area of sinking. 
The Jura rises gently from the north-west, and 
culminates in the steep wall which bounds the Cen- 
tral plain of Switzerland. 
Ihe Ural Mountains and their continuation, the 
Islands of Novaya Zemlya, are steep on the eastern 
side. In fact, the Urals are not so much a chain of 
mountains, as a tilted surface, with a sudden fracture, 
and a sunken area to the east* The Indian Ghats 
again present a very steep side to the sea. The 
Himalayas (which in so many respects resemble the 
Alps), the Rocky Mountains, the Green Mountains, 
the Alleghanies, etc., are also one-sided, and South 
America slopes up from the east to the great wall of 
the Andes which towers over the Pacific Ocean. 
The Alps are a most delightful, but most difficult, 
study, and although we thus get a clue to the general 
structure of Switzerland, the whole question is ex- 
tremely complex, and the strata have been crumpled 
Suess, Die Entstehung der Alpen. 
