ACTION OF RIVERS. 
195 
marking the place where a stream falls into the 
lake. 
Where lateral torrents fall into a main valley the 
rapidity of the current being checked, their power of 
transport is diminished, and similar “river cones” are 
formed. A side stream with its terminal cone, when 
seen from the opposite side of the valley, presents the 
appearance shown in Fig. 49, or, if we are looking 
down the valley, as in Fig. 50, the river being often 
driven to one side of the main valley, as, for in- 
stance, is the case in the Valais near Sion, where the 
Rhone is (Fig. 51 p. 199) driven out of its course by, 
and forms a curve round, the cone formed by the 
River Borgne. 
The river cones are, in many cases, marked out 
by the character of the vegetation. “The Pines en- 
joy the stony ground particularly, and hold large 
meetings upon it, but the Alders are shy of it, and, 
when it has come to an end, form a triumphal pro- 
cession all round its edge, following the convex 
line.”* 
The magnitude of these “river cones” de- 
pends on the amount and character of the ma- 
terials brought into the main valley, and on the 
power of the river to carry them off. The felling of 
* Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. iv. 
13* 
