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wise destroyed by the ruins, not only of the same mountain, but of others in the

vicinity, which experienced the same shock,—a catastrophe which, according to the

tradition of the people of the country, lasted two days and a half. One thing, however,

worthy of observation, is, that this part of the valley of the Rhône is subject to frequent

succussions of the earth, and that, during the last earthquake at Messina, in the month

of February, 1783, the shock experienced in that chain of the Alps nearest the valley

was very considerable.

Nevertheless, if what I have advanced concerning the formation of the Lake of

Geneva be duly considered, the inference deduced from it must assuredly be found to

account for that circumstance, it being extremely probable that the focus of the present

existing Volcanoes may have deep subterraneous galleries, which still communicate, at a

vast distance, with others which are either in force or extinguished : and as a further

proof of the probability of this conjecture, on the 1st of November, 1755, about ten in

the morning, the time of the earthquake so fatal at Lisbon, in the mines of Haycliff and

Ladywash, at Eyam in Derbyshire, the rocks which surrounded the miners were so

much disturbed, that soil, &c. fell from their joints or fissures ; and they likewise heard

violent explosions, as it were of cannon.—See Whitehurst's Inquiry into the original

State and Formation of the Earth.

The springs which are in the vicinity of Bevieux, a village situate more towards

the south, were not known till 1591 ; but being also entombed beneath the rubbish of

the neighbouring mountains, though not from a similar cause with the former, these

having been hurled or carried away, and then left by the velocity or impetuousness of the

torrents in one of their risings, they remained totally concealed till the year 1674,

when, after much labour, time, and perseverance, they were again recovered. Since

that time the proprietors spared neither pains nor expense to guard them from similar

misfortunes; and, to secure them more effectually, they caused the salt water to be

conveyed by means of large tubes or pipes as far as Bevieux, nine miles from Bex, another

village remarkable for its situation, as well as being in the proximity of the salt-works.

The government of Berne, at all times attentive to the happiness and prosperity of

their country, began to be sensible of the value of such a discovery, and the great

advantages which would naturally result from it, and agreed to purchase them of the

original proprietors for the sum of £.103,493. This sum was extremely inconsiderable

for such a treasure, considering the vast difficulty the Swiss before had in procuring salt,

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from being at so great ä distance from the sea, and the unavoidable consumption of

that article throughout the country, both in making their cheese, and giving it to their

cattle, which, strange as it may appear, they literally do, three times a week. These

springs, being now the property of the state, the government has neglected no means

of improving; and indeed so fortunate have they been, that the original expenses

incurred for that object were crowned with success ; for they were soon after found to

yield upwards of 38,000 quintals, or hundred-weight, of salt per annum. The desire,

however, of ameliorating them still more, having tempted the senate, about the middle

of the present century, to adopt the plans of some foreign mineralogists, they were

induced to dig deep and extensive pits, in order to augment, if possible, the volume of

salt water ; but, instead of the prodigious advantages which had been expected, it was

soon perceived that they had been ill advised ; for on the contrary, instead of gaining,

they were literally decreasing, and, in fact, they yielded scarcely more than half the

former quantity : so that, even during monsieur Haller's superintendence, the spring of

La Providence, accounted one of the most abundant, yielded no more than nine hun­

dred and thirteen pounds of salt water per hour, or about eleven pounds and a half of

salt per hundred,—which diminution still continuing, the whole produce of the springs

is at present calculated to be but about two thousand five hundred pounds of salt per

day only, or nine thousand one hundred and twenty-five quintals per year.

Besides these springs, with their different pits and galleries dug in the interior of

the mountain, which will be further described, the buildings of graduation, or those

which serve for evaporation, including those for boiling the brine, and the magazines for

depositing the salt, all known by the appellation of salt-works, deserve every traveler's

attention : those for the evaporation I particularly recommend, as being both curious

in construction and mechanism. The salines at Aigle, although deemed to be kept in

better order, are certainly not so extensive as those at Bevieux ; but the form or con­

struction of the building is that of an immense gallery, fifteen hundred feet long, fifty

wide, and forty-five high. The centre of this gallery is filled with small faggots, laid with

care on timber-frames joined together, not unlike a scaffold ; upon these faggots the salt

water gradually falls, pure as it comes from the source or spring, by means of pumps, put

in motion by a wheel of thirty feet in diameter, which is turned by a current of salt

water. The saline water being thus, at different times, or repeatedly, made to fall on

the faggots through which it filters, it not only, in a great measure, insensibly gets rid,

V - ' - ' " ' ^ * * W U I . _U«MUni- .

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by effect of evaporation, of most of its aqueous particles, but also the earthy and mineral

parts, which were in a state of solution, and which gradually attach themselves to the

faggots.

The water being thus reduced, by the above process, into brine, is then conducted

into the building which contains the coppers or cauldrons, where the fire completes the

evaporation of the remaining aqueous particles which it may have retained, and forms a

pure saline crystallisation, of which a part again undergoes a further process, in order

to be made clearer, or more refined, previous to its being deposited in the magazines.

N° XVI I I . gives an accurate representation of those buildings. But to those who may

be desirous of meeting with a more ample detail on the subject, I would recommend the

perusal of a work by M. Haller, entitled, " Description abrégée des Salines d'Aigle :

Inverdun, 1776." As for the works which were constructed at the adoption of the new

system, with a view of increasing the volume or quantity of salt water, let what may

have been their success, they still ought to be considered, as doing great honour to the

state, in their desire of promoting whatever might be deemed a benefit to the country.

The philosopher, who may have the curiosity to explore those gloomy abodes, and

extend his visit not only to the bottom of the pits, but even to the galleries, which may

be said nearly to pierce the mountain from side to side, will find a multiplicity of

objects worthy of remark, both from the extraordinary and singular structure of the

mountain itself, and from the arrangement and direction of its strata, &c. These gal­

leries are cut out of the solid rock ; and some, which are more than a mile in length,

meet in the centre of the mountain. But what is yet more remarkable, and indeed

astonishing, is the various kinds of reservoirs constructed in the interior of the rock,

hewn out of the main stone : some of them contain the salt water, previously conveyed

thither by means of pumps, and the others fresh, for the purpose of turning another

large wheel, of six-and-thirty feet in diameter, that puts the pumps in action, and is

fixed at the bottom of a pit six hundred feet deep. The one which I explored, called

du Bouillet, is reckoned six hundred and seventy-seven feet deep, and contains forty-nine

ladders, of eighteen steps each, supported by forty-eight wooden-platforms. Thus did I

descend to the very bottom of the pit, with an intention of trying some experiments on

the temperature of the interior of the mountain, carrying with me a lamp and a proper

apparatus for that purpose, and being dressed in a coarse habit, on account of the

slimy drippings which fall from every part of the pit. Having gained the depth I was

2 L

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desirous of reaching, I ventured to try my experiments, which I found to be nearly the

same as those made by monsieur de Saussure, so,me time prior to mine ; that is, the heat

at the bottom of the pit, which was sixty-three degrees and a half above 0, by Fah­

renheit's thermometer, surpassed that of the medium temperature at the surface, all

round the globe, by about seven degrees and a half,—a circumstance which would

astonish, or appear singular, were it not known that this part of the Alps contains vast

quantities of pyrites, or sulphat of iron. As for the structure or arrangement of the

mountain itself, it may be considered as circumstanced pretty nearly as follows :—

First, that the summit, or external surface, is of gypsum, the most predominant colour of

which seems to be greyish, though there are some white, and others inclining to red,

but in general without much coherency ; the red is likewise intermixed with a species

of marly earth, which crosses, in every direction, in wide veins or streaks. Under the

gypsum, also, lies a kind of soft or tender sand-stone, striated with gypsum, sand, and

argil ; and though this species of stone cannot be considered as very hard, yet does it

not admit the water to penetrate, or filter through, on account of the argil. And,

lastly, I consider the nucleus of the mountain to be formed of a kind of argillaceous

earth, containing iron, mica, and some particles of gypsum,—its colour being a greyish

black, inclining to blue. It is out of the nucleus that the saline springs take their

source ; and in the interstices of that kind of stone are found the pieces of crystallised

salt, or gemmse, which the people of the country offer to travelers.

From Aigle to Bex, which may be about four English miles, the high road continues

the whole way along the bottom of the valley. The mountains which skirt it on both

sides are in general calcareous, though their bases are, for the most part, covered by

hills of gypsum. Before arriving at Bex, I visited the church of Ollon, purposely to see

a column, or kind of Roman mile-stone, which has the following inscription : " C L A U -

D I I V A L L E N S E U M O C T O D U R U M , " with the Roman cipher " x v n , " which is the

exact distance, reckoning by miles, from Martignie to that village. I likewise passed

by the singular and extraordinary hills of Champigny and Triphon, which may truly be

deemed such, from their extreme elevation, and their standing isolated, as it were, in the

centre of a plain, which in that part literally forms the bottom of the Valley of the

Rhône, as also from the circumstance of having nearly the whole of their mass formed

of a hard calcareous stone, similar to the kind which forms the nuclei of the Jura and

the Salêve, and, like those, equally without fossils. I however discovered, on the side of