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furrowed from the top to the base; and seem to testify that Ruffiberg, in different epochs, and on different parts of its surface, has suffered dissolutions similar to that which has lately happened.

The summit of the mountain has not fallen: it presents a horizontal line, which unites two inclined planes, covered with grass; one plane directs itself towards a point intermediate to the lakes of Zug and Egeri, and the other descends towards the lake Lowertz. It was upon this last surface, and about a toise below the summit, that the separation began to be felt. The direction it pursued was, before this catastrophe, slightly cut like a gutter, or little valley, rather deep towards the bottom of the mountain, but losing its cavity near the summit. Along this way, throughout the meadows and wood, were to be seen blocks of blend here and there, half buried.

The east side of the driven cliff towards Schwitz, evidently shews that in the tract made by the separated section, the higher layers sunk vertically on the lower ones, by reason of a void space formed between them, in a direction parallel to their planes, and to the slope of the 'mountain.

This side presents a cut, or vertical wall, which was not seen previously to the drifting: the height of the wall, above the upper surface of the drifted and fallen section, shews the thickness of the pressing layert at the summit of Ruffiberg. This cut is about fourteen feet high, near the top of the mountain; but it increased insensibly, and at some distance lower it seemed to be above one hundred feet. It then gradually disappeared under the rubbish of the drifted part. The rock constituting this wall is a calcareous and argillaceous free-stone disposed into layers, of which the section only is visible; they degenerate into marl, and, finally, into elay, by the action of water. The parts most accessi

There was formerly on this summit a fort, which served for an advanced post in the ancient wars which the Swiss sustained against the Austrians. Though M. S. went to the spot, he could not discover the slightest vestiges of masonry, or buildings of any kind. He was, notwithstanding, assured by others

that some traces still remain

↑ This indication is correct only as it relates to the oil near the summit, for in that place alone there was pressure without falling Edwards the bottom of the valley.

ble to this liquid are clay. Those to which it cannot insinuate itself are freestone, generally speaking; for the different layers are not alike susceptible of decomposition. Their plane in the top of the mountain descends towards the bottom of the valley, parallel to the slope of Ruffiberg, under an angle of twentyfive degrees. This angle is least towards the middle and lower part of the mountain, for its slope from the bottom to its summit has the form of an arc, whose chord must be supposed to be up in the air. This wall, and all the beds of which it is formed, are split transversely to the direction of the fallen part by large and almost vertical clefts.

The layers of free-stone and clay are contiguous. There may be seen, however, between them, just below the summit, a layer of pulverulent coal blended, with clay. This layer was not above an inch thick. The upper part of the cut is covered sometimes with vegetable earth, and sometimes with great blocks of blend, which never mix with the freestone, and are of a different nature. It was in some measure the weight of these blocks on the layers of the softened freestone which occasioned their pressing, and, finally, their falling into the bottom of the valley. It is also to be conceived that the lower layers were decomposed before the upper ones, by the introduction of water through the clefts. This liquid, after having arrived at their lower extremity, insinuated itself between the the layers, run parallel to their plane, towards the foot of the mountain, and decomposed them throughout their whole length.

The vertical section of this cut or wall, parallel to its length, appeared to be in a great measure owing to a vein of calcareous spar, which covers, like a varnish, the surface of the wall brought to view by the pressure. The vein thus cutting vertically several layers of freestone has established between its parts a solution of continuity which has occa sioned a clear fracture, and on a distinct plane.

The west border of the driven cliffter, minates insensibly, and does not, hke the east border, present a vertical cut, or wall. We shall now notice the space included between these borders.

The summit of the mountain is an borizontal line that unites two plates of turf, inclined and supported against each other in form of a roof. About a toise below this summit, and in an horizontal

Jength

length of two hundred and sixty paces, the soil begins insensibly, on a slope of twenty-five degrees, to divide itself, and in a soft argillaceous earth covered with turf, to present numerous fissures, often transversely to the course of the dissolved section. These fissures are wider and nearer each other, the further they are from the summit of the mountain.

We find here and there, casually, among these fissures in the vegetable earth and clay, isolated fragments of trunks and branches of trees converted into coal of a smooth, brilliant, trapezoidal, and lamellated break, and transverse to the direction of the woody fibres. These fragments are often cylindrical, and bear only on their exterior surface the mould of vegetable fibres. One of them was fourteen inches long, and nine broad; but in general they are much less. They are not at all pyriteous, no more than the rest of the mountain. Their presence in this place was known before the separation, and did not contribute to that event. They are not found in large quantities, except on the summit of Ruffiberg. The entireness of the ranges of turf included between the fissures, shew that there was no decomposition of the part near the summit of the mountain, but merely a sinking, which is manifest from the height of the scarp, or cut, of free-stone, at the foot of which these fissures are discoverable. Their number increases proportionably in descending, and they soon multiply and enlarge to such a degree, as to present nothing but blocks of argillaceous earth overturned in every manner. It is here, and about thirty toises below the summit, that one could discover green wood, which had all at once changed place with the bed of earth on which it vegetated. The further falling of this wood is much dreaded; but such fears do not appear, at least for the present, to be well found ed, because the sinking is complete. The agitation which resulted from it has given the present soil a solid station. The wood itself stands on a plane, inclined at most about twenty-five degrees, and this slope is too gentle for it to make much way, by the mere effect of inclination. Some few trees may be separated, or, perhaps, rooted up, but they will not glide with all the ruin of a dissolution to the foot of the mountain, until the layer of free-stone, or blend, which forms their basis, shall have been destroyed, and softened by the action of water, and this

decomposition seems to require a long series of years.

A manuscript of 1352 relates, that a village, named Rothen, once stood on that part of Ruthberg where the late calamity happened. Tradition, confirmed by several monuments, informs us that this village was destroyed by a catastrophe very much like the one now described, and it has been rebuilt by little and little, and chiefly within a century, on the ruins of the ancient village. We can conclude but little from the past in elucidation of the present, in events so little susceptible of calculation; but it appears to M. Saussure, in offering conjectures on this subject, that it would require inuch longer than a century to effect this softening of the layers.

The fall of the ruins of the drifted part, is at present, much less to be dreaded than that of some parts of the mountain which have not been removed. All the vertical range of freestone which forms the eastern border of the dissolved part must fall; for the principles of destruction are in a very advanced state and precisely similar to those which produced the last separation.

A month after this catastrophe, and when much rain had fallen in the interval, the Ruffiberg daily resounded with the explosions of rocks made with powder to form a way across the fallen part; yet there had been no remarkable changes effected among the ruins. Some stones suspended here and there between blocks of softened clay took a more fixed situation but they gave but little way, and there had been no such motion in the wood as to apprehend its gliding further.

The ruins in parts parallel and inferior • to this wood become stoney or composed of great blocks of blend, with interlayers of softened clay: it declines on the west border by a scarp or cut of blend placed below the principal ridge. Thus were formed two stony torrents, which after having descended in a parallel direction. one above the other towards the S. E. and destroyed the little villages of Spitzbull, Ober Rothen, and Under Rothen, situated on the slope of the mountain, reunited at its foot, traversed the valley of Arth, which is here half a league broad, and, by extending themselves, covered three fourths of its length to the distance of a league: they proceeded on one part to heap themselyes at the foot of Mount Rigi, and on the other to fall into the lake of Lowertz,

There

There are still seen on Ruffiberg, along the western border of the fallen parts, some scattered houses which have almost miraculously escaped the destruction. The houses, excepting one at Spitzbuhl, have not been abandoned since the catastrophe, notwithstanding the injunction of government to that purpose; but the inhabitants reside with the remainder of their flocks in perfect security.

Arth, situated on the western extremity of the valley, has suffered no injury. The first village destroyed between Arth and Lowertz is Goldau, next Hueloch and then Bussingen which are entirely buried; and lastly at the eastern extremity of the valley, the village of Lowertz which has lost more than two thirds of its buildings.

Goldau is buried more than one hundred feet below the hillock formed by the event. The inhabitants were crushed by enormous rocks, and their lives termi

The separated part, in covering three fourths of the valley of Arth, and in despoiling this space of every trace of vegetation, has not spread its ruins in an uni-nated in an instant. But Lowertz, which form manner. The largest blocks of blend have formed, in the direction of the current of the fallen part, a little hill that blocks up the valley quite across. This little bill is divided into two prongs at its extremity towards mount Rigi, and it is conjectured that its summit is 200 feet above the ancient level of the valley. The rocks which compose the elevation diminish in number and size, the further they are from the line of impulse. The lower parts of the ruins particularly on the east side, almost entirely consist of clay and of yellow, grey and black marl: this marl has a black tuge in the part heaped on the lake of Lowertz, and its neighbourhood, because the soil, naturally mossy in this place, was furrowed and thrown up by the large blocks of stone which are buried there.

Most of the rivulets which descend from Rigi and Rufhberg emptied themselves into the lake Lowertz before the fall of Ruffiberg; but, as they are stopped by its ruins and lost in the interstices, they again flow back on the land, and here and there form ponds. People have attempted to give them an outlet, especially on the side of the lake Lowertz which empties itself by its western extremity into the lake of Lucerne. The lake of Zug has no communication with it, but flows on the side of the town of the same name, with a direction and fall almost contrary to that of the lake Low

crtz.

Some fears were at first entertained that these rivulets would not direct their waters towards Arth or Zug, or any new course, and that they would overflow the countries, but there is nothing at present to justify such alarms. The lake of Zug has not changed its level. Saven, a stream that empties the lake Lowertz, contains neither more nor less water than before the dissolution, and the ponds are not sensibly increased although much rain has fallen,

is not totally destroyed and in a great measure received only the softened clay from the borders of the fallen part, presented a much more distressing scene. The space which this village occupies and all its vicinity present the image of an agitated sea. Here and there are perceived on its surface the beams of ruined houses, and the branches and roots of trees thrown down; a cadaverous smell for a long time was every where perceiv ed; the remaining inhabitants, with countenances melancholy and bewildered, were, when M. Saussure was present, bu sily engaged in searching for and guarding the remnants that had escaped from this species of shipwreck. It was there, probably, that many of the inhabitants thus buried, wished for the arrival of death, like that of a friend, and had to prolonga wretched existence in a living tomb.

"I passed (says M. S.) two days in these devastated places, and traced them in various directions. I was prepared to attend to the solicitations of the wretched, who were truly entitled to seek of a stranger some consolation to their misery. I was mistaken in this expectation. Not an individual demanded charity, and it was only on my interrogations that they related their misfortunes."

The account from another intelligent observer is as follows:-It was about a week after the fall of the mountain that our route through Switzerland led us to visit this scene of desolation; and never can I forget the succes sion of melancholy views which presented themselves to our curiosity. In our way to it we landed at Arth, a town situated at the southern extremity of the lake of Zug; and we skirted along the eastern boundary of the ruins, by the side of Mount Rigi, towards the lake of Lowertz. From various points on our passage we had complete' views of such a scene of destruction as no words can adequately

describe,

Picture

We proceeded, in our descent, along the side of the Rigi, toward the half bu ried village of Lowertz. Here we saw the poor curate, who was a spectator of the fall of the mountain. He saw the torrent of earth rushing towards his village, overwhelming half his people, and stopping just before his door. What a situation! He appeared, as we passed, to be superintending the labours of some of the survivors who were exploring the ruins of the place. A number of newmade graves, marked with a plain pine cross, showed where a few of the wretched victims of this catastrophe had just been interred.

Our course lay along the borders of the enchanting lake of Lowertz. The appearance of the slopes on the eastern and southern sides told us what the valley of Goldau was a few days since; smiling with varied vegetation, gay with villages and cottages, and bright with promises of autumnal plenty. The shores of this lake were covered with ruins of huts, with furniture and clothes, which the vast swell of its waters had lodged on the banks. As we were walk

Picture yourself a rude and mingled mass of earth and stones, bristled with the shattered part of wooden cottages, and with thousands of heavy trees torn up by the roots, and projecting in every direction. In one part you might see a range of peasants' huts which the torrent of earth had reached with just force enough to overthrow and tear in pieces, but without bringing soil enough to cover them. In another were mills broken in pieces by huge rocks separated from the top of the mountain, which were even carried high up the opposite side of the Rigi. Large pools of water were formed in different parts of the ruins, and many little streams, whose usual channels had been filled up, were bursting out in various places. Birds of prey, attracted by the smell of dead bodies, were hovering all over the valley. But the general impression made on us by the sight of such an extent of desolation, connected too with the idea that hundreds of wretched creatures were at that moment alive buried under a mass of earth, and inaccessible to the cries and labours of their friends, was too horrible to be described or understood. As we travelling mournfully along toward Schwitz, we ed along the borders of this chaos of ruined buildings, a poor peasant, bearing a Countenance ghastly with woe, came up to us to beg a piece of money. He had three children buried under the ruins of of a cottage, which he was endeavouring to clear away. A little further on we came to an elevated spot which overlooked the whole scene. Here we found a painter seated on a rock, and busy in sketching its horrors. He had chosen a most favourable point. Before him, at the distance of more than a league, rose the Ruttiberg, from whose bare side had rushed the destroyer of all this life and beauty. On his right was the lake of Lowertz, partly filled with the earth of the mountain. On the banks of this lake was all that remained of the town of Lowertz. Its church was demolished, but the tower yet stood, and the ruins, shattered but not thrown down. The figures which animated this part of the drawing were a few miserable peasants, left to Ere among the wrecks of their village. The fore ground of the picture was a wide desolate sweep of earth and stones, reeved by the shattered roof of a neighboung cottage. On the left hand spread the blue and tranquil surface of the lake of Zug, on the margin of which yet stands the pleasant village of Arth, almost in Contact with the pins, and trembling Even in is preservation.

met with the dead body of a woman which had been just found. It was stretched out on a board and barely covered with a white cloth. Two men, preceded by a priest, were carrying it to a more decent burial. We hoped that this sight would have concluded the horrors of this day's scenery, and that we should soon escape from every painful vestige of the calamity of Schwitz. But we continued to find relics of ruined buildings for a league along the whole extent of the lake; and a little above the two islands before-mentioned, we saw lying on the shore the stiff body of a peasant which had been washed up by the waves, and which two men were examining, to ascertain the place he belonged to. Our guide instantly knew it to be the body of one of the inhabitants of Goldau.

If we had not been detained at Strasburgh waiting for passports for ten days, we should have been in Switzerland on the 3d of September, probably in the vi city of the lake of Lowertz; perhaps under the ruins of Goldau. Several traveilers, or rather strangers, have been de stroyed; but whether they were there on business or for pleasure, I know not. Among them are several respectable inhabitants of Berne; and a young la dy of fine accomplishments and amiable character, whose loss is much la

mcuted.

The

The following is a tolerably exact ac-
count of the loss sustained:
484 individuals-dead.
170 cows and horses-dead.

103 goats and sheep-dead.
87 meadows entirely destroyed
60 meadows damaged

95 houses entirely destroyed.

8 houses damaged and uninhabitable. 166 cowhouses, barns or stables entirely destroyed.

19 cowhouses, barns or stables, damaged. The total damage is estimated at least at.120,000l. sterling.

For the Monthly Magazine ACCOUNT of the FIRST EXPERIMENT of the PUBLIC USE of GAS LIGHTS. N Thursday evening the 4th of June, the first public exhibition of Mr. Winsor's Gas Lights took place in honour of his Majesty's birth day, in the lighting of a great length of lamps, fimilar to the side of a street, at a considerable distance from the carbonizing furnace. This experiment was made on the wall which separates the Mall in St. James's Park from Carlton House Gardens. The works had been for some time in preparation, and private trials had previously been made, to prove the air-tightness of the tubes of communication: which were of tinned iron, with soldered joints, except at certain distances where they are otherwise cemented together for the convenience of removal. The diameter of the long pipe is 1 inch; it commences in the two close carbonizing iron furnaces in Mr. Winsor's house in Pall Mall, one capable of containing and cokeing four pecks, and the other two pecks of common pit or sea coal; and by means of stop cocks, one or both of these furnaces can be made to send its gas into the pipes above mentioned; which first proceed south, about ten yards underground, until they enter the Prince of Wales's Gardens belonging to Carltonhouse. From hence the pipe proceeds W. for about one hundred and forty yards, rising gradually against the garden wall, to which it is affixed, until it arrives at the NW. corners of the garden; whence it is conducted one hundred and fifty-three yards S., on the top of the wall which Separates the Prince's from Marlboroughhouse Garden, to the door at the SW. corner of Carlton Gardens. Here the first light or illumination was produced by a thin and broad stream of gas from a small tube or branch from the pipe; which gave a very brilliant light in the open air without a glass cover.

From this point the communicating pipe proceeded along the top of the wall for two hundred and fifty yards in an east direction, to the private door in the wall opening into the Mall, having on it thirty-two tubes or burners, inclosed in glasses of different shapes and constructions, and some naked burners without glass covers. On one of the piers of this private door, a fourbranch gas burner with reflectors, in imitation of the Prince's feathers had a very pleasing and appropriate effect. From this private door, the tube proceeded fifty yards further, withinside of the wall, to the back gates of Carlton Gardens, and there terminated in a grand transparency erected over the gate-way, consisting on one side of a number of cut-glass stars and other devices, with gas-lights behind each, besetting the crown and letters G. R. The transparency after a while was turned round and exhibited on the other side in illuminated letters the following ode:

Sing praise to that power celestial,

Whom wildom and goodness adorn!
On this Day-in regions terrestrial,

Great George, our lov'd Sov'reign was born.
Rejoice, rejoice, 'tis George's natal day.
Oh, hail this glad Day so propitious,
When GEORGE Our dread Monarch appear'd,
Remembrance to Britons delicious,
Of a King, as a parent rever'd.

Rejoice, &c.

Vouchsafe, then, ye pow'rs celestial
Long health to a life so endear'd ;
The greatest of blessings terrestrial
God send to our King so rever'd!
Rejoice, &c.

The inflammable gas, which is quite transparent or invisible, began to flow in the pipes soon after eight o'clock, and a lamp-lighter, or person with a small waxtaper (the evening being quite serene), appeared and lighted the gas issuing from each burner in succession: some time after, a very large burner or assemblage of small streams of gas was lighted on the top of the transparency, which was not however illuminated for a long time afterwards.

The light produced by these gas lamps, was clear, bright, and colourless, and from the success of this considerable experiment, in point of the number of lights, the distance and length of piße, hopes may now be entertained, that thes long-talked of mode of lighting our streets may at length be realized. The Mull continued crowded with spectators, until near twelve o'clock, and they seemed much anused and delighted by this novel exhi bition. Your's, &c.

F.

For

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