The Beauties of Nature, and the Wonders of the World We Live In

by Sir John Lubbock

Sometimes two lateral valleys (see Plate) come down nearly opposite one another, so that the cones meet, as, for instance, some little way below Vernayaz, and, indeed, in several other places in the Valais (Fig. 31). Or more permanent lakes may be due to a ridge of rock running across the valley, as, for instance, just below St. Maurice in the Valais.

Fig. 30.

VIEW IN THE VALAIS BELOW ST. MAURICE. To face page 266.

Fig. 31.—View in the Rhone Valley, showing a lateral cone.

Almost all river valleys contain, or have contained, in their course one or more lakes, and where a river falls into a lake a cone like those just described is formed, and projects into the lake. Thus on the Lake of Geneva, between Vevey and Villeneuve (see Fig. 33), there are several such promontories, each marking the place where a stream falls into the lake.