The Minoan and Mycenaean element in Hellenic life / [Sir Arthur Evans].

  • Arthur Evans
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Minoan and Mycenaean element in Hellenic life / [Sir Arthur Evans]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Valleys and Peaks of the Alps. To understand the geography of the Alps, let us first be clear about the famous St. Gotthard region, the cradle of many Aljiine rivers. We reach the St. Gotthard Pass, the gate of this region, from Lucerne, by following the lake, and its feeder, the Reuss, up to a height of 7000 ft. A wonderfully engineered railway follows the valley to a height of 3800 ft. and then plunges into the bowels of the mountains in a tunnel miles long, emerging at the head of the Ticino valley, which leads dovoi to Lake Maggiore, Milan, and the plain of the Po. Only a few miles from the source of these two rivers arc those of the Further Rhine, flowing east, and of the Rhone, flowing west, while those of the Aar, in the Bernese Oberland, are also near. Once clear as to these rivers, we can easily fix the geography of the rest of the Alps in our minds. The Rhone flows west in a great trough between the Bernese Oberland to the north and the Pennine Alps to the south. Zermatt, the needle-like Matterhorn (14,700 ft.), Monte Rosa (15,200 ft.), and other giant peaks are at the end of valleys opening to it from the south. From Martigny, where the Rhone turns north to Lake Geneva, we may visit the highest peak in the Alps, Mont Blanc, over 15,700 ft. South of the Mont Blanc group two rivers must be noted, the Dora Baltea, flowing south-east down to the Po, and the Isere, flowing south-west through the French Alps of Savoy and Dauphin6 to the Rhone. Further south the Durance flows to the Rhone and the Dora Riparia to the Po. The Aar has already been traced from the glaciers of the Finsteraarhorn (14,000 ft.), the highest of the Bernese Alps, to its confluence with the Rhine. Interlaken, between Lakes Brienz and Thun, commands a fine view of the Jungfrau, the queen of the Bernese Alps, and is the starting-point for their finest scenery. The courses of the Reuss and Rhine we know. The £ngadine and the Tyrol. East of the Rhine is the Vorarlberg district, and south the Engadine, perhaps the finest of all, with peaks 11,000 to 13,000 ft. high. The Inn flows through grand scenery to the Danube, between the Bavarian Alps and the Tyrol, with Innsbruck as its chief centre. FVom the Tyrol the Adige, or Etsch, flows south, near the Ortler group (12,800 ft.), the highest part of the Austrian Alps, the only one of the many rivers flowing south in long parallel valleys which does not enter the Po. Not far from the source- of the Adige is the Gross Glockner (12,400 ft.). Now both the scenery and direction of the valleys gradually change. The rivers no longer flow north and south, but east to the Danube, the largest being the Drave and Save. These eastern Alps form the Austrian provinces of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. From the northern end of the Austrian Alps spring the forested Carpathians, and from the southern the Dinaric or Dalmatian Alps, which border the eastern shores of the Adriatic. The Apennines of Italy arc also an offshoot from the Alps, but with quite different scenery. IGIO Notable Alpine passes are connected with the valleys mentioned. In the centre the St. Gotthard leads from the head of the Reuss valley to the head of the Ticino valley, thus giving a through route from the North Sea to the Adriatic. In the west the Mont Cenis, also followed by a railway, with a tunnel miles long through the core of the Alps, leads from the valley of the Arc, a tributary of the Isere, to that of the Dora Riparia, a tributary of the Po, and to Turin. The Brenner, in the east, leads from the Inn to the Adige. All these give through routes right across the Alps. The Simplon, with a tunnel 12^- miles long, leads from the middle of the upper Rhone valley to the valley of the Toce and Lake Maggiore. Many famous passes, not accessible by rail, lead from one valley to another, but these need not be mentioned. Switzerland. Switzerland (16,000 sq. miles) is a union of many independent cantons which grew up on both slopes of the Central Alps, round the lakes which fill many of the lower valleys, and on the plateau at their northern base. The Federal capital is Bern, on the Aar. Except on the plateau, the larger towns have become important because they command good routes across the Alps. Zurich, Luzern (Lucerne), Beni, Lausanne, and Geneva are examples. On the plateau the climate is that of Central Europe, with hot summers and cold winters. In the Alpine valleys the winter varies in severity with elevation. Winter snow covers the summer pastures, blocks many of the passes, and renders the streets of the higher villages impassable. Why Switzerland is Prosperous. Switzerland is a brilliant example of what can be done by utilising the national resources, whatever they are. A land of uninhabitable mountains, with hardly any lowlands suited for agriculture, with no coal to feed manufactures, and producing hardly any raw material, it would seem to have small hope of prosperity, yet it is one of the richest countries in Europe. Mountaineers are generally resourceful and energetic, and the Swiss are no exception. They make the most of agriculture on the plateau, their manufactures are flourishing, their dairy industries world-famous, and they have brought to perfection what they call the Fremden- industrie, or trade in tourists. The Tourist Industry. Switzerland discovered this industry and makes a fortune by it. Everything is done to develop it. Rail- ways are carried everj'where, even iip nearly ))erpendicular cliffs. Well-equipped hotels are built actuali}’’ at the snow-line. Summer brings its tens of thousairds of tourists, who enrich the armj'’ of caterci-s, cooks, waiters, porters, railway servants, and mountain guides Avho follow in their train. The favourite centres are the Engadine, Avhere Davos is a sanatorium for consumptives; Zermatt, in the Pennine Alps ; Interlaken, in the Bernese Oberland : Chamonix, for i\lont Blanc, Vevey, ami many other toums round the Lake of Geneva; and Luzern and smaller towns round that lake for the line scenery about the St. Gotthard.
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