THUN.

11

The Stockhorn and the Niesen, two mountains rising to the heightof seven or eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, more par-ticularly attract notice by their remarkable form. The beautifulplain, bounded on the south by these colossal masses, gives thema still more imposing appearance. They seem to be placed there toguard the country : the Stockhorn looks like a giant supporting thevault of heaven; and the pyramidal figure of the Niesen, on theborder of the lake, and at the point of junction between the se-condary chains and the high Alps , seems to belong to two differentworlds, and to be stationed on their confines at the entrance of thesanctuary of Nature.

The Stockhorn, which strikes the imagination most forcibly, is re-markable for its abrupt acclivity, to the height of more than fivethousand feet above the lake of Thun . It overlooks the whole northof Switzerland , which beyond it grows more and more level, till itsextreme branches subside on the banks of the Rhine in Alsace . Itssummit, rounded into the form of a dome, rests upon ridges of rock,which run out to the right and left on the same line and at equal dis-tances. The top and sides of the mountain being defined upon theazure firmament with not less boldness than regularity, and the sec-tion of them, presenting, by its resemblance to the neck and shouldersof a man, the image of an Atlas, the idea of a gigantic phantominvoluntarily occurs. This circumstance, however, is not sufficientto explain the impression made by the sight of this mountain on themind of the spectator. The Kamor in the Rheinthal, and the Tourd’A'i, above Vevay, have forms as striking as that of the Stockhorn,but not standing so much detached from surrounding objects, theyare far from producing the same effect.

The majestic figure of the Stockhorn, and the beauty of theNiesen, do not strike the imaginations of persons of cultivatedminds only. There are no mountains in Switzerland , the names of