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which were infinitely more distinct than any I had met with since my departure from Lyons, ap-peared to incline towards the north; which inclination became still more visible in the neighbour-hood of St. Martin, a village three miles on this side Nantua ; for the abrupt mountain on myleft exhibited so great an inclination in the strata, that they literally seemed to extend or lengthenunder the lake of Nantua . ' '

This lake, which takes its name from the town, is only five miles in circumference, but is wellstocked with fish, and of vast depth of water, which is in general the case with all lakes in orcontiguous to the Alps. The mountains which surround this lake are calcareous, but do not allequally contain fossils, there being several in which there are not any; and there are very few inthose which screen its southern extremity.

I continued, from the village of St. Martin , along the delightful banks of the lake, on a kindof causeway, serving to check or bar the sudden rise of the water at the melting of the snow.This rise is then so rapid and considerable, that inundations would doubtless be frequent in variousparts of the country, and would lay the adjacent towns and villages under water, were it not fortwo or three bridges, which have been very effectually constructed, and, I may add, most judi-ciously so, by the person who superintended those works; and the water, at present, is seldomknown to rise above two feet at its greatest swell. The arches, acting as a kind of drain, directits course towards some swampy lands or fens, situated at the western side of the bank, intowhich it throws itself with violence, and thus, by overflowing them entirely, forms another lakeof about three miles in circumference.

Having, for another mile, followed the banks of the lake of Nantua , I took an easterlydirection, and reached the foot of a very romantic cascade, which falls from the summit of amountain that screens the lake at its northern extremity.

This water-fall is very singular; for, instead of precipitating its water rapidly from the top ofthe mountain, it filtrates, and comes out from between its strata, at about two thirds of its eleva-tion, and with a noise-so considerable, as to be heard on the opposite side of the lake.

Doubting whether the wateyreally proceeded from between the strata, I had the curiosity, inmy second excursion to Nantua , to scramble to the top of the mountain which commands thefall, in order to ascertain the fact, and find out its source. There I soon convinced myself thatthe water proceeded from a small lake, which I could easily distinguish, and which, though fivehundred feet above that of Nantua , appeared to lie in a hollow; so that its water, having noother way of draining off than by this kind of filtration, naturally produced the above-mentfionedelfect, which is wellworthy of the traveller's'attention, and may ]ead to the explanation of similarphenomena in the arrangements of Nature.

The road here again becomes very rural and picturesque, sometimes leading along the wind-ings of the lake, whose tranquil surface and pellucid water form a most pleasing object, contrastedwith the distant but incessant noise of the cascade, reverberated by rocks and mountains. Thetops of these, mostly covered with dark pines, are often lost in the clouds, but display on theirabrupt and arid sides such irregular and chamfreted strata, as, from their craggy projections, andthe vast heap of rubbish which cover their bases^ appear to have been insensibly forced to yieldto the ruthless hand of time—the whole forming one of the most solitary and romantic spots ofthe primordial chain.

The extreme satisfaction I took in my journey from Lyons led me frequently to ramble out ofthe direct road, to make my observations, which delayed my arrival at Nantua till late in theevening; for which reason I deferred visiting the town and its environs till the next day. But,in order to give an idea of the IVater-fall noticed in the present description, I have annexeda view of it in N° V.