The Alps - Geography

The continent of Europe is no more than a great peninsula extending westwards from the much vaster continent of Asia, while it is itself broken up by two inland seas into several smaller peninsulas—the Mediterranean forming the Iberian, the Italian and the Greek peninsulas, while the Baltic forms that of Scandinavia and the much smaller one of Denmark. Save the last-named, all these peninsulas of Europe are essentially mountain ranges. But in height'and importance the ranges that rise therein are much surpassed by a great mountain-chain, stretching from south-eastern France to the borders of Hungary, as well as between the plains of northern Italy and of southern Germany. This chain is collectively known as the Alps, and is the most important physical feature of the European continent.

The Alps, however, do not present so continuous a barrier as the Himalayas, the Andes or even the Pyrenees. They are formed of numerous ranges, divided by comparatively deep valleys, which, with many local exceptions, tend towards parallelism with the general direction of the whole mass. This, between the Dauphine and the borders of Hungary, forms a broad band convex towards the north, while most of the valleys lie between the directions west to east and south-west to north-east. But in many parts deep transverse valleys intersect the prevailing direction of the ridges, and facilitate the passage of man, plants and animals, as well as of currents of air which mitigate the contrast that would otherwise be found between the climates of the opposite slopes.

The derivation of the name Alps is still very uncertain, some writers connecting it with a Celtic root alb, said to mean height, while others suggest the Latin adjective albus (white), referring to the colour of the snowy peaks. But in all parts of the great chain itself, the term Alp (or Aim in the Eastern Alps) is exclusively applied to the high mountain pastures, and not to the peaks and ridges of the chain.

Though the Alps form a barrier they have never formed an impassable barrier, since, from the earliest days onwards, they have been traversed first, perhaps, for purposes of war or commerce, and later by pilgrims, students and tourists. The spots at which they were crossed are called passes (this word is sometimes though rarely applied to gorges only), and are the points at which the great chain sinks to form depressions, up to which deep-cut valleys lead from the plains. Hence the oldest name for such passes is Mont (still retained in cases of the Mont Ccnis and the Monte Moro), for it was many ages before this term was especially applied to the peaks of the Alps, which with a few very rare exceptions {e.g. the Monte Viso was known to the Romans as Vesuius) were long simply disregarded.

The Alps extend in a gigantic curve from Savona on the Gulf of Genoa to the suburbs of Vienna on the Danube—a distance of over 600 miles. The Alps, resembling a strong and prominent knot of the earth's granite, constitute a chain of mountains which extends over a space of three hundred leagues, from the mouth of the Rhone toward Marseilles, to the plains of Hungary. The links of this chain become depressed toward each extremity, and gradually lose themselves in the level country. In the center they rise to an enormous elevation, inaccessible to the steps, and scarcely perceptible to the eyes, of men. Their summits, crenulated as the battlements of a natural fortress, stand out in bold relief from the deep azure of the heavens - brilliant in dazzling whiteness under the first light of morning, warmly colored like the rose at mid-day, and softening down into the hue of the violet as evening declines: these varying tints are produced by the reflection (more or less powerful) of the sun on the sheets of eternal snow, with which the ridges of the mountains are clothed.

Viewed from the valleys of Italy or France, at a distance of sixty or eighty leagues, they inspire the same sentiment, arising from infinity of height, which is produced by the sea or the firmament as regards immensity of extent. It is a spectacle which paralyzes the beholder, and from fear to terror, from astonishment to admiration; but man feels himself reduced to nonentity under the stupendous architecture of these elevated regions, and utters an involuntary cry: that cry is a confession of his own insignificance. It is from this cause that the heart is usually more impressed with piety on the sea or on the tops of mountains, than on the level plains.

Toward the southern or Italian side the slopes of the hills are abrupt and steep, as an artificial rampart raised to protect and shelter that fertile country, the garden of Europe. On the north, stretching in the direction of France, Savoy, and Germany, the Alps descend from the clouds to the borers of the lakes and the level of the plains by the most gradual and gentle declivities: these may be described as immense ladders, with steps proportioned to the faculties of man.

Quitting the inaccessible region of snow, frost, and eternal ice, formed by the domes of Mont Blanc and the Jungfrau, the slopes become gradual; the roots of these gigantic pinnacles seem to swell the soil which covers them ; and they become clothed with earth, teeming with vegetation, with greensward, shrubs, flowers, and pasture-land, moistened by the incessant filtration of melting glaciers, which dissolve under the heat of the sun. The eminences diverge widely on all sides as they gradually decrease in altitude ; like buttresses, the foundations of which are deeply and extensively sunk, to capacitate them for bearing the in calculable weight they are constructed to carry. Thus they form and hollow out between each separate ridge narrow beds, which soon become formidable ravines, expanding rapidly into valleys, basins, and extensive plains, at the extremities of which we perceive from the heights the sparkling of transparent lakes, from whence foaming rivers take their course, to seek a distant and a still lower level.

The southern part of Germany is covered with large and steep mountains, running partly from the Alps and partly from the Carpathian mountains. Towards the middle of the country they decrease in elevation till they gradually sink into the plain. From the most northern German mountains, the Harz, begins that enormous plain which stretches over the whole north of Germany, and through Russia and Poland, to the Alaunian hills in Russia. The mountains of Germany belong to the two principal chains of Europe: viz. the Alps and the Carpathian mountains.

The Alps run in several chains through the south of Germany. The Rhetian Alps proceed from the Grisons and the Tyrol. The Grossglockncr, their highest point, divides them from the Noric Alps, which run through the district of the Ens into the Hungarian plains. The Alps of Trente belong to the first of these, and those of Styria to the latter. Two other chains of the Alps run in the south through Illyria: viz. the Carnian Alps, beginning at mount Tillegrino and ending at the Terklou, and the Julian Alps, which descend from the Terklou and run down to the Adriatic. The system of the Alps is the most extensive in Germany; the Rhetian and the Noric Alps, and some branches of the Carnian and Julian Alps, rise to the snow-line, and are covered with glaciers and fields of ice. Of the other lower ridges in Germany belonging to the system of the Alps, although some rise to a considerable height, none exhibit those terrific features which Nature has spread over the stupendous mountains of Switzerland and Savoy.

Tyrol forms, with Voralberg, the most westerly province of the Austria-Hungary monarchy, and is bordered on the northwest and south by Bavaria, Switzerland and Italy. It is mountainous throughout, and in regard to scenery is second only to Switzerland, of which it may be regarded as a continuation. The Alps, entering it from Switzerland, stretch across it from west to east in nearly three parallel chains. The loftiest of these is the Rhethian Alps, which occupy the center, dividing the country into a northern and southern portion. In this chain are situated Mt. Orther, 12,850 feet, and the Gross-Glockner, 12,560 feet. The largest lakes are the Idrio, the Garda, and Constance. The second parallel chain, in the north, forms the Tyrolese or German Alps; and the third chain, to which the name of the Trent Alps is sometimes given, wends around from the Lake of Garda and continues east until it becomes linked with the Carnic Alps.

All these chains descend very abruptly on the south sides, and form short lateral valleys, but on the north side generally slope gradually by parallel terraces, the spaces between which are occupied by long longitudinal valleys. Many of the summits are capped with perpetual snow and glaciers to the number of eighty, covering in all a space of about 170 square miles, descending into the valleys to the level of about 4,000 feet. The most remarkable of these glaciers are the Oesthal, the Sulden and Dux. Notwithstanding the height of the chains, Tyrol has several of the lowest passes in the Alps. The celebrated Brenner Pass is little more than 4,000 feet above sea level.

The Austrian Alps connect with the Swiss Alps in the ranges that enclose the Engadine, and continue eastward to the termination of the system. The central line, or main chain, contains the following groups or heights from W. to E.: the Oetzthaler Ferner, W. of the Brenner Pass, and the Venedigen E. of that pass, the Dreiherren-spitz, at the head of the Salza, the Rienz, and a branch of the Drave j the Gross-Glockner, and the Angokl, overhanging Gastein. From this section of the Alps numerous groups ramify over the surrounding country. On the S. the basin of the Adige is hedged in by the Ortler and Tridentine Alps, which last are connected but slightly with the main chain at the plateau of Toblach: on the N., the following groups may be noticed :—the Arlgau or Vorarlberg Alps, between the Upper Inn and the Lake of Constance ; the Bavarian Alps, between the Lech and the Inn; the Salzburg Alps, between the Inn and the Salza, linked to the main chain at the Gerlos Pass; and the Salzkammergut Alps, between the Salza and the Enns.

The valley of the Drave is enclosed on the S. by the Caraio Alps, which continue to the head of the Save and then branch off into the Karawankas and the Julian Alps, enclosing the basin of that river on the N. and S. The main chain Jf. of the Drave divides at the head of the Mur into two branches, one of which (the Lower Tauern) fills the interval between the Enns and the Mur, while the other, under the general name of the Styrian Alps, skirts the right bank of the Mur, and again divides, sending one branch S.E. between the Mur and the Drave, under the name of the Carinthian Alps, while the other proceeds N.E. across the Mur to the Semmering and the Wiener-Wald. The most peculiar feature in the scenery of South Germany is furnished by the dolomite mountains of the Italian Tyrol in the valleys of Fassa, Gader, and Groden. They shoot up with terrific steepness to peaks and serrated ridges, brilliantly white and utterly barrren.

The most important pass in the Austrian Alps is the Brenner, where a considerable depression takes place, opening a comparatively easy route between the valleyB of the Inn (by the Sill) and the Adige (by the Eisach). W. of the Brenner the Stelvio pass connects the basins of the Inn and the Adda; the road crosses the shoulder of the Ortler group, and is the highest carriage-road in the Alps. It was constructed in 1828 at a vast expense by the Austrians.

The most important mountains of Italy are the Alps. The maritime Alps rise from the sea to the west of Oneglia, and are succeeded by other denominations, extending due north to Mont Blanc, the ancient boundary of Savoy, and later a French mountain. The most remarkable passage through the maritime Alps is the Col de Tende. Few summits in this western chain have received particular denominations: the chief are mount Viso, which gives source to the Po; and mount Cenis a noted passage to Turin. Other names are mount Genevre, mount Iseran, Roch Michelf, &c. In general the western Alps rise, in successive elevation, from the sea to mount Blanc.

The French Alps extend from the Mediterranean to the Lake of Geneva, over a length of three hundred kilometres. Their masses and ramifications cover the whole region included between the Italian frontier and the valley of the Rhone. Their culminating point is Mont-Blanc which has an altitude of nearly five kilometres. Other summits of this range are equally famous: Simplon, Saint-Gothard, Mont-Cenis, through which runs a tunnel, Saint-Bernard, on which stands the well-known hospice or monastery that serves as an inn for travellers, although it is occupied by monks. Here it is that the Alpine or Saint-Bernard dogs, a cross between the shepherd's dog and the mastiff, are trained by the good fathers to help travellers who have lost their way in the snow.

The Franco-Italian frontier follows pretty closely the crest of the Alps. But the French slope is long, and descends by a series of steps to the valley of the Rhone, whereas there is a precipitous drop to the valley of the Po. The French Alps are hardly, if at all, inferior to the Swiss in height and beauty. Wonderful is the range of scenery they offer: the smiling shores of the lakes of Geneva, Annecy, and Le Bourget; the tragio grandeur of Mont Blanc, la Vanoise, and the Alps of Dauphiny; the wooded solitudes of La Grande Chartreuse; and, in the south, the Maritime Alps, clear and bare under an African sky, their foothills clad with cypress and olive trees, with the glorious Corniche Road, a long ribbon of flower gardens and winter resorts, fringing the dark blue Mediterranean.

The Alps are certainly the most formidable barrier that nature ever raised between two peoples, in Europe at least; yet they have been repeatedly crossed by noted captains with large armies, to conquer Italy or Gaul; Hannibal, Julius Csesar, Charlemagne, Francis I and, in more modern times, Napoleon. In the midst of the most incredible difficulties, Bonaparte quickly crossed the Great SaintBernard with horse and cannon and fell upon the astonished Austrians who never expected to see the French appear by such a road. In the Alpes Dauphinoises (from the name of the province of Dauphine), not far from Grenoble, its capital, stands the celebrated convent of the Grande Chartreuse where the monks distilled, from plants known to them alone, the famous cordial. It is said 'distilled' and not 'distil' because, since the breaking up of religious orders in France, the Carthusian monks sought refuge in Spain; so that every bottle of Chartreuse that enters the United States no longer bears the legend dear to protectionists, 'made in France,' but 'made in Spain.'