Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/255

Rh influences of the atmosphere and rear their summits far above the surrounding country.

When Storm King is passed in our northward course, the scenery changes completely. The gneiss hills of Westchester County, abruptly rolling to the east, the craggy Palisades and the Highland mountains give way to a region of moderate elevation and gently rolling surface, abruptly notched by the river valley. This is a belt of slate and limestone territory extending from Vermont to Alabama, and of world-wide fame in its fertility, known in Pennsylvania as the Great Valley, and in Virginia as the Valley of the Shenandoah.

From Cornwall to Troy the scenery of the Hudson shows but little variation, as the geology does not change materially except where the hard Catskill sandstones and conglomerates rear their lofty pile, furrowed, channeled, and notched so deeply and widely that of the original plateau only the present mountain remnants may be seen.

As a geological map of the Hudson Valley would tell what variety of scenery might be expected, so one may forecast the scenic pleasures of the Rhineland without entering its territory.

From Basle to Mainz the Rhine flows through a low plain of Quaternary age. In this portion of the valley the natural scenery is monotonous, varied only by distant views of hill country. From Biebrich to Bingen the river skirts the foot of the Rheingau, which affords on the right bank the picturesque scenery of that famous vine-clad slope. From Bingen northward the river has abruptly cut its channel through the Devonian rocks which extend from Bingen nearly to Bonn, and, in meandering through the defiles of its valley, exhibits to the traveler a variety of imposing scenery which in remote centuries as well as in recent times has inspired the poet and the minstrel, and in the richness of its historic associations and its relics of the feudal system is unsurpassed and probably unequaled by any other valley in the world. From Bonn to the sea the country bordering the river is of more recent origin and proportionately deficient in relief and scenic variety.

In connection with these instances may be stated a general principle of the relation of scenery to geology: the older the formation, the higher its relief and the more striking its scenery.

To exemplify this principle in its broadest form let the reader compare the topography of some of the newest and oldest formations. For instance, compare the London basin with the Scottish Highlands, or Dover Cliffs with Mount Snowdon, or the drift hills of Long Island with the Adirondack peaks, or the sand plains of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas with the mountain