Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/26

20 Vegetation maintains its rights on every ledge, on every flat surface; for in every fissure the pines strike root, and the mosses and plants spread themselves over the rocks. One feels deeply convinced that there is nothing accidental; that here there is working an eternal law, which, however slowly, yet surely governs the universe; that there is nothing here from the hand of man but the convenient road by means of which this singular region is traversed.

, Oct. 21, 1779. The great mountain range, which, running from Basle to Geneva, divides Switzerland from France, is, as you are aware, named the Jura. Its principal heights run by Lausanne, and reach as far as Rolle and Nyon. In the midst of this summit ridge, Nature has cut out—I might almost say washed out—a remarkable valley; for on the tops of all these limestone rocks the operation of the primal waters is manifest. It is called La Vallée de Joux, which means the Valley of the Rock, since Joux, in the local dialect, signifies a rock. Before I proceed with the further description of our journey, I will give you a brief geographical account of its situation. Lengthwise it stretches, like the mountain range itself, almost directly from south to north, and is locked in on the one side by Sept Moncels, and on the other by Dent de Vaulion, which after the Dole, is the highest peak of the Jura. Its length, according to the statement of the neighbourhood, is nine short leagues, but, according to our rough reckoning as we rode through it, six good leagues. The mountainous ridge which bounds it lengthwise on the north, and is also visible from the flat lands, is called the Black Mountain (Le Noir Mont). Toward the west, the Risou rises gradually, and slopes away toward Franche Comté. France and Berne divide the valley pretty evenly between them; the