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DOMESTIC MANNERS OF TnE TRTJSSLVNS.

which fall into tlie Lake of Wallcnstadt; and this naturalembankment is so slight, being but 20 feet high and 200 yardsbroad, that it has been calculated, from actual measurement,by the celebrated Escher von der Linth (him who eut theLinth Canal, and so put an end to the continual overflowingof the Wallenstadt Lake), that the Rhine need rise but 19Jfeet (or its bed be raised that height by the deposits that arefor ever being brought down), for its waters to pass by Wal-lenstadt— instead of by Constanz as now, and thence by theriver Magg into the Lake of Zürich, and thence again bythe Limmat into the Aar; so that it would ran in an almostdirect line from Sargans to Coblenz, just above Waldshut,instead pursuing its present round-about route by the Lake ofConstanz and Schaffhausen. Indeed it is recorded, that in theyear 1618 the Rhine was so swollen hy long rains, that it wasonly prevented taking its course by the Lakes of Wallenstadtand Zürich by the construction of dams along its banks.

Hence it bccomes extremely probable that the Rhein-fallby Schaff hausen is of comparatively modern origin, and thatthe silence of the Roman authors on the subject arises fromthe river having, since their time, opened up for itself a newChannel.

All evidence, indeed, seems to Warrant such a conclusion.According to the measurements given by the ancient geographerStrabo, the Lake of Constanz would seem to have been muchsmaller in the days of the Romans than at present—a circum-stance which must be due either to the fact of the bed of thelake having been raised, or eise to the circumstance of itsliquid contents having been considerably increased. Moreover,the fossil remains of terrestrial and freshwater animals dis-covered in the " Molasse" deposits at Oehningen, just below theUnter See (lower lake), and which, though known to be ofcomparatively recent origin (some of the "fauna" being