Heaven and Earth, whom the first article of faith represented as supremely wise and merciful, appeared by no means paternal while thus enveloping the just and the unjust in indiscriminate ruin. It was in vain that his youthful mind endeavoured to shake off these impressions, nor can this be wondered at, as even the wise and the learned did not agree in their opinions on the subject.’ CHAPTER XI. LANDSLIPS. Igneous and Aqueous Causes of Landslips—Fall of the Diablerets in 1714 and 1749—Escape of a Peasant from his living Tomb—Vitaliano Donati on the Fall of a Mountain near Sallenches—The Destruction of Goldau in 1806—Wonderful Preservation of a Child—Burial of Velleja and Tauretunum, of Plürs and Scilano—Landslip near Axmouth in Dorsetshire— Falling in of Cavern-roofs—Dollinas and Jamas in Carniola and Dalmatia—Bursting of Bogs—Crateriform Hollows in the Eifel. Landslips, or sudden subsidences and displacements of portions of land, result both from igneous and aqueous causes. Wherever cavities have been formed beneath the surface of the earth, whether in consequence of volcanic eruptions or by the erosive and dissolving action of subterranean waters, the shock of an earthquake or the mere weight of the superincumbent mass may cause the roof to fall in, or the superficial ground, no longer sustained by its undermined foundations, to slide away and sink to a lower level. In mountainous regions it frequently occurs that the foundations of a rock, undermined by filtering waters, give way, and that huge masses of stone and earth, now no longer reposing on a solid basis, are precipitated into the valley below. More than once, the slipping or falling in of a mountain has brought death and destruction upon the humble dwellings of the Alpine peasants, and added many a mournful page to their simple annals. Thus, in the years 1714 and 1749, large beds of stone were detached from the Diablerets, a mountain stock between the cantons of Vaux and Valais, and burying the meadows of Cheville and Leytron under a mound of rubbish 300 feet deep, killed many herds and shepherds.