), with
the apparent slope of the hillside. A pencil line drawn by the pole
then gave me a horizon, with which the angle could be easily
measured at home. The measurements thus obtained are given under the
figures.

[62] That is to say, in a cliff intended to _owe its outline to
dilapidation_. Where no dilapidation is to be permitted, the bedded
structure, well knit, is always used. Of this we shall see various
examples in the 16th chapter.

[63] Given already as an example of curvature in the Stones of
Venice, vol. 1, plate 7.

[64] The top of the aiguille of the Little Charmoz bearing, from the
point whence this sketch was made, about six degrees east of north.

[65] The _summits_ of the aiguilles are often more fantastically
rent still. Fig. 39 is the profile of a portion of the upper edge of
the Aiguille du Moine, seen from the crest of Charmoz; Fig. 40 shows
the three lateral fragments, drawn to a larger scale. The height of
each of the upright masses must be from twenty to twenty-five feet.
I do not know if their rude resemblance to two figures, on opposite
sides of a table or altar, has had anything to do with the name of
the aiguille.

[Illustration: FIG. 39.]

[Illustration: FIG. 40.]

CHAPTER XV.

RESULTING FORMS:--SECONDLY, CRESTS.

Sec. 1. Between the aiguilles, or other conditions of central peak, and the
hills which are clearly formed, as explained in Chap. XII. Sec. 11, by the
mere breaking of the edges of solid beds of coherent rock, there occurs
almost always a condition of mountain summit, intermediate in aspect, as
in position. The aiguille may generally be represented by the type _a_,
Fig. 42; the solid and simple beds of rock by the type _c_. The
condition _b_, clearly intermediate between the two, is, on the whole,
the most graceful and perfect in which mountain masses occur. It seems
to have attracted more of the attention of the poets than either of the
others; and the ordinary word, crest, which we carelessly use in
speaking of mountain summits, as if it meant little more than "edge" or
"ridge," has a peculiar force and propriety when applied to ranges of
cliff whose contours correspond thus closely to the principal lines of
the crest of a Greek helmet.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.]

Sec. 2. There is another resemblance which they can hardly fail to suggest
when at all irregular in form,--that of a