(anc. geog.), a range of high mountains, separating Italy from Gaul and Germany, in the form of a crescent. They take their rise from the Vada Sabatia, or Savona; and reach to the Sinus Flaminicus (now Golfo di Carnaro of the Adriatic), and the springs of the river Colapis (now the Kulpe); extending, according to Livy, 2000 stadia in length, or 250 miles: they are divided into several parts, and accordingly have different names. From Savona to the springs of the Varus, where the Alps lie against the sea of Genoa, they are called Maritimes, now le Montagne di Tenda. These extend from south to north, between Gaul to the west, and Genoa to the east, beginning at Monaco on the Mediterranean; then running out thro' the east of the county of Nice, and between that and the marquisate of Saluzzo, terminate at length at mount Vifo, between Dauphine and Piedmont. Hence to Susa run the Alpes Cottiae (Sueton.); Cottanea (Tacitus); mountains extremely high, separating Dauphine from Piedmont, and extending from mount Vifo to Mount Cenis, between the Alpes Maritimes to the south, and the Graiae to the north. The Alpes Graiae (Pliny), so called from the passageway of Hercules, begin from mount Cenis, where the Cottiae terminate; and run out between Savoy and the Tarentese to the west, and Piedmont and the Duché d'Aouste to the east, quite to the Great St Bernard, where the Alpes Penninae begin. They are also called by some Graiae Alpes, and Graiae Mons (Tacitus); which extend from west to east, between St Bernard and the Adula, or St Godart; and thus they run out between the Valesse to the north, and the Milance to the south. With these are continued the Alpes Rhaeticae, to the head of the river Piave; a part of which are the Alpes Tridentinae, to the north of Trent. To these join the Alpes Noricae, reaching to Doblach in Tyrol, to the north of the river Tajamento: thence begin the Alpes Carnicae, or of Carniola, extending to the springs of the Save; and the last, called Alpes Panonicae, and Juliae, extend to the springs of the Kulpe. Some, however, extend the Alps to the north of Dalmatia; others, again, to Thrace and the Euxine. But their termination at the Kulpe, as above, is more generally received. They were formerly called Albia, and Alpionia (Strabo). Through these mountains Hannibal forced his passage into Italy, by pouring vinegar on the rock, heated by burning large piles of wood on them, by which means they became crumbled (Livy). They are covered with perpetual snow.

The Alps are the highest mountains in Europe; being, according to some geometricians, about two miles in perpendicular height. They begin at the Mediterranean; and stretching northward, separate Piedmont and Savoy from the adjacent countries; whence directing their course to the east, they form the boundary between Switzerland and Italy, and terminate near the extremity of the Adriatic Sea, north-east of Venice. It was over the western part of those mountains, towards Piedmont, that Hannibal forced his passage into Italy.

The prospect from many parts of this enormous range of mountains is extremely romantic, especially towards the north-west. One of the most celebrated is the Grande Chartreuse, where is a monastery founded by St Bruno about the year 1084. From Echelles, a little village in the mountains of Savoy, to the top of the Chartreuse, the distance is six miles. Along this course, the road runs winding up, for the most part not six feet broad. On one hand is the rock, with woods of pine trees hanging over head; on the other a prodigious precipice almost perpendicular; at the bottom of which rolls a torrent, that, sometimes tumbling among the fragments of stone which have fallen from on high, and sometimes precipitating itself down vast declens with a noise like thunder, rendered yet more tremendous by the echo from the mountains on each side, concurs to form one of the most solemn, the most romantic, and most astonishing scenes in nature. To this description may be added the strange views made by the cragsgs and cliffs, and the numerous cascades which throw themselves from the very summit down into the vale. On the top of the mountain is the convent of St Bruno, which is the superior of the whole order. The inhabitants consist of 100 fathers, with 300 servants, who grind their corn, press their wine, and perform every domestic office, even to the making of their clothes. In the Album of the fathers is admired an aleatic ode, written by the late ingenious Mr Gray when he visited the Chartreuse, and which has since been published among his works.

The glaciers of Savoy are also justly reckoned among the most stupendous works of nature. These are immense masses of ice, lodged upon the gentler declivities amidst the Alps, and exhibiting representations beyond conception fantastic and picturesque. In the extraordinary narrative of Mr Bourrit's journey hither, we meet with the following account of the Picuré, in the valley of Chamouni. We had, says he, the magnificent prospect of a chain of mountains, equally inaccessible, and covered with ice; and above the rest that of Mount Blanc, whose top seemed to reach, and even pierce, the highest region of the clouds. The chain upon which this mountain looks down like a giant, is composed of masses of rocks, which terminate in pikes or spires, called the Needles, and which are ranged like tents in a camp. Their sides appear lighter and more airy, from the ornament of several hollow breaks and furrows fretted in the rock itself, as well as from the different streaks and panes of ice and snow, which, without changing the general character of their form, or the majesty of their appearance, give them a picturesque variety. Lower down, the eye surveys with ravishment the gills of ice, and the several glaciers, extending almost into the plain, whilst this appears like an artificial garden, embellished with the mixture of a variety of colours. We have a picturesque opposition to this chain, which is formed by innumerable mountains at the distance of near 50 leagues, between whose tops we have a glimpse of those several plains which they environ.

M. de Saufure, who had visited those mountains about two months before M. Bourrit, felt himself naturally electrified in this place. This extraordinary phenomenon seems not to have been experienced by the latter or his company; but they heard a long-continued tinued rumbling noise, like that of thunder, which was rendered more awful by the silence of the place where they stood. This noise proceeded from the subsequent causes, viz., the avalanches of snow, which separated from the tops of the mountains, and rolled down to the bottom; considerable fragments of the rocks which followed them, overturning others in their fall; and maffy blocks of ice, which precipitated from the summits.

The valley of Montanvert appears to be peculiarly romantic. Here, says M. Bourrit, we beheld a spacious icy plain entirely level. Upon this there rose a mountain all of ice, with steps ascending to the top, which seemed the throne of some divinity. It likewise took the form of a grand caldron, whose figure was beyond conception beautiful; and the sun, which shone upon it, gave a sparkling brilliance to the whole. The valley on our right hand was ornamented with prodigious glaciers, that, shooting up to an immeasurable height between the mountains, blend their colours with the skies, which they appear to reach.

Alps, besides its proper signification, by which it denotes a certain chain of mountains which separate Italy from France and Germany, is frequently used as an appellative to denote any mountains of extraordinary height or extensive range. In this sense, Aufonius and others call the Pyrenean mountains, Alps; and Gellius the Spanish Alps, Alpini Hispani.

Hence also we say, the British Alps, the Asiatic Alps, the Alps of America.

The Scottish Alps terminate in a most sublime and abrupt manner, at the great promontory the Alta Ripa of Ptolemy, the Ord or Aird, i.e., the Height, of Caithness. The upper part is covered with gloomy heath; the lower is a stupendous precipice, excavated into vast caverns, the haunt of seals and different sea-fowl. On the eastern side of the kingdom, this is the striking termination of the vast mountains of Scotland which form its Highlands, the habitation of the original inhabitants, driven from their ancient seats by the ancestors of Lowland Scots, descendants of Saxons, French, and Normans; congenial with the English, yet absurdly and individually distinguished from them. Language, as well as striking natural boundaries, mark their place. Their mountains face on the west the Atlantic ocean; wind along the west of Caithness; among which Morvern and Scaraben, Ben-Hop and Ben-Lugal, arise pre-eminent. Sutherland is entirely Alpine, as are Rossshire and Invernesshire. Their Sunnese Alps are, Meall Fourvounich, the Coryarich, Benewish, and Benevith near Fort William; the last of which is reported to be 1450 yards in height. Great part of Aberdeenshire lies in this tract. It boasts of another Morvern, soaring far beyond the others. This is in the centre of the Grampian hills, and perhaps the highest from the sea of any in Great Britain. They again comprehend the eastern part of Perthshire, and finish on the magnificent shores of Lochlomond; on the western side of which Benlomond rises, distinguished among its fellows. From hence the rest of North Britain forms a chain of humbler hills; but in Cumberland, part of Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, the Alps resume their former majesty. A long and tame interval succeeds. The long sublime tract of Wales arises, the ancient possession of the ancient British race. From the Ord, the great mountains recede inland, and leave a vast flat between their bases and the sea, fronting the waves with a series of lofty rocky precipices, as far as the little creek of Staxigo; the whole a bold, but most inhospitable shore for shipping. Wick and Staxigo have indeed their creeks, or rather chasms, which open between the cliffs, and may accidentally prove a retreat, unless in an eastern gale.

The Asiatic Alps are described under the articles Asiatic Chain and WERTURIAN Mountains.

The American Alps are, The Andes or Cordilleras, in South America; and the Appalachian or Allegany mountains, in North America.

The highest ground in North America is placed by Captain Carver in lat. 47° west long., from Lond. 98° between a lake from which the Oregon flows, and another called White-bear Lake, from which arises the Mississippi.

This exalted situation is part of the Shining Mountains, which are branches of the vast chain which pervades the whole continent of America. It may be fairly taken from the southern extremity, where Staten Land and Terra del Fuego rise out of the sea as inflated links to an immense height, black, rocky, and marked with rugged spiny tops, frequently covered with snow. New Georgia may be added as another horribly congenial, rising detached farther to the east. The mountains about the Straits of Magellan soar to an amazing height, and infinitely superior to those of the northern hemisphere under the same degree of latitude. From the north side of the Straits of Magellan, they form a continued chain through the kingdoms of Chili and Peru, preserving a course not remote from the Pacific Ocean. The summits, in many places, are the highest in the world. There are not less than 12, which are from 2400 totes high to above 3000. Pichincha, which impends over Quito, is about 35 leagues from the sea; and its summit is 2430 totes above the surface of the water. Cayambé, immediately under the equator, is above 3000; and Chimborazo higher than the last by 200. Most of them have been volcanic, and in different ages marked with eruptions far more horrible than have been known in other quarters of the globe. They extend from the equator through Chili; in which kingdom is a range of volcanoes, from lat. 26. south, to 45. 30. and possibly from thence into Terra del Fuego itself; which, forming the Straits of Magellan, may have been rent from the continent by some great convulsion, occasioned by their labours; and New Georgia forced up from the same cause. An unparalleled extent of plain appears on their eastern side. The river of Amazons runs along a level cloathed with forests, after it bursts from its confinement at the Pongo of Borjas, till it reaches its sea-like discharge into the Atlantic Ocean.

In the northern hemisphere, the Andes pass through the narrow Isthmus of Darien into the kingdom of Mexico, and preserve a majestic height and their volcanic disposition. The mountain Popocatepec made a violent eruption during the expedition of Cortez, which is most beautifully described by his historian Antonio de Solis. This, possibly, is the same with the volcano observed by the Abbé d'Auteroche, in his way from Vera Cruz to Mexico; which, from the nakedness of the lavas, he conjectured to have been but late- ly extinguished. From the kingdom of Mexico, this chain is continued northward, and to the east of California; then verges so greatly towards the west, as to leave a very inconsiderable space between it and the Pacific Ocean; and frequently detached branches jut into the sea, and form promontories; which, with parts of the chain itself, were often seen by our navigators in the course of their voyage. Some branches, as we have before observed, extend towards the east, but not to any great distance. A plain, rich in woods and savannahs, swarming with bisons or buffaloes, flags, and Virginian deer, with bears, and great variety of game, occupies an amazing tract, from the great lakes of Canada, as low as the Gulph of Mexico; and eastward to the other great chain of mountains, the Appalachian, which are the Alps of that side of northern America. Its commencement is supposed to be about Lake Champlain and Lake George, with branches pointing obliquely to the river St Lawrence eastward, and rising on its opposite coasts; others extending, with lowering prospects, even into our poor remnant of the new world, Nova Scotia. The main chain passes through the province of New York, where it is distinguished by the name of the Highlands, and lies within 40 miles of the Atlantic. From thence it recedes from the sea, in proportion as it advances southward; and near its extremity in South Carolina is 300 miles distant from the water. It consists of several parallel ridges, divided by most enchanting valleys, and generally cloathed with variety of woods. These ridges rise gradually from the east, one above the other, to the central; from which they gradually fall to the west, into the vast plains of the Mississippi. The middle ridge is of an enormous bulk and height. The whole extends in breadth about 70 miles; and in many places leaves great chasms for the discharge of the vast and numerous rivers which rise in the bottoms of the mountains, and empty themselves into the Atlantic Ocean, after yielding a matchless navigation to the provinces they water.

Beyond the branch of the Appalachian mountains called The Endless, is another of amazing extent, nearly as high as the mountains themselves. This plain (called the Upper Plains) is exceedingly rich land; begins at the Mohawk's River; reaches to within a small distance of Lake Ontario; and to the westward forms part of the extensive plains of the Ohio, and reaches to an unknown distance beyond the Mississippi. Vast rivers take their rise, and fall to every point of the compass; into Lake Ontario, into Hudson's River, and into the Delaware and Susquehanna. The tide of the Hudson's River flows through its deep-worn bed far up, even to within a small distance of the head of the Delaware; which, after a furious course down a long descent, interrupted with rapids, meets the tide not very remote from its discharge into the ocean.