(Mons), a considerable eminence of land, elevated above everything adjoining to it, and commanding all the surrounding places: It is commonly full of inequalities, cavities more or less exposed, and strata half laid open.

This name is likewise given to a chain of mountains; as when we speak of Mount Atlas in Africa; Mount Caucasus, which begins above Colchis and ends at the Caspian sea; the Pyrenean mountains, which separate France from Italy; and the Apennine mountains, which run through the whole of Italy.

Those who have surveyed the earth in general, and studied studied nature on a grand scale, have constantly been struck with admiration and astonishment at the sight of such majestic eminences, which extending in different ways, seem to rule over the rest of the globe, and which present to the beholder a spectacle equally magnificent and interesting. In them it has been supposed we must search for a solution of the important problem regarding the creation of the world.

Naturalists reckon several kinds of mountains: we shall find that these elevations of the earth have not all the same origin, nor date their commencement from the same era.

1. Those mountains which form a chain, and which are covered with snow, may be considered as primitive or antediluvian. They are like majestic bulwarks scattered on the surface of the globe, and greatly exceed the other mountains in height. In general, their elevation is very sudden, and their ascent very steep and difficult. Their shape is that of a pyramid crowned with sharp and prominent rocks, on which no verdure is to be seen, but which are dry, naked, and as it were stripped of their foil, which has been washed away by the rains, and which present an awful and horrible aspect, sufficient to impress the coldest imagination with terror. These primitive mountains, which astonish the eye, and where wind only reigns, are condemned by nature to perpetual sterility. At the foot of them we frequently find paths less steep and winding than when we ascend to a greater height. They everywhere present thundering cascades, frightful precipices, and deep valleys. The depressions and excavations correspond with the quantity of water, the motion of which is accelerated in its fall, and which sometimes produces a total sinking or an inclination of the mountain. The wrecks to be found at the foot of most peaks, show how much they have suffered from the hand of time. Nothing meets the eye but enormous rocks, heaped in confusion on one another, which prevent the approach of the human race. On the summits of these mountains or high eminences, which are only a series of peaks frequently detached from one another, the prominent rocks are covered with eternal snow and ice, and surrounded with floating clouds which are dispersed into dew. In a word, the rugged cliffs oppose an inaccessible rampart to the intrepidity of man; and nature exhibits a picture of disorder and decay (A). No shells or other organized marine bodies are to be found in the internal part of these primitive mountains; and though search has been made, by digging, on the tops of the Alps and the Pyrenees, no substances of this nature have yet been discovered except on the sides near the base. Nothing is to be met with but continued rocks, caverns dug by the hand of nature, and abounding in crystalizations of great beauty, with various minerals. The stone of which they consist is an immense mass of quartz, somewhat varied, which penetrates into the bowels of the earth in a direction almost perpendicular to the horizon. We find no calcareous spar but in the fissures or rents which have some extent and an evident direction; and at great depths we find new parts as it were, or, in other words, the primitive state of things. All primitive mountains furnish proofs of these assertions. Of this kind in Europe are the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the mountains of Tirol, the mountain of the giants in Silesea, the Carpathian mountains, the mountains of Saxony, those of Norway, &c. In Asia we find the Riphean mountains, Mount Caucasus, Mount Taurus, and Mount Libanus; in Africa, the mountains of the moon; and in America the Appalachian mountains, and the Andes or Cordilleras. Many of the latter have been the seats of volcanoes.

2. Another kind of mountains are those which are either detached, or surrounded with groups of little hills, the foil of which is heaped up in disorder, and the crust gravelly and confusedly arranged together. These are truncated or have a wide mouth in the shape of a funnel towards the summit, and which are composed of, or surrounded with, heaps of calcined and half vitrified bodies, lava, &c. This class of mountains appear to have been formed by different strata raised up and discharged into the air, upon occasion of the eruption of some subterraneous fire. The isles of Santorin, Monte-Nuovo, Mount Etna, Adam's Peak in the island of Ceylon, the peak of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and many others, have been formed in this manner. When very high mountains of this kind are covered with sea-shells, we may consider their summits as having once constituted a part of the bottom of the ocean. A number of these mountains have been formed in the memory of man; and present nothing to the view but disordered ruins, confused masses, parts heaped together in the greatest irregularity, and productions formed by eruptions or by the falling in of the earth. When a mountain of this

(A) It is observed, says the Abbé Palafou, that at the foot of the Pyrenean mountains, the foil of several countries consists wholly of the mud and rubbish deposited by the rivers which descend from them. According to Herodotus, a great part of Egypt was in like manner formed by the different substances brought thither by the Nile: Aristotle calls it the work of the Nile; and on this account the Ethiopians boasted that Egypt was indebted to them for its origin. The inhabitants of the Pyrenees might say the same thing of almost the whole tract of country situated along the northern chain from the ocean to the Mediterranean, forming that kind of isthmus which separates the two seas. The surface of our globe is thus in a state of perpetual change; the plains are elevated, the mountains are levelled, and water is the principal agent employed by nature in these great revolutions. Time alone is wanting to verify the saying of Louis XIV. to his grandson: Posterity will one day be able to say, "The Pyrenees are no more." The period, however, must necessarily be very distant. M. Genanne, from observations which he thinks well-founded, concludes, that these mountains are lowered about ten inches every century. Supposing them therefore to be 1500 toises above the level of the sea, and always susceptible of being lowered in the same degree, a million of years would elapse before their total destruction. this kind is connected with the land, and advances farther into the sea than the adjoining country, it is then termed a Cape, Head, or Promontory; such as the Cape of Good Hope at the southern extremity of Africa. Mountains of the second rank are commonly more easy of access. Dr Haller observes, that the angle formed between their base and their declivity is larger; that they have fewer springs; and that their plants are different from those of the Alps. The peasants in Switzerland, he tells us, are acquainted with the difference betwixt these two kinds of mountains.

3. Those mountains, whether arranged in a group or not, the earth or stone of which is disposed in strata more or less regular, and consisting of one or more colours and substances, are produced by the substances deposited slowly and gradually by the waters, or by soil gained at the time of great floods. We daily see little hills formed in this manner, which are always of a small height compared with those of the first order, and round in the top, or covered with soil frequently forming a pretty flat and extensive surface. We there find likewise sand and heaps of round pebbles like such as have been worn by the waters. The internal part of these mountains consists of a heap of strata almost horizontal, and containing a prodigious quantity of shells, marine bodies, and fish-bones. Although these mountains formed by strata sometimes degenerate into little hills, and even become almost flat, they always consist of an immense collection of fossils of different kinds, in great preservation, and which are pretty easily detached from their earthy bed whether harder or softer. These fossils, consisting of marine shells intermixed and confounded with heaps of organized bodies of another species, present a picture of astonishing disorder, and give indubitable indications that some extraordinary and violent current has confounded and accumulated in the greatest disorder and precipitation foreign substances and shells of various kinds. These, removed from their natural and original place, by their union form an elevation and a mountain, which are in fact nothing but a composition of the wrecks of bodies formerly organized. All these phenomena seem to prove, that most of these mountains chiefly owe their origin to the sea, which once covered some parts of our continent, now left dry by its retreat. (According to the principles of this system, Anaxarchus explained the formation of the mountains of Lamplacus). In these mountains we likewise find wood, prints of plants, strata of clay, marl, and chalk, different beds of stone succeeding one another, such as flate, marble which is often full of sea shells, lime-stone which appears to be wholly formed from the wreck of shells, plaster-stone, entire strata of ochre, and beds of bitumen, mineral salt, and alum.

The strata of mountains which are lower and of a recent date, or formed by recent accidents, sometimes appear to rest upon, or to take their rise from, the sides of primitive mountains which they surround, and of which they in some measure form the first steps in the ascent; and they end by being insensibly lost in the plains. With respect to the irregularity of some strata in recent mountains, it is owing to violent and sudden inundations, to torrents, and to local revolutions which have produced angles, leaps, and sinkings down of the strata. It is generally observed, however, that the strata in mountains are exactly parallel to each other throughout all their different windings. M. Defrance remarks, that in two mountains which by their brows form the hollow of a valley, we find strata of earth or stone of the same kind, and disposed and arranged in the same manner. We have already shown, under the article Earth, why the strata of recent mountains are not everywhere the same in number and thickness. Some strata are only a quarter of an inch thick, others are more than ten feet; in some places we find 30 or 40 beds succeeding each other, in others only three or four. In recent mountains composed of strata, M. Lehmann observes, the lowest stratum is always pit-coal; and this rests on a coarse and ferruginous gravel or sand. Above the pit-coal we find strata of slate, schistus, &c. and the upper part of the strata is constantly occupied by limestone and salt-springs. It is easy to perceive the utility of these observations, when we intend to work for these minerals; and by attending to the distinction which has been made of the different mountains of the same kind, we may know the nature of those substances which upon search we may expect to find in them. The specimens which appear without, indicate what substances are concealed within.

In general, it has been observed, that when two or more mountains run parallel to each other, the salient angles correspond with the receding ones; and these angles are sharper and more striking in deep and narrow valleys. Dr Haller observes, that there are many places in the Alps and in mountains, where two chains are prolonged contrary to the axis of the valley, and join so as only to leave as much space as is necessary for the discharge of the water. In other places the mountain is continued, for instance, to the north, and discontinued to the south, where it opens into a valley. In others, the two chains retire and form a bend on each side, the concavity of which fronts the axis; hence arise valleys almost round and completely united.

It is likewise worthy of observation, that primitive mountains which form vast chains are commonly connected together; that they succeed one another for a space of several hundred leagues; and cover with their principal branches, and their various collateral ramifications, the surface of continents. Father Kircher and many others have observed, that the principal chain generally runs from south to north, and from east to west. The Cordilleras in the New world, Dr Haller observes, extend from north to south; the Pyrenees have nearly the same direction; the Alps run from east to west; and there must be a chain of this kind in Africa, for the great rivers in that quarter of the world run to the east on the one side and to the west on the other. The chain of Thibet appears to be parallel to the Alps; and, from the great length of the road through the snows, it may be inferred that the mountains of Thibet have a very great elevation. Those mountains which, strictly speaking, are the principal roots, and the capital point of elevation and division, present very considerable masses, both with regard to their height and their size or extent; they commonly occupy and traverse the centre of continents. Those which have a smaller elevation arise from these principal chains; they gradually diminish in proportion to their distance from their root, and at length wholly disappear either on the sea-coast or in the plains. Others are continued along the shore of the sea; their chain is interrupted only to make room for the waters of the ocean, under the bed of which the base of these mountains extends; and it again occurs in islands, which perpetuate their continuation till the whole chain re-appears. The highest mountains and the greatest number of islands are generally found between or near the tropics, and in the middle of the temperate zones; while the lowest are adjacent to the poles; though this does not always hold good without exception. M. Buache, a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, has laid down a system of physical geography concerning the structure of the terraqueous globe, considered with respect to the great chains of mountains which cross the continents and seas from pole to pole, and from east to west. According to this system, there is an uninterrupted series of mountains and high grounds which divide the earth into four declivities, from which the rivers descend. These chains of mountains are continued from one continent to another under the ocean; and the islands which are observed in it, are as it were the summits of the mountains. M. Buache's work is entitled "Tables et Cartes de la Géographie physique." But that this system, with regard to the islands, must be erroneous, will appear evident from our article EARTH.

In the Journal de Physique for May 1779 we are informed, that Dr Pallas, who has travelled through Siberia, and almost all the Russian empire in the north of Asia, thinks he has discovered the insufficiency of the principal systems hitherto proposed to account for the formation of mountains. This accurate observer has prosecuted the study of mountains by traversing immense regions, and visiting as it were the secret workshops of nature in almost the fourth part of our hemisphere. He has not trusted to the vague reports of others, but from observations which he himself had occasion to make for the space of ten years. He has, in a work entitled Observations on Mountains, explained both the direction of the northern chains, and the particular composition of each. He is thence led to make an ingenious conjecture concerning the formation of the principal groups of mountains, and concerning the irregular distribution and the figure of the old continent. Under the article EARTH an account is given of the different systems which have been formed concerning the formation and configuration of our globe. To establish a general system, it would perhaps be necessary to have travelled over the whole earth; and to have studied all the chains of mountains, their direction, and particular composition, for a long series of years. Thus very little attention is required to perceive, in the different systems mentioned under the article EARTH, the influence of climate and local situation. Burnet, Whiston, and Woodward, who were acquainted only with England, where very few great chains of mountains are to be seen, where they are almost all insulated or detached, and where the foil of extensive plains is formed by horizontal and pretty regular strata, naturally thought that these general and concentric strata were to be found all around the globe, and considered mountains as nothing but the wrecks of these strata, either raised or swallowed up by the violence of the waters. Scheuchzer, who studied among the steep mountains of Switzerland, amid rocks of granite, petroliex, jasper, and hard stones, and who found nothing on the most elevated plains of the Alps but strata of similar substances, had recourse to the power of the Almighty, who broke in pieces these strata, and elevated their splinters into the form of mountains. Ray, Morro, and Stenon, who saw nothing all around them but burning mountains and traces of volcanic productions—deceived by the constitution of the hills of Italy, which are almost all formed of lava, pozzolana, and basaltic substances, and by the origin of the Monte Nuovo, which rose up almost before their eyes, have considered great mountains as formed by a cause which undoubtedly has a secondary, but to which they have ascribed a primary and principal, influence. M. de Buffon, who delineated nature at the foot of the utmost extremity of the French Alps, and who perceived them gradually attain a greater elevation as they advanced towards the southern parts of France and towards Savoy, concluded from his theory, and in support of the same theory, that the highest mountains were near the equator; that they became lower towards the poles; and that, being produced by the flux and reflux of the sea, they were formed of the substances which it deposited.

We shall now lay before our readers the geographical description of the directions of the principal mountains, and of that kind of connection which subsists betwixt them. This description differs from that of M. Buache, and may be read with a map of the world before us.

M. Buache places the most elevated points of the great chains of mountains under the equatorial line; but, according to the author whom we follow in this place, the fullest and most continuous lands, and perhaps likewise the most elevated, are to be found at a distance from the equator, and towards the temperate zones. If, in fact, we survey the globe's surface, we will not be able to perceive that chain of mountains, which running from east to west, and dividing the earth into two portions, ought again to meet. On the contrary, extensive plains seem to accompany the line through almost its whole extent. In Africa, the deserts of Nigritia and those of Upper Ethiopia, are on the one side of the line; and on the other are the sandy plains of Nicoce, Cafraria, Monoemugi, and Zanguebar. From the eastern shores of Africa to the Sunda islands, is a space of 150 leagues of sea with almost no islands, except the Laccadive and Maldives islands; most part of which have little elevation, and which run from north to south. From the Molucca islands and New Guinea, to the western borders of America, the sea occupies a space of 300 leagues. Though Chimborazo and Pichincha in America the two highest mountains which have been measured, are near and even under the line, yet from this no conclusion can be drawn; because on one side these mountains run in a direction not parallel to the equator; the Andes or Cordilleras attain a greater elevation as they remove from the equator towards the poles; and a vast plain is found exactly under the line, between the Orinoco and the river of the Amazons. Besides, the latter river, which takes its rise in the province of Lima about the 11th degree of south latitude, after crossing the whole of South America from west to east, falls into the ocean exactly under the equator. This shows that there is a descent for the space of 12 degrees or 300 leagues. From the mouth of the river of the Amazons, to the western shores of Africa, the sea forms another plain of more than 50 degrees.

From the few certain facts and accurate observations which we have received from well informed travellers, we might almost affirm that the most elevated land on our globe is situated without the tropics in the northern and southern hemispheres. By examining the course of the great rivers, we in fact find that they are in general discharged into three great reservoirs, the one under the line, and the other two towards the poles. This, however, we do not mean to lay down as a thing universally true; for it is allowed, that, besides the two elevated belts, the whole surface of the earth is covered with innumerable mountains, either detached from one another or in a continued chain. In America, the Oronooko and the river of the Amazons run towards the line, while the river St Lawrence runs towards the 50th degree of north latitude, and the river de la Plata towards the 40th degree of south latitude. We are still too little acquainted with Africa, which is almost all contained within the tropics, to form any accurate conclusions concerning this subject. Europe and Asia, which form only one great mass, appear to be divided by a more elevated belt, which extends from the most westerly shores of France to the most easterly of China, and to the island of Sagaleen or Anga-hata, following pretty nearly the 50th degree of north latitude. In the new continent, therefore, we may consider that chain where the Mississippi, the river St Lawrence, the Ohio, and the river de los Eftrechos, take their rise, as the most elevated situation in North America; whence the Mississippi flows towards the equator, the river St Lawrence towards the north-east, and the rest towards the north-west. In the old continent, the belt formerly mentioned, and to which we may assign about 10 degrees in breadth, may be reckoned from the 45th to the 55th degree of north latitude; for in Europe the Tagus, the Danube, the Dnieper, the Don, and the Volga, and in Asia the Indus, the Ganges, the Meran, the Mecon, the Hoang-ho, and the Yantg-tse-Kiang, descending as it were from this elevation, fall into the great reservoir between the tropics; whilst towards the north the Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder, the Vistula, the Obi, the Jenifei, the Lena, the Indigirka, and the Kowyma, are discharged into the northern reservoir.

Judging from those mountains the height of which has been calculated, and from the immense chains with which we are acquainted, we may infer that the highest mountains are to be found in this elevated belt. The Alps of Swifterland and Savoy extend through the 45th, the 46th, and the 47th degrees. Among them we find St Gothard, Furca, Bruning, Ruis, Whiggis, Scheideck, Gunggels, Galanda, and lastly that branch of the Swiss Alps which reaches Tirol by the name of Arlenberg and Arula. In Savoy, we meet with Mount Blanc, the Peak of Argentiere, Cornero, Great and Little St Bernard, Great and Little Cenis, Coupeline, Servin, and that branch of the Mountain, Savoyard Alps which proceeds towards Italy through the duchy of Aost and Montferrat. In this vast heap of elevated peaks, Mont Blanc and St Gothard are particularly distinguished. The Alps, leaving Swifterland and Savoy, and passing through Tirol and Carniola, traverse Saltzbourg, Stiria, and Austria, and extend their branches through Moravia and Bohemia, as far as Poland and Prussia. Between the 47th and 48th degrees, we meet with Grimming the highest mountain of Stiria, and Priel which is the highest in Austria. Between the 46th and 47th degrees, the der Bacher and the der Reinfehnicken, form two remarkable chains. The upper one, which traverses the counties of Trenchin, Arrava, Scceps, and the Kreyna, separates Upper Hungary from Silesia, Little Poland, and Red Russia; the inferior one traverses Upper Croatia, Bosnia, Servia, and Transilvania, separates Lower Hungary from Turkey in Europe, and meets the upper chain behind Moldavia, on the confines of Little Tartary. In these mountains are situated the rich mines of Schemnitz.

To form a general idea of the great height of this Alpine belt, it is necessary only to remark, that the greatest depth of the wells at Schemnitz is 200 toises; and yet it appears, from the barometrical calculations of the learned M. Noda, that the greatest depth of these mines is 286 toises higher than the city of Vienna. The granito-argillaceous mountains of Schemnitz, and of the whole of this metallic district, are inferior, however, to the Carpathian mountains. Mount Krievany in the county of Arrava, and the Carpathian mountains between Red Russia and the Kreyna, appear by their great elevation to rule over the whole of the upper Alpine chain. In the inferior chain we likewise meet with mountains of an extraordinary height; among others, Mount Mediednik, which gives its name to a chain extending far into Bosnia; and Mount Hemus, celebrated even among the ancients. In short, this extensive chain reaches into Asia, and is there confounded with another chain no less famous, which, following exactly the 50th degree of latitude, runs through the whole of Asia. This chain of mountains is described by Dr Pallas in the work above-mentioned; and we shall now trace its course in company with this intelligent observer.

This author places the head of the mountains of Ural, between the sources of the Taik and the Bielaia, about the 53rd degree of latitude, and the 47th of longitude. Here the European Alps, after having traversed Europe, and sent off various branches which we shall afterwards examine, lose their name, which is changed into that of the Uralic or Uradian mountains, and begin their course in Asia. This lofty chain, which separates Great Bulgaria from the deserts of Isthmika, proceeds through the country of the Eleuths, follows the course of the river Irtis, approaches the lake Telefscaia, and afterwards forms a part of the same system of mountains with the Altaic chain. There they give rise to the Oby, the Irtyis, and the Jenifei, which begin their course about the 55th degree of north latitude, and fall into the Frozen Ocean.

The Altaic chain, after having embraced and united all the rivers which supply the Jenifei, is continued... under the name of Saians, without the smallest interruption, as far as the Baikal lake. The extension of this chain to the south forms that immense and elevated plain which is lost in Chinefe Tartary, which may be compared with the only plain in Quite, and which is called Gobi or Chamo. The Altai afterwards interposing between the source of the Tchikoi and of the rivers which supply the Amur or Sagateen, rises towards the Lena, approaches the city Jakuck beyond the 60th degree of latitude, runs from that to the sea of Kamtchatka, turns round the Ochockoi and Pennisk gulphs, joins the great marine chain of the Kurile isles near Japan, and forms the steep shores of Kamtchatka, between the 55th and 60th degrees of latitude. Such is the direct course of the high mountains constituting the belt which, we imagine, is to be found in the northern hemisphere, and which, after becoming lower, passing under the sea, and forming by means of their elevated peaks that archipelago of islands which derives its name from the unfortunate Bering, again rise and enter North America, on the western side, about the Straits of Anian. After running in the same parallel, and giving rise to the Ohio, the Riviere-Longue, the river St Lawrence, and the Mississippi, they are lost in Canada. From the eastern shores of America to the western shores of Europe, we find a vast interruption. Perhaps the chain was at first continued completely round the globe; but extraordinary revolutions, by separating the old and new continents, may have occasioned this division, and left nothing but the Azores and some detached points as a monument of what formerly existed, till we come to the British isles.

Before we proceed to inquire whether a belt of a similar elevation exists in the southern hemisphere, we may remark those branches and ramifications which the great northern Alpine belt sends forth both towards the equator and the antarctic pole. These new chains, which gradually become lower as they approach the boundary towards which they tend, appear a sufficient proof that the equator is not the most elevated part of the earth.

The European Alps produce three principal chains, which run towards the equator, and some smaller ones running towards the pole. The first southern chain is sent out through Danphine; traverses Vivarais, Lyonnais, Auvergne, Cevennes, and Languedoc; and, after joining the Pyrenees, enters Spain. There it divides into two or three ramifications, one of which runs through Navarre, Biscay, Arragon, Castile, Marche, and Sierra Morena, and extends into Portugal. The other, after traversing Andalusia and the kingdom of Granada, and there forming a number of sierras, again makes its appearance, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, in Africa, and coasts along its northern shores under the name of Mount Atlas.—The second principal chain of the Alps passes out through Savoy and Piedmont; spreads its roughnesses over the states of Genoa and Parma; forms the belt of the Apennines; and after frequently changing its name, and dividing Italy into two parts, terminates in the kingdom of Naples and in Sicily, producing volcanoes in every part of its course. The third chain is sent off from Hungary, and scatters innumerable mountains over all Turkey in Europe; as far as the Morea and the Archipelago at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea. The northern branches, though smaller at first, are no less clearly defined; and some of them even extend their ramifications as far as the Frozen Ocean. An Alpine branch, issuing from Savoy thro' the country of Gex, proceeds through Franche Comte, Suntgaw, Allace, the Palatinate, and Veterbia.—Another issues from the territory of Saltzburg, passes along Bohemia, enters Poland, sends off a ramification into Prussia towards the deserts of Waldow, and after having passed through Russia is lost in the government of Archangel.

The Asiatic Alps send forth in like manner several branches both to the south and north. The Ouralic mountains, between the sources of the Bielaia and the Jaik, produce three principal branches; the first of which, including the Caspian Sea in one of its divisions, enters Circassia through the government of Astracan, passes through Georgia under the name of Caucacus, sends a vast number of ramifications to the west into Asiatic Turkey, and there produces the mountains Tichilder, Ararat, Taurus, Argée, and many others in the three Arabias; while the other division, passing between the Caspian Sea and the lake Aral, penetrates through Chorasan into Persia. The second branch, taking a more easterly direction, leaves the country of the Eleuths; reaches Little Bucharia; and forms the ramparts of Gog and Magog, and the celebrated mountains formerly known by the name of Caf, which M. Bailly has made the seat of the war between the Dives and the Peris*. It traverses the kingdoms of Cafgar and Turkestan, enters through that of Lahor into the Mogul territory, and, after giving rise to the elevated desert of Chamo forms the western peninsula of India. While these two branches run towards the south, the third branch of the Ouralic chain rises towards the north, following almost the 79th degree of longitude, and forms a natural boundary between Europe and Asia; without, however, bounding the immense empire of Russia. This chain, after coming opposite to Nova Zembla, divides into two considerable branches. The one, running to the north-east, passes along the Arctic shores; the other, proceeding towards the north-west, meets the northern European chain, traverses Scandinavia in the shape of a horseshoe, covers the low-lands of Finland with rocks; and, as is observed by Dr Pallas, appears to be continued from the North Cape of Norway through the marine chain of Spitzbergen, scattering islands and shelves perhaps throughout the northern ocean, that, passing through the pole, it may join the northern and eastern points of Asia and North America.

The Ouralic, which in the country of the Mongols becomes the Altaic chain, proceeds towards the equator. After forming the mountains and caverns wherein, as we are told, the ashes of the Mongol emperors of the race of Ghengis-Kan are deposited, together with the vast plains of Chamo, consisting of arid sand, and the frightful rocks and precipices of Thibet, which form the mysterious and desert retreats of the Grand Lama, it crosses the rivers Ava and Meinan; contains in its subdivisions the kingdoms of Ava, Pegu, Laos, Tonquin, Cochinchina, and Siam; supports the peninsula of Malacca; and overspreads the Indian ocean with the isles of Sonda, the Moluccas, and the Philippines. From the borders of the Baikal lake and of the province of Selin-

* Letter Liv Mountain Ginskoy, a branch is detached, which spreads over Chinese Tartary and China, is continued into Corea, and gives rise to the islands of Japan.

The great chain having extended to the north, near the city of Jakuck, upon the banks of the Lena, sends off one of its branches to the north-west, which passing between the two Tungustas, is lost in marshy grounds lying in the northern parts of the province of Jennisseiskoy. The same chain, after it has reached the eastern part of Asia, is lost in the icy regions of the north about Nos-Tschalatskoy or the icy Promontory, and Cap Cauzenkoy.

It will be more difficult, perhaps, to trace the elevated belt in the southern hemisphere beyond the tropic of Capricorn, than it has been to distinguish that towards the north. An immense extent of ocean seems to occupy the whole Antarctic part of the globe. The greatest length latitude of the old continent is not more than 34 degrees, and South America scarcely extends to the 55th degree. In vain has the enterprising Cook attempted to discover regions towards the pole; his progress was constantly interrupted by tremendous mountains and fields of ice. Beyond the 55th degree no land and no habitation is to be found. The islands of New Zealand are the farthest land in these desert seas; and yet the south cape of Taral-Poemamoo extends only to the 48th degree. We do not mention Sandwich-land, which is situated in the 58th degree, because it is too small and too low. It must be recollected, however, that according to the declarations of travellers, the Cordilleras become higher as they advance southward to the Straits of Magellan; and that the Terra del Fuego, which lies in the latitude of 55°, is nothing but a mass of rocks of prodigious elevation. America, however, exhibits to our view elevated points, whence chains of mountains are distributed in different directions over the whole surface of the new continent. There must likewise be great reservoirs, where the most remarkable rivers take their rise, and from which they necessarily descend towards their mouth. In the southern hemisphere, this elevated belt is nearer the equator; and though it does not extend to the 50th degree, it is evidently to be met with and may be accurately traced between the 26th and 30th degrees. The high mountains of Tucuman and of Paraguay, which intersect South America about the 25th degree of latitude, may be considered as the American Alps. If we look into the map of the world, we will be able to distinguish an elevated belt all along this parallel. In Africa, Monomotapa and Cafraria are covered with very high mountains, from which pretty large rivers descend. In the Pacific Ocean, we find New Holland, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and the Friendly and the Society islands, under the same parallel. We may, therefore, with sufficient propriety, distinguish this parallel by the name of the Southern Alps, as we have already distinguished the elevated belt of the 50th degree of north latitude by that of the Northern Alps. In America, the Rio de la Plata, which after a course of 500 leagues falls into the ocean at the 35th degree of south latitude; the Pavana, which rises from the mountains of the Arapes, and Mountain falls into the Plata at Corrientes; the great number of rivers which flow into that of the Amazons, such as the Paraba, which receives in its course the tribute of more than 30 other rivers; the Madera, the Cuchiarra, the Ucayal, &c., &c., all descend from these Southern Alps. From these Alps likewise three considerable branches of mountains are detached, which go by the common name of Andes or Cordilleras. The first branch, which extends towards the south, and passes out from Paraguay through Tucuman, separates Chili from these provinces and from Chimito, and is continued through the Terra Magellanica as far as Terra del Fuego. The second branch, directing its course towards the equator, traverses Peru, in vain endeavouring to conceal treasures which the avarice of men has taught them to discover in its bowels; bounds the Spanish Missions; enters Terra Firme thro' Popayan; and unites South and North America by the isthmus of Panama. The third division, issuing from Paraguay through Guayra and the territory of Saint-Vincent, traverses Brazil, distributes ramifications into Portuguese, French, and Dutch Guiana, crosses the Oroonoko, forms the mountains of Venezuela, and near Carthagena meets the second branch coming from Popayan.

We have already supposed, that the elevated belt of North America was situated about the 45th degree of north latitude; and there we imagined we recognized the continuation of the northern Alps of the old continent. This chain likewise sends forth considerable branches on both sides. One of them is detached across the sources of the Mississippi, the Belle-Riviere, and the Missouri, and at the entrance of New Mexico divides, in order to form California to the west, and the Appalachian mountains to the east. Thence proceeding through New Biscay, the audience of Guadalaxara, Old Mexico, and Guatemala, it meets at Panama the southern branch, which is part of the Alps of Paraguay. The second branch, following the course of the Mississippi, separates Louisiana from Virginia; serves as a bulwark to the United States of America; forms the Appalachian mountains in Carolina; and at last, traversing East Florida, incloses the Gulph of Mexico with the Great and Little Antilles. In the north, we can trace the branches of the elevated belt; on one side observe them proceeding towards Canada, directing their course through Labrador to Hudson's Straits, and at length confounded with the rocks of Greenland, which are covered with eternal snow and ice. On the other side, we see them rising through the country of the Abipones and the Kriptinos, as far as Michinipis and the northern Archipelago.

We have thus traced the directions of the great chains of mountains. There are certain projecting and pretty sensible points on the globe, which appear to supply every region with great rivers and high mountains. The Alps of Switzerland and Savoy in Europe, the union of the Ouralic mountains in Asia, (b) the Andes of Tucuman and Paraguay in South America, and the high countries, whence the Mississippi,

(1) These M. Bailly considers as the most elevated art of the globe. Lettres sur les Atlantides, p. 236. Mountain, Mississippi, the river Saint Lawrence, and the Belle Riviere descend, may be considered as some of these; though M. Buache places them much nearer the equator, and even under the line. But his object was to form a system to support his own, and to confirm another; ours is merely to state what we have observed, and what indeed must occur to every one who surveys the surface of the globe as it is delineated by our best geographers.

So many observations fully show that the primitive mountains may be considered as the foundation of our globe. By their shape, elevation, direction, and continuity, they give rise to the greatest part of winds, or produce that variety which prevails among them. Primitive mountains, as we have already said, are distinguished likewise by their internal structure, by the nature of the stones which they are composed, and by the minerals which they contain. The highest mountains are, properly speaking, nothing but peaks or cones consisting of solid rock. This pyramidal form has been supposed to be at first owing to a kind of crystallization, and the late M. Roquelle was of opinion, that the substances of which our globe is composed originally swam in a fluid. The similar parts of which the great mountains consist, according to this philosopher, approached one another and formed a crystallization, sometimes in a group, and at other times detached at the bottom of the waters. Upon this supposition, we might analyze different portions or blocks of rock taken from primitive mountains; and by making them crystalline, we would then have in miniature a part of the same economy or connection of mountains, a figurative portion, in short, of the skeleton of the earth.—We may further presume, that those steep rocks which it now seems almost impossible to surmount even in imagination, are co-eval with the existence of the world.