10 Historical 



Asia. But on the borders of Europe and Asia, a considerable 

 chain, the Caucasus, extending from the Caspian to the Black Sea, 

 bordering on the north upon plains, and on the south upon the 

 mountainous regions of Armenia whose ramifications we shall fol- 

 low presently, is crowned by peaks which leave far below them 

 the Pyrenees and the Alps themselves. Peaks of 3000 to 4000 

 meters are numerous there and they are dominated by Kasbek 

 (5030 meters) , Kaschtantan (5220 meters) and Elbruz, 'to which the 

 legend fastens Prometheus (5620 meters) . Only one carriage road 

 crosses the chain at the foot of Kasbek, by the Caucasian gates of 

 the ancients, at a height of more than 3000 meters. 



At the south of the Caucasian chain, in the hilly territory of 

 Armenia there rise a series of peaks, some of which reach the height 

 of 40.00 meters: Alagos (4090 meters), Kapudschich (3920 meters); 

 above them towers the Grand Ararat (5155 meters) . From this 

 group there extends towards the southwest the chain of the Taurus, 

 which contains several summits more than 3000 meters high, the 

 highest of which are Metdesis (3570 meters) and Mount Argea 

 (3840 meters) ; in the Liban, a fork of the Taurus, the highest 

 summit, Dor-el-Chodib, is only 3065 meters high. At the south, 

 the mountains of Kurdistan, with Dschehil (4550 meters) ; to the 

 southeast, the Elburs mountains, with Sawalan (4810 meters) and 

 Demavend (5620 meters), dominate the vast plains of Iran. 



The center of Asia displays an orographic system much more 

 complex and masses of mountains much more imposing. The trav- 

 eler who goes up the Ganges sees rising on his right, from Boutan 

 to Cashmere, over a stretch of more than 600 leagues, the formi- 

 dable range of the Himalayas; from between the parallel lesser 

 chains descend innumerable tributaries of the great Indian river. 

 In this range are found the highest mountains in the world; the 

 ridge reaches an average height of 5000 to 6000 meters; we can 

 count by the hundred summits of more than 6000 meters; peaks 

 less than 7000 meters high are generally marked scornfully on the 

 English maps by mere numbers, and it seems as if mountains do 

 not deserve to have a name unless they reach a height of 8000 

 meters. 



We shall mention: in Boutan, Dalla (7030 meters), the Oodoo 

 Mountains (7540 meters) , Chamalari (7300 meters) ; in Sikkim, 

 Mount Doukia (7070 meters) and Kantschin-Janja (8580 meters) ; 

 this latter yields only to Gaurisankar or Mount Everest in Nepal, 

 the highest mountain on earth, which raises its summit to the pro- 

 digious height of 8840 meters; we should gain this height by heap- 



