[ 38 



J 



or Svvedifh the moft moderate, the verticality or fteepnefs of the 

 former being to that of the latter as 40 or 50 to 4 or 2.* 



adly. That the Alps are fteeper on their weftern and fouthern 

 fides than on the eaftern and northern. 



3dly. That in America the Cordelieres are fteeper on the 

 weftern fide, which faces the Pacific Ocean, than on the eaftern. 

 But he does not notice a few exceptions to this rule in particular 

 cafes which will hereafter be mentioned. 



BuFFON, in the firft vol. of his Epochs of Nature publifh^d in 

 1778, p. 185, is the next who notices the .general prevalence of 

 this pbsenomenon, as far as relates to the eaftern and weft:ern 

 fides of the mountains that extend from north to fouth, but he 

 is filent with refped to the north and fouth fides of the moun- 

 tains that run from eaft to weft -, nay, he does not feem to have 

 had a juft comprehenfion of this phaenomenon, for he confiders 

 it conjointly with the general dip of the regions in which thefe 

 mountains exift. Thus he tells us, vol. ift. p. 185, that in all 

 continents the general declivity, taking it from the fummit of 

 mountains, is always more rapid on the weftern than on the 

 eaftern fide, thus the fummit of the chain of the Cordelieres is 

 much nearer to the weftern ftiores than to the eaftern ; the chain 

 which divides the whole length of Africa from the Cape of Good 



Hope 



• The verticality of the fides is inverfely as the length of the defcent.' 



