MOUNTAINS 309 
When mountains are finally planed down by denudation, they 
may become mere hills, which, though not actually called moun- 
tains, are really mountain ranges in every particular, excepting 
that of great elevation, which to the average mind is the most 
important feature. Thus the ranges of hills and low mountains 
which extend from North Carolina through eastern Virginia, 
past Washington, through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Dela- 
ware, thence across New Jersey, forming the Highlands of that 
Fic. 182. 
Section to show synclinal mountain and anticlinal valley. 
state, and entering the southern part of New York, near New 
York City, are really. mountains, though extremely old and much 
denuded, and worn down to their very roots. The same is true 
of the hills of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 
In these low and much-worn mountains, the more elevated parts 
_are always those of the hard rocks, while most of the large valleys 
are situated in the layers of soft strata. In such cases, and in 
fact even before denudation has proceeded so far, anticlines which 
were originally mountains, are often worn down to valleys, and 
synclinal valleys are transformed to mountains (Fig. 182). Not 
only is this true here, but many of the Appalachian ranges 
are synclines. 
