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CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS. 



CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS. 



354 



History, <i'c. The first settlement of whites in South Carolina wag 

 about 1670 ; but the first permanent establishment was made in 1680 

 on the site of Charleston. Previously to this, in 1662, Charles II. 

 had granted to Lord Clarendon and seven others all that part of 

 North America which lies between 31 and 36 N. lat. ; shortly after 

 the northern boundaries were extended to 36" 30'. The proprietary 

 government of Carolina lasted till 1719, when the two Carolinas wece 

 separated and a royal government was established. During the 

 continuance of the proprietary government Locke's scheme or consti- 

 tution was tried, but not found to answer. The present constitution 

 was adopted in 1790, since which date it has been twice amended. 

 South Carolina was the scene of several serious engagements during 

 the war of independence. Its more recent history has been almost 

 wholly connected with the strife of parties, and consequently only of 

 local interest. 



(Coltou, Stalittical Gazetteer of the United States, 1853; Darby; 

 Hassell and Smith ; American Almanac, 1854; State Reports; Lyell, 

 Travels in America, and Manual of Elementary Geoloyy ; Featherston- 

 haugli, Stare Slates, &e.) 



CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS ; Karpaten; Krapacti. This great 

 mountain range of Central Europe extends from the Danube at 

 Presburg to the same river near Orsova in the form of a vast curve, 

 with its concave side towards the south-west, and inclosing all of 

 Hungary that lies on the left bank of the Danube and north of Transyl- 

 vania. Its whole length perhaps exceeds 800 miles, for nearly one 

 half of which it forms the watershed between the North Sea and 

 Black Sea. On the north and north-west the mountains slope down 

 to the great level of Northern Europe : on the south to the plain of 

 Hungary. Thrange lies between 44 28' and 49 38' N. lat., 17 0' 

 and 26 20' E. long. Its crest separates Hungary from the archduchy 

 of Austria, from Moravia and Galicia ; and Transylvania from Mol- 

 davia nd Wallachia. In ancient times that portion of the range 

 that lies north of Hungary was called Carpate< Mons, and sometimes 

 the Bastarnic Alps. It separated Dacia from Sarrnatia. 



The rock on which the castle of Presburg in Hungary stands is the 

 most western point of the whole system. From this point the moun- 

 tains extend north-north-east towards the sources of the Morava and 

 Wag, and between the two wide valleys in which these rivers flow. 

 This range, which is about 100 miles in length by 16 or 18 miles in 

 width, is of moderate height, not exceeding 2000 feet above the sea, 

 and is called the Little Carpathians, or White Mountains. The 

 declivities are rather steep and covered with forests. It is traversed 

 by numerous passes one leads from Tyrnau on the Waag to Brunn ; 

 a second from Trentschin to Olmiitz ; and a third, the Jablunka Pa&2, 

 at its northern extremity from Czolna to Teschen in Austrian Silesia. 



At the Jablunka pass the Carpathian range turns east, and con- 

 tinues in that direction from 18 40' to 23 E. long. Within these 

 limits it bears different names. The most western portion is called 

 Magura ; the middle, Baba Oura; and the eastern, Beszkid, though it 

 menu that the last name is frequently applied to all this range. Its 

 length may be somewhat more than 200 miles, and its width about 

 20 miles or somewhat more. Its height increases towards the centre ; 

 the Linfa Hora, the highest summit of the Magura range, attains only 

 4500 feet ;. but the highest summit of the Baba Oura rises to 5760 feet. 

 Between the north-western extremity of this range and the most 

 eastern point of the Sudetic Mountains, which extend between Silesia 

 and Bohemia, lies a plain of no great extent, traversed by the upper 

 course of the river Oder ; it has an elevation of about 1000 feet above 

 the sea. A road traverses this range from the vale of the Anva by 

 the pass of Jordanow into Galicia, and leads to Cracow. 



To the south of the Baba Gura Mountains, and divided from them 

 only by a deep and not very wide valley, lies the highest part of the 

 Carpathian Mountains, called Mount Tatra. It is, properly speaking, 

 not a range, but one enormous rock, extending from west to east 

 about 50 miles, and nearly 30 miles from north to south in the 

 middle, but decreasing in breadth towards the west and east. This 

 rocky mass is furrowed by numerous deep ravines on all sides. On 

 the highest part of its surface, whose average elevation in estimated 

 at about 7000 feet, rise several high summits in the form of peaks, of 

 which some pass above the line of perpetual congelation. The highest 

 is the peak of Lomnitz, which attains 8779 feet above the level of the 

 sea. The peak of Eisthal (Ice Dale) is only about 36 feet lower, 

 and on its northern declivity is the only glacier that occurs in the 

 Carpathians. The number of peaks exceeding 8000 feet is about 

 twelve, among which the Kry wan is one of the most famous, though 

 it does not exceed 8150 feet, and is lower than most others. This 

 portion of the Carpathians presents generally bare rocks on its surface 

 where it is not covered with snow ; it contains several small alpine 

 lakes. This enormous mass of rock is divided from all the surround- 

 ing ranges and masse* by deep depressions. From the Baba Gura 

 Mountains it is separated by the valleys of the Arwa and Donajec, 

 which at their upper extremities, where they meet, hardly rise much 

 more than '.?000 feet above the sea. From the Beszkids, which extend 

 farther east, the Tatra Mountains are divided by the river Poprad, 

 which surrounds the eastern extremity, and running north joins the 

 Donajec. The river Waag rises near the source of the Poprad, and 

 running west separates the Tatra Mountains from the lower ranges, 

 which extend farther south and west, and which from containing 



CIEOG. DIV. VOL. n. 



numerous mines of metals are called by the Germans Un;arisches 

 Erzgebiirge (the Ore Mountains of Hungary). These Ore Mountains 

 occupy a much larger surface than all the ranges already noticed, 

 inasmuch as they extend over all that part of Hungary which lies to 

 the north of 48" N. lat., between the river Hernad (which rises near 

 the sources of the Poprad and Waag and falls into the Theiss) and 

 the bend of the course of the river Waag. Its most southern extre- 

 mity, Mount Matra, stretches even south of 48. Its length exceeds 

 120 miles, and its width 70 miles ; but the whole of this surface is 

 not covered with mountains : it presents only a few ranges running 

 west and east, and Reparated from one another by wide valleys, which 

 at some places might be called plains. The range nearest to the 

 Tatra Mountains rises to a considerable height, Mount Dumbier 

 attaining 6500 feet, and Kralova Hola, at the source of the Waag, 

 about 5700 feet ; but the ridges farther south are much lower, and 

 their summits rarely exceed 3000 feet above the plain of Hungary, 

 which is about 350 feet above the level of the sea. 



The high country extending east of the river Hernad runs to 22 

 E. long, due east : it then declines to east-south-east, and where it 

 approaches 49 N. lat. to south-south-east till it reaches the sources of 

 the Pruth, Suczava, and Theiss, a little south of which the Trausy Ivauiau 

 portion of the mountains begins. The western portion of this elevated 

 region is called Beszkids, but the whole is commonly comprehended 

 under the name of the Waldgebiirge (Forest Mountains) of the Carpa- 

 thian range. In length it exceeds 200 miles, and its average width may 

 be estimated at from 50 to 70 miles. The mountain masses do not rise 

 to a great height, nor are the declivities steep ; oil their upper surface 

 they do not exhibit high peaks, but extend in uneven plains, on 

 which a few elevations with a very gentle ascent rise considerably 

 above them. Only two ranges, of no considerable length and height, 

 branch off from the Forest Mountains. One leaves the principal 

 range between the sources of the Saan, an affluent of the Vistula, 

 and those of the Dniester, near 49 N. lat., 23 W. long., passes south 

 of the town of Lemberg, anil dividing the Russian governments of 

 Volhynia and Podolia advances towards the Dnieper, on whose banks 

 it continues in a direction south-east to the cataracts between Kidak 

 and Alexandrowska. Between the sources of the Pruth and those of 

 the Sereth and Suczava, several lateral branches run to the north-east 

 and east across the Bukowina ; but they do not extend farther than 

 to the banks of the Dneister and Pruth, with the exception of one 

 range, which divides these two rivers, and terminates in low hills 

 north of Kischeneff, the capital of Bessarabia. In Bukowina they are 

 called Czorno Mountains. 



The most remarkable ridge, branching off to the south, is the Telka- 

 banga Mountains, which are united to the main range at the sources 

 of the Hernad and Bodrog rivers, and run between these rivers 

 to their junction with the Theiss, a distance of about 90 miles. The 

 average width does not exceed 10 or 12 miles, and its elevation is not 

 great, especially to the south, where it terminates with the hills, on 

 which the wine of Tokay is grown. 



Two great roads pass over the Forest Mountains. The most 

 western runs north in the valley of the Bodrog, and traverses the 

 mountains between Sztropko and Dukla by the Dukla Pass. The 

 other road, farther east, unites Hungary with eastern Galicia, and the 

 town of Munkacs with Leuiberg, traversing the pass of Vereczke. 



The Eastern Carpathians, called also the Transylvauian Carpathians, 

 stretch southward from the sources of the Theiss and the Pruth, and 

 surpass the Tatra range both in extent and elevation. They surround 

 with their offshoots the high rugged plateau of Transylvania. Near 

 the borders of the Bukowina and Transylvania the mountains attain 

 an elevation of 6834 feet in Mount Petrosch ; thence the main range 

 runs under the names of Borszek, Kelemen Habash, and Lipschen to 

 the Bozza Pass, to the east of Kronstadt in the angle where Wallachia, 

 Moldavia, and Transylvania meet, and reaches in Mounts Budos and 

 Butescz the respective elevations of 9000 and 8160 feet above the sea. 

 From the angle just mentioned the Carpathian Mountains turn west- 

 south-west, separating Wallachia on the south from Transylvania and 

 the Banat. The eastern end of this part of the system is called the 

 Fagarasch Mountains, the highest points of which are Mount Szural 

 (7122 feet) and Mount Budislav (6888 feet). The average height of 

 these mountains is about 5000 feet ; they extend westward to the 

 Hothenthum Pass, where the Aluta breaks through the chain into 

 Wallachia on its way to join the Danube. West of the pass the range 

 continues in the same direction under the name of the Hatczeg 

 Mountains, which attain their highest elevation in Mount Retyczat 

 (7755 feet). The termination of the range westward along the fron- 

 tier of the Banat (the eastern part of which like the whole of Transyl- 

 vania is traversed by its offshoots) does not exceed an average eleva- 

 tion of 3000 feet. At Orsova the Carpathian ridge slopes gradually 

 down to the left bank of the Danube, and is connected by ledges of 

 rock which form the last rapids in that river with a low offshoot from 

 the Balkan on the Servian bank of the Danube. 



Of the great offshoots of the Eastern Carpathians towards the west, 

 two are remarkable for their height and extent. One separates the 

 upper valleys of the Theiss and the Szamos ; the other divides the 

 basins of the Szamos and the Koros from the basin of the Maros ; 

 both of them contain some lofty summits. [TBAKSYLVANIA.] The 

 principal offshoot on the eastern side of the Ti-onsylvanian Carpathians 



2 A 



