132 HISTORY OF 



Japan. Of these, none equals the Andes in 

 height ; although Mount Caucasus, which is the 

 highest of them, makes very near approaches. 

 Father Verbiest tells of a mountain in China, 

 which he measured, and found a mile and a half 

 high.* In Africa, the mountains of the Moon, 

 famous for giving source to the Niger and the 

 Nile, are rather more noted than known. Of the 

 Peak of Teneriffe, one of the Canary Islands that 

 lie off this coast, we have more certain informa- 

 tion. In the year 17^7 it was visited by a com- 

 pany of English merchants, who travelled up to 

 the top, where they observed its height, and the 

 volcano on its very summit.! They found it a 

 heap of mountains, the highest of which rises 

 over the rest like a sugar-loaf, and gives a name 

 to the whole mass. It is computed to be a mile 

 and a half perpendicular from the surface of the 

 sea. Kircher gives us an estimate of the heights 

 of most of the other great mountains in the world; 

 but as he has taken his calculations, in general, 

 from the ancients, or from modern travellers 

 who had not the art of measuring them, they are 

 quite incredible. The art of taking the heights 

 of places by the barometer, is a new and an inge- 

 nious invention. As the air grows lighter as we 

 ascend, the fluid in the tube rises in due propor- 

 tion ; thus the instrument being properly marked, 

 gives the height with a tolerable degree of exact- 

 ness ; at least enough to satisfy curiosity. 



* Verbiest, a la Chine. f Phil. Trans. voL v. 



