24 RELATIVE HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS 



If we turn to the old world, we shall find that 

 there is riot a single mountain chain of the first 

 magnitude throughout the middle latitudes of 

 Asia, Europe, New Holland, nor the islands of the 

 sea : that, as in South America, the highest 

 plains of India, between latitude 24 and 32, are 

 from twelve to 15,000 feet; while the Himalayas 

 rise to elevations of from twenty-three to 26,862 

 feet : that the long chains of the Altai, which 

 extend across Europe and Asia, in about the lati- 

 tude of 50, are generally from six to 8,000, and 

 rarely exceed 15,000 feet: that the mountains 

 of western Europe also diminish in height from 

 the Alps, the Appennines, and the Pyrenees of 

 the south, to the Carpathians, the Dofrines, and 

 Urals of the north ; which rarely exceed 6,000 

 feet : that the vast plains of central Asia, be- 

 tween the Altai and Himalaya mountains, are 

 from three to 5,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea; while the plains of Siberia decline gradually 

 on to the polar ocean : that in Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen the average height of the mountains 

 is about 5,000 feet ; while Hecla in Iceland is 

 only 4,980 feet. 



If the mountains of Africa are less elevated 

 than those of southern Asia and tropical America, 

 they are far more numerous, and the amount of 

 high table lands is much greater than in any 

 other quarter of the globe. Extending from the 

 equator to 34 S. and 37| N. its central plateaus 

 are supported by an immense chain that crosses 



