AND PLAINS IN DIFFERENT LATITUDES. 25 



the continent from west to east ; between which 

 and its southern extremity, there are three other 

 parallel ranges that diminish in height on to the 

 Cape of Good Hope. The vast plains of Abys- 

 sinia and Nubia are also several thousand feet 

 above the ocean, and supported by innumerable 

 mountains of still greater magnitude than those 

 of Atlas in the west ; while the eastern coast is 

 flanked by a chain which extends, with few in~ 

 terruptions, from north latitude 10 to 32 S. But 

 it is evident that the elevation and extent of table 

 lands, (which are in fact widely extended moun- 

 tains,) afford a far more accurate measure of geo- 

 logical forces, than the height of a few isolated 

 peaks. 



From the foregoing brief outline we perceive, 

 that all the highest mountains of the earth are 

 found within 32 of the equator : and, what is still 

 more important to observe that the average eleva- 

 tion of the table lands is about equal to that of the 

 mountains in the middle latitudes, where again, the 

 table lands are of nearly the same height as that of 

 the polar mountains. The conclusion is therefore 

 irresistible, that the aggregate force by which moun- 

 tains, islands, and continents, have been raised, from 

 beneath the ocean, like all the chemical transforma- 

 tions on the surface of our planet, is in proportion 

 to the heating power of the sun, ceteris paribus. 



And that the same law prevails throughout 

 the planetary system, would appear not only from 



