THE PYRENEES. 1 1 



decrease in altitude very suddenly, dwindling almost into insignificance 

 at its base, while on the French side of that mountain, there are very 

 many summits but little inferior in height to its own. The Pyrenees 

 contain a great number of valleys. All the great ones are transversal. 

 They begin at a Col, in the ridge of the central chain, and taking their 

 course directly to the north or south, they form nearly a right angle 

 with it. 



There are few of the valleys of the Pyrenees, which, throughout their 

 course, do not present a succession of basins. These basins are formed 

 by the mountains which border the valley receding from the banks of 

 the river, and leaving a circular hollow, where there is so slight an 

 acclivity, that the stream indulates slowly, until at the extremity of the 

 basin, where it resumes its original character, and runs through their 

 gorges, and dashes over their precipices. These basins are in general 

 considerably elevated above each other, and are joined together by 

 narrow and deep ravines, rapidly inclined plains, or by a slope of rock, 

 so very perpendicular, that the river dashing over forms a cataract from 

 the basin above to that beneath. The climate of the two extremities of 

 the Pyrenees is much warmer than that of their central districts. 

 Their proximity to the sea, their comparatively slight elevation above the 

 level of the ocean, and their distance from the great mountains, are the 

 principal cause of this great difference of temperature. With the excep- 

 tion of the high valleys, the climate is in general very genial, the winter 

 is very mild, the cold by no means severe, and the snow which falls 

 very rarely remains beyond a day or two in the lower valleys; the 

 summers are very warm, too warm for comfort, if the mountains were 

 not near enough to fly to. Thunder storms are very frequent in the 

 summer, but 'are seldom of long duration, and are accompanied with 

 welcome rains, which greatly cool the atmosphere. The Pyrenees 

 abound in mineral springs, which have acquired great celebrity from the 

 wonderful cures that they are said to have effected. 



The following will shew the estimated heights of the principal moun- 

 tains of the Pyrenees. Mont Perdu, 1 1 ,283 feet ; Maladitta, 10,857 feet; 

 Le Pic Blanc, 10,205 feet; Tournavacas, 8,500 feet; Canigon, 9,290 

 feet; Pied' Abizon, 8,344. 



The most lofty mountains in general form parts of extensive chains ; 

 but there are many instances of great elevation being attained by 

 isolated peaks. Instances of the former are familiar in the Alps, the 

 Carpathians, the Himalaya, and the Andes; of the latter the towering 

 summits of ^Etna, Teneriffe, and Mouna Roa, in the Sandwich Islands. 

 But such detached elevations are either active or extinct volcanoes. 



