GEOGRAPHY. 



most of the neighbouring 1 parts. Begin- 

 ning- at Cape Finisterre, we soon arrive 

 at the Pyrenees, keeping 1 to the south of 

 the Garronne and the Loire. 



After taking a long turn northwards, 

 to avoid the Rhine, we? come to Swisser- 

 land, and we may approach very near to 

 the Mediterranean, in the state of Genoa, 

 taking care not to cross the branches of 

 the Po. We make a circuit in Swisser- 

 land, and pass between the sources of 

 the Danube, and of the branches of the 

 Rhine, in Swabia. Crossing Franconia, 

 we leave Bohemia to the north, in order 

 to avoid the Elbe ; and coming near to 

 the borders of Austria, follow those of 

 Hungary to the south of the Vistula. The 

 Dnieper then obliges us to go northwards 

 through Lithuania, leaving the Don whol- 

 ly to the right ; and the Volga, to pass 

 still further north, between Petersburg 

 and Moscow, a little above Bjelosero. 

 We may then go eastwards to the boun- 

 dary of Asia, and thence northwards to 

 Nova Zembla. Hence we descend to the 

 west of the Oby, and then to the east of 

 the branches of the Volga, and the other 

 inland rivers flowing into the lake Aral 

 and the Caspian Sea. Here we are situat- 

 ed on the widely extended elevation of 

 India, in the neighbourhood of the sour- 

 ces of the Indus; and, lastly, in our way 

 from hence towards Kamschatka, we 

 leave the Jeniseiand Lena on the left, and 

 the Ganges, the Kiang Kew, the Hoangho, 

 and the Amur, to the right. 



The direction of the most conspicuous 

 mountains is, however, a little different 

 from this ; the principal chain first consti- 

 tutes the Pyrenees,and divides Spain from 

 France ; then passes through Vivarais and 

 Auvergne, to join the Alps, and through 

 the south of Germany to Dalmatia, Alba- 

 nia and Macedonia; it is found again be- 

 yond the Euxine, under the names of 

 Taurus, Caucasus, and Imaus, and goes on 

 to Tartary and to Kamschatka. The pe- 

 ninsula of India is divided from north to 

 south by the mountains of Gate, extend- 

 ing from the extremity of Caucasus to 

 Cape Comorin. In Africa, Mount Atlas 

 stretches from Fez to Egypt, and the 

 mountains of the Moon run nearly in the 

 same direction : there is also a considera- 

 ble elevation between the Nile and the 

 Red Sea. In the new world, the neigh- 

 bourhood of the western coast is, in ge- 

 neral, the most elevated; in North Ame- 

 rica, the Blue Mountains, or Stony Moun- 

 tains, are the most conisderable ; and the 

 mountains of Mexico join the Andes or 

 Cordeliers, which are continued along 



the whole of the west c^ n byconsi- 

 Amenca. Nations, and 



There are several points, in> erat j on j n 

 mispheres, from which we may o ^ di rec _ 

 rivers separating to run to different 'ss ll( j aj> 

 such are, Swisserland, Bjelosero, Tartar^ * 

 Little Tibet,Nigritia or Guinea, and Quito. <* 

 The highest mountains are, Chimboracao, 

 and some others of the Cordeliers in Pe- 

 ru, or perhaps Descabesado, in Chili, 

 Mont Blanc, and the Peak of Teneriffe. 

 Chimboracao is about seven thousand 

 yards, or nearly four miles, above the 

 level of the sea; Mont Blanc, five thou- 

 sand, or nearly three miles ; the Peak of 

 Teneriffe, about four thousand, or two 

 miles and a quarter ; Ophir, in Sumatra, 

 is said to be five or six hundred feet high- 

 er. It has, however, been asserted, that 

 some of the snowy mountains to the north 

 of Bengal are higher than any of those of 

 South America. The plains of Quito, in 

 Peru, are so much elevated, that the ba- 

 rometer stands at the height of fifteen 

 inches only, and the air is reduced to half 

 its usual density. But none of these 

 heights is equal to a thousandth part of 

 the earth's semi-diameter, and the great- 

 est of them might be represented, on a 

 six-inch globe, by a single additional 

 thickness of the paper with which it is 

 covered. Mount Sinai, in Japan, Mount 

 Caucasus, Etna, the Southern Pyrenees, 

 St. George among the Azores, Mount 

 Adam, in Ceylon, Atlas, Olympus, and 

 Taurus, are also high mountains ; and 

 there are some very considerable eleva- 

 tions in the island of Ovvyhee. Ben Ne- 

 vis, in Scotland, is the loftiest of the Bri- 

 tish hills, but its height is considerably 

 less than a mile. 



The most elevated mountains, except- 

 ing the summit of volcanos, consist of 

 rocks, more or less mixed, without regu- 

 lar order, and commonly of granite or 

 porphyry. These are called primary 

 mountains ; they run generally from east 

 to west in the old world, and from north 

 to south in the new ; and many of them 

 are observed to be of easier ascent on the 

 east than the west side. The secondary 

 mountains accompany them in the same 

 direction ; they consist of strata, mostly 

 calcareous and argillaceous, that is, of the 

 nature of lime-stone and clay, with a few 

 animal and vegetable remains, in an ob- 

 scure form, together with salt, coals, and 

 sulphur. The tertiary mountains are still 

 smaller; and in these, animal and vege- 

 table remains are very abundant ; they 

 consist chiefly of lime-stone, marble, ala- 

 baster, building-stone, mill-stone, and 



