590 MOUNTAINS OF ITALY. 



The principal Alpine summits are : Mont Blanc, the " monarch 

 of mountains," 15, 750 feet; Monte Rosa, 15, 150 feet; Finster-Aar- 

 horn, 14,109 ; the Jungfrau, 13,716 ; and the Ortler Spits, 12,852 

 feet. The scenery of the Alps is always of the grandest character ; 

 its more remarkable features being its huge glaciers, or ice-rivers, with 

 their brilliant and ever-changing hues. 



" Motionless torrents ! silent cataracts ! 

 Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven 

 Beneath the keen full moon '? Who bade the sun 

 Clothe you with rainbows ? Who, with living flowers 

 Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet." 



It is supposed that there are at least four hundred of the great 

 glaciers, varying from three to thirty miles in length, from a hundred 

 to six or seven hundred feet in thickness, and from a few yards to a 

 couple of miles in breadth. The total superficial area of the glaciers 

 in Switzerland, Savoy, Piedmont, and the Tyrol, has been estimated 

 at 1400 square miles. 



The Apennines must be considered a subsidiary portion of the 

 Alps, rather than as an independent system. They branch off from 

 the Maritime Alps, and traverse the entire length of Italy. Several 

 peaks rise to an elevation of between 7000 and 8000 feet ; but the 

 average height scarcely exceeds 3000 feet. Monte Corna, the culmi- 

 nating point, is 9523 feet. 



The south of Italy is occupied by a remarkable volcanic region, 

 where the subterranean fires still give awful signs of their intense 

 activity. Mount Vesuvius, which raises its conical mass, girdled 

 with vines and chestnuts, above the fair city of Naples, is 3978 feet 

 above the sea-level. Its sister volcano, Mount Etna, in the island of 

 Sicily, attains a far loftier elevation (10,872 feet),f and exhibits a 

 charming variety of picturesque scenery. The forest region on the 

 lower slopes is rich in glowing effects of colour, while near the summit 



* Coleridge, Hymn in the Valley of Chamouni. For a glowing account of these phe- 

 nomena, see Professor Tyndall's " Glaciers of the Alps." 

 t Admiral Smyth, " The Mediterranean." 



