692 THE MOUNTAINS OF HUNGARY AND RUSSIA. 



suppose them to have been the scene of some old-world battle between 

 the Titans and the Olympian gods. Here the Puy de Sancy exceeds 

 6000 feet (6215), and the now silent cone of the Puy de Dome, 

 4500 feet in height. 



The Hungarian Mountains, or Mountains of Germany, occupy 

 the country between the Rhine and the eighteenth meridian of east 

 longitude. Here we meet with the dark and densely wooded crests 

 of the Schwarz Wald, or Black Forest; the Erz-Gebirge, on the 

 borders of Saxony and Bohemia ; and the rich metalliferous masses of 

 the legend-haunted Harz. Continuing our survey to the eastward, 

 our glances rest on the bold and many-peaked groups of the Carpa- 

 thians, which, commencing near the sources of the Oder and the 

 Vistula, describe a semicircle round the fertile Hungarian plain for 

 between seven and eight hundred miles. Striking down to the 

 Danube, it faces on the opposite side the lofty wall of the Balkan, 

 and through the gorge thus formed, the famous "Iron Gates " of ancient 

 story, the river rolls its waters with impetuous rapidity. The more 

 elevated summits of 'the Carpathians possess an average height of 

 5000 feet, but Mount Lomnitz reaches the loftier level of 7962 feet. 



On the borders of Asia lies the long and narrow chain, or rather 

 chains, of the Ural Mountains, with an average altitude of from 

 2000 to 2500 feet, sinking in about latitude 57 to a rocky ridge of 

 little more than 1100 feet. The loftiest crest is Mount Yaman, in 

 latitude 54 13', 5387 feet. The Ural Mountains possess abundant 

 mineral treasures, both gold and platinum occurring in extensive 

 abundance. 



The chain of Mount Caucasus stretches for about 700 miles 

 between the Black and Caspian Seas, in the direction of north-west 

 and south-east. It exceeds 150 miles in breadth, throwing out from 

 the central mass numerous branches and parallel ridges, and enclosing 

 a network of valleys, plains, and ravines. The culminating point 

 appears to be the group or mountain-knot of Elburz, in the meridian 

 of 42 25' E., which attains the stupendous elevation of 18,493 feet. 

 Kasbek, which is really in Asia, reaches 16,500 feet. 



