HIGH LANDS OF THE EARTH. 



201 



the points of junction with the parent stem. The first-class chains have almost uniformly 

 an abrupt descent on one side, and a gentler declivity on the other. This is the case 

 with the Andes, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the mountains of Scandinavia, and the Ghauts 

 of India. It was held by Berghaus that the western side of chains extending north and 

 south is most abrupt, while it is the southern side that is so in the case of those running 

 east and west. But the exceptions to this are numerous, and no general rule upon the 

 point can be advanced, beyond one which applies to chains near the coast, which have 

 their steepest sides fronting the ocean. Taurus, Atlas, and Lebanon present their most 

 precipitous and craggy faces to the Mediterranean, and the Andes likewise to the Pacific. 

 The great chains in general follow the direction in which the land of the continents 

 where they are situated has its greatest extent. Thus the ranges, which, with only a few 

 breaks, stretch from the south-west coast of Europe to the north-east coast of Asia, 

 traverse the old world in the line of its maximum longitude ; and the Andes of South 

 America, continued by the Stony Mountains of the North, travel through the new world 

 in the direction of its greatest length. The course of subordinate chains, also, as of the 

 Apennines in Italy, the Dofrafeld in Norway and Sweden, and the Ghauts in Hindustan, 

 corresponds with the general direction of these peninsulas. 



The insulated mountains, or those which are apart from any group or chain, are not 

 numerous. They are generally, though not always, either active or extinct volcanoes. 

 The rock of Gibraltar, which rises up to the height of 1500 feet from the level beach of 

 the Mediterranean, the Peak of Teneriffe, and Mount Egmont in New Zealand, are fine 

 specimens of this class. The latter is an extinct volcano, and may be seen from a vast 

 distance, ascending above the line of perpetual snow. The mountain is in shape a perfect 

 cone, situated on a projecting headland, about twenty miles from the coast. The neigh- 

 bourhood is one of the most fertile districts of New Zealand ; and has been selected as the 

 site of the settlement of New Plymouth, from whence the symmetrical form and white 

 brow of Pouke-e-aupapa, the ancient name of Mount Egmont, forms a striking object. 



~:,? 





Mount Egmont in New Zealand. 



