HIGH LANDS OF THE EARTH. 203 



are more gentle. Humboldt has pointed out a striking difference between the great 

 mountains of the eastern and western continents. Mont Blanc, and others of the higher 

 Alps, lift their granite heads far above the clouds, and, with the Himalaya, form the 

 loftiest points of the old world ; but in America the newest flcetztrap or whinstone, 

 which in Europe appears only in low mountains, or at the foot of those of great magni- 

 tude, covers the mightiest heights of the Andes. Chimbora9o and Antisana are crowned 

 by vast walls of porphyry, rising to the height of six or seven thousand feet ; while 

 basalt, which in our continent has never been observed higher than four thousand feet, is, 

 on the pinnacle of Pichinchae, seen rearing aloft its crested steeps, like towers amidst the 

 sky. Other secondary formations, as limestone, with its accompaniment of petrified 

 shells and coal, are also found at greater heights in the new than in the old world, 

 though the disproportion is not so remarkable. 



The most elevated European sites are found in the Alps, many of which have been 

 reached by the foot of man, but not without great difficulty and peril, and in the attempt 

 fatal accidents have repeatedly occurred. Mont Blanc, the centre and highest summit of 

 the great Alpine range, an enormous mass of primitive rock, rises to the height of 15,732 

 feet above the sea level, and is visible at Dijon, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. 

 The form of the mountain is pyramidal as seen from the north and south, but from the 

 valley of Chamouni it resembles the back of a dromedary, on account of which Bosse de 

 Dromedaire is one of its local titles. The extreme summit, a ridge nearly two hundred 

 feet in length, was reached for the first time in August 1785, by Dr. Paccard and James 

 Balma ; and the year following, Saussure succeeded in the same enterprise, remaining 

 five hours upon the top making scientific experiments. In the autumn of 1834, Dr. 

 Barry ascended, passing by " chasms of unfathomable depth, towers of ice, caverns of 

 almost crystal walls, sjplendid stalactites guarding the entrance." His principal guide 

 had been up eight times before, the survivor of four swept away by an avalanche in 

 Dr. Hamel's attempt in 1820. In the year 1804, the Archduke John offered a reward 

 to whosoever reached the summit of the Ortler Spitz, the highest of the Rhaetian Alps. A 

 native of the Passayer, accompanied by two peasants, accomplished the enterprise, before 

 considered impracticable, starting with the full moon at midnight. Travellers, naturalists, 

 and the daring peasants of the country have scaled many of the other lofty Alpine 

 peaks, and now the Jungfrau or Virgin Mountain, so called from its supposed inaccessi- 

 bility, has had the foot of the Swiss hunter upon her brow. The highest parts of Africa, 

 as at present known, are in Abyssinia, but fall below those of Europe, though very 

 nearly equal to them. Some of the summits of the Atlas range are supposed to reach 

 12,000 feet, and the high lands of Ethiopia approximate to the loftiest of the Alps. 

 Asia possesses in the Caucasus and eastern Taurus some very elevated positions. The 

 culminating point of the latter, the Peak of Demawund, about forty miles from Teheran 

 in Persia, was ascended by Mr. Taylor Thomson in the year 1837, who found its height, 

 by barometric measurement, to be 14,300 feet above the level of the ocean. The snow- 

 crowned head of the towering Kasibeck, situated towards the European extremity of the 

 pass of the Caucasus from Russia into Georgia, is estimated by Professor Parrot at 

 2400 fathoms, or 14,000 feet, above the level of the Black Sea ; but this is exceeded 

 by Elburz, which attains the height of 16,700 feet, and the two peaks of the celebrated 

 Ararat are still loftier. " These inaccessible summits," says Sir Robert Ker Porter, 

 " have never been trodden by the foot of man since the days of Noah." Tourneforte was 

 obliged to abandon the enterprise in the year 1700, after having endured great fatigue. 

 At a more recent period, the pacha of Bayazeed fitted out an expedition, and built huts 

 ; supplied with provisions at different stations ; but his people suffered severely amid the 

 ! snows and masses of ice, and returned without accomplishing their purpose. The state- 

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