MOUNTAINS AND HILLS 
229 
pine valleys may not be the spots of the earth that 
one would choose for permanent residence, be- 
cause the sights they offer are too stupendous 
for daily contemplation ; but surely they offer 
the sublimities—the grander beauties of the 
earth and the elements—better than almost any 
other mountainous region. 
A mountain is a mountain, and belongs to an 
order as human beings to a race, but there is 
quite as much of peculiarity in the separate 
peaks as there is individuality in different men. 
It does not appear so at first. We think all 
mountains are substantially alike, just as we 
think all Mongolians have the same feat- 
ures; but a little study shows that there are 
never any two of them of the same form, color, 
or characteristics. Even ranges differ greatly 
in appearance. The Alps are not like the 
Andes, the Alleghanies are not like the Rock- 
ies; and how different are the Harz Moun- 
tains, with their green slopes and cold blue air, 
when compared with the bare Tuscan moun- 
tains, so positive in their light and warmth! 
Wherein lies the individuality of the isolated 
mountain it is difficult tosay. Itmay have height 
and arrowy dignity compared with its squat, 
smooth, or ragged neighbors; it may be distin- 
Mountain 
individual- 
ity. 
