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1890.] Geography and Travel. 765 
In regard to the position which the peak of Orizaba holds to the 
mountains of the North American continent generally, it may be said 
that its only rival without the Mexican domain is Mount St, Elias, 
situated on approximately the ı4ıst parallel of latitude, and whose 
summit is claimed both by Great Britain and the United States 
(Alaska) as their possession. 
So broadly divergent, however, are the results of the measurements 
of this mountain that as yet it has been impossible to obtain even 
remote concurrence in the views of geographers. Thus the early 
measurements of La-Pérouse, made in 1786, give less than 13,000 feet. 
The British Hydrographic Chart of 1872, with its data borrowed from 
still earlier charts, gives 14,970 feet, and this estimate is the one which 
is generally followed by the English and a number of American 
geographers. Malespina in 1791 determined the height by means of 
angles, taken from near the position of Fort Mulgrave, to be 17,851 
feet, which figure is reduced by Tebenkoff by somewhat more than 
goo feet. 
The most recent carefully conduct:d series of measurements are 
those which were made by Mr. W. H. Dall, under the auspices of the 
United States Coast Survey, in 1874. These yielded results ranging 
from a little more than 18,000 to nearly 20,000 feet. The measure- 
ments were made from distances of 69, 127, 167 miles, and it is more 
than likely that the discrepancy in the results obtained is due to the 
very small angles of measurements, and to an uncertainty regarding 
the actual position of the mountain. 
The extreme variation of nearly 2,000 feet in a mountain less than 
four miles in height renders the correctness of the determinations ex- 
tremely doubtful. With little doubt Mount St. Elias is considerably 
(14,975 feet), but in how near it approaches the height of the Mexican 
volcanoes is still a question for future solution. The existing evidence 
seems to point to the “Star Mountain " of Mexico, the peak of 
Orizaba, with its 18,200 feet, as the culminating point of the North 
American continent.— PA//ade/phia Ledger. 
