OUTLINES OF GEOLOGY. 



19 



system in North America, are in sight of the city of Mexico j 

 but, according to the statements of the surveyor of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, the mountains near the sources of the 

 Columbia are even more elevated, and yield but little to the 

 Himmalaya in this respect. 



37. In the United States, Guiana and Brazil, the great 

 American plain is bounded on the east by mountains. In the 

 United States these do not rise to any great height, and may 

 be considered as forming a system to which the name of 

 Apalachian is with propriety given. Five distinct ridges 

 may be traced in this system. The outer takes its rise on 

 the frontiers of Canada, and is at first called the Green 

 Mountains ; it assumes a height of 4000 feet in Massachu- 

 setts, under the name of the Saddle Mountain. Thence, go- 

 ing under the names of the Taconic and Hoosic Mountains, 

 it merges in the Highlands of the State of New- York. In 

 New- Jersey it is known under the name of Schooley's Moun- 

 tain, and appears in Pennsylvania at Durham. In traversing 

 the greater part of the last named state, it sinks to hills of 

 moderate elevation, but rises again in Maryland, and is 

 broken by the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. It thence forms 

 a continuous range under the name of the Blue Ridge, 

 through Virginia, North and South Carolina, and the north- 

 ern part of Georgia. In North Carolina this range reaches 

 its greatest height, which is about 7000 feet. The White 

 Mountains in New-Hampshire probably belong to this range j 

 although separated by the valley of the Connecticut. The 

 height of Mount Washington, the most elevated of the last- 

 named group, is 6600 feet. There is another outlying 

 group in North Carolina, which is the site of rich gold mines, 

 and a parallel ridge is to be traced in Virginia, about twenty 

 miles east of the Blue Ridge. 



The second ridge makes its first appearance in the state 

 of New- York, in the angle of the Esopus and Rondout 



