507 



Canigou ; but it is distinguished among all the 

 mountains I have visited, by an enormous pre- 

 cipice on the side next the sea. The coast 

 forms only a narrow border ; and looking from 

 the summit of the pyramid on the houses of 

 Caravalleda, this wall of rocks seems by an 

 optical illusion, of which I have already spoken, 

 to be nearly perpendicular. The real slope of 

 the declivity appeared to me, according to an 

 exact calculation, 53° 28' *. The mean slope of 

 the Peak of TenerifFe is scarcely 12° 30'. A 

 precipice of six or seven thousand feet, like 

 that of the Silla of Caraccas, is a phenomenon 

 far more rare, than is generally believed by 

 those who cross mountains without measuring 

 their height, their bulk, and their slopes. Since 

 the experiments on the fall of bodies, and on 

 their deviation to the south east, have been 

 resumed in several parts of Europe, a rock of 

 two hundred and fifty toises of perpendicular 

 elevation has been in vain sought for among 

 all the Alps of Switzerland The declivity 

 of Mont Blanc toward the Allee Blanche does 



* Observations of the latitude give for the horizontal dis- 

 tance between the foot of the mountain near Caravalleda, 

 and the vertical line passing through it's summit, scarcely 

 1000 toises. 



+ See the testimony of a Geognost, who has visited the 

 Alps more frequently than any other person, Mr. Escher, 

 of Zurich, in the Alpina } Tom. iv, p. 291. 



