GEOGRAPHY. 
make a circuit ill Swisserland, and pass 
between the sources of the Danube, and of 
the branches of the Rhine, in Swabia. 
Crossing Franconia, we leave Bohemia to 
the north, in order to avoid the Elbe ; and 
coming near to the borders of Austria, fol- 
low those of Hungary to the south of the 
Vistula. The Dnieper then obliges us to go 
northwards through Lithuania, leaving the 
Don wholly to the right ; and the Volga, 
to pass still further north, between Peters- 
burg and Moscow, a little above Bjelosero. 
We may then go eastwards to the boundary 
of Asia, and thence northwards to Nova 
Zernbla. Hence we descend to the west of 
the Oby, and then to the east of the 
branches of the Volga, and the other inland 
rivers flowing into the lake Aral and the 
Caspian Sea. Here we are situated on the 
widely extended elevation of India, in the 
neighbourhood of the sources of the Indus ; 
and, lastly, in our way from hence towards 
Kamschatka, we leave the Jenisei and Lena 
on the left, and the Ganges, the Kiang 
Kew, the Hoangho, and the Amur to the 
right. 
The direction of the most conspicuous 
mountains is, however, a little different 
from this ; the principal chain first consti- 
tutes the Pyrenees, and divides Spain from 
France, then passes through Vivarais and 
Auvergne, to join the Alps, and through the 
south of Germany to Dalmatia, Albania, 
and Macedonia ; it is found again beyond 
the Euxine, under the names of Taurus, 
Caucasus, and Imaus, and goes on to Tar- 
tary and to Kamschatka. The peninsula 
of India is divided from north to south by 
the mountains of Gate, extending from the 
%xt reraity of Caucasus to Cape Comorin. 
In Africa, Mount Atlas stretches from Fez 
to Egypt, and the mountains of the Moon 
run nearly in the same direction : there is 
also a considerable elevation between the 
jNfile and the Red Sea. In the new world, 
the neighbourhood of the western coast is 
in general the most elevated; in North 
America the Blue Mountains, or Stony 
Mountains, are the most considerable ; and 
the mountains of Mexico join the Andes or 
Cordeliers, which are continued along the 
whole of the west coast of South America. 
There are several points in both hemis- 
pheres, from which we may observe rivers 
separating to run to different seas ; such are 
Swisserland, Bjelosero, Tartary, Little 
Tibet, Nigritia or Guinea, and Quito. The 
highest mountains, are Chimboraqao, and 
some others of the Cordeliers in Peru, or 
VOL. III. 
perhaps Descabesado in Chili, Mont Blanc, 
and the Peak of Teneriffe. Chimboraqao is 
about seven thousand yards, or nearly four 
miles, above the level of the sea ; Mont 
Blanc, five thousand, or nearly three miles ; 
the Peak of Teneriffe about four thousand, 
or two miles and a quarter ; Ophir, in Su- 
matra, is said to be five or six hundred feet 
higher. It has, however, been asserted, 
that some of the snowy mountains to the 
north of Bengal, are higher than any of 
those of South America. The plains of 
Quito, in Peru, are so much elevated, that 
the barometer stands at the height of fifteen 
inches only, and the air is reduced to half its 
usual density. But none of these heights is 
equal to a thousandth part of the earth’s 
semi-diameter, and the greatest of them 
might be represented on a six inch globe by 
a single additional thickness of the paper 
with which it is covered. Mount Sinai, in 
Japan, Mount Caucasus, Etna, the Southern 
Pyrenees, St. George among the Azores, 
Mount Adam, in Ceylon, Atlas, Olympus, 
and TauruS, are also high mountains ; and 
there are some very considerable elevations 
in the island of Owyhee. Ben Nevis, in 
Scotland, is the loftiest of the British hills, 
but its height is considerably less than a 
mile. 
The most elevated mountains, excepting 
the summit of volcanos, consist of rocks, 
more or less mixed, without regular order, 
and commonly of granite or porphyry. 
These are called primary mountains ; they 
run generally from east to west in the old 
world, and from north to south in the new; 
and many of them are observed to be of 
easier ascent on the east than the west side. 
The secondary mountains accompany them 
in the same direction; they consist of strata, 
mostly calcarious and argillaceous, that is, 
of the nature of lime-stone and clay, with a 
few animal and vegetable remains, in an 
obscure form, together with salt, coals, 
and sulphur. The tertiary mountains are 
still smaller; and in these, animal and 
vegetable remains are very abundant; 
they consist chiefly of lime stone, marble, 
alabaster, building-stone, mill-stone, and 
chalk, with beds of flint. Where the se- 
condary and tertiary mountains are inter- 
sected by vallies, the opposite strata often 
correspond at equal heights, as if the val- 
lies had been cut or washed from between 
them ; but sometimes the mountains have 
their strata disposed as if they had been 
elevated by an internal force, and their 
summits had afterwards crumbled away, 
X 
