In the Caucasian range there are glaciers, which are not found in the other Asiatic mountains, and, though there are no active volcanoes vomiting fire and lava, there are volcanoes of mud communicating with the range on the southern side.
MOUNT ARARAT.
The whole kingdom of Armenia forms a chaos of mountains, valleys, and torrents, from the centre of which rises Mount Ararat. Its summit, which is covered with perpetual snow, appears to be in the form of a sugar-loaf rising from a lower part, which presents a formidable appearance of craggy cliffs and deep precipices. The sugar-loaf, however, when viewed from the north, is found to be divided into two peaks, separated by a deep glen in the body of the mountain; and from this deep cleft both the peaks rise in a conical shape; one being much smaller than the other. On the north-west face of this mountain is a stupendous rocky chasm of great depth, which is perfectly black, and which contrasts in the most striking manner with the brilliant whiteness of the snowy peaks.
It was long supposed that the summit of this mountain was inaccessible; and, indeed, though it is now said that the Russian traveller, Dr. Parrot, has ascended it, it is still doubtful whether he reached the highest summit of the mountain.
In 1700, the celebrated botanist, Tournefort, attempted the ascent; and though he was unable to accomplish it, the account he has left of the difficulties he encountered is very interesting. From this account there appears no doubt that Ararat was once a volcano, and the deep black gulf, already mentioned, was the crater. Tournefort expressly remarks that at the beginning of the ascent, he and his party found the ground covered with loose sand, which made them feel as if they were slipping back at every step they took, and that they afterwards came to sharp fragments of stone which cut their shoes, mixed with large blocks piled on each other; difficulties which always attend the ascent of a volcano. The Armenians believe that fragments of the ark, changed to stone, are still on the summit.
MOUNT LEBANON.
There are two mountain chains in Syria, one of which is called Lebanon or Libanus, and the other Anti-Libanus. The great chain of Lebanon is about 9600 feet high, and it rises to this height at the distance of sixty or seventy miles from the shore of the Mediterranean, the intervening country consisting of luxuriant and fertile valleys, diversified with lower ranges of hills. On reaching the foot of the mountain, the road is narrow, and often leads over craggy rocks, and the ascent becomes extremely rugged and intensely cold. The peaks of these mountains, like those of so many others, are covered with snow, which is here of tremendous depth, not being frozen, and it is consequently extremely difficult to pass. The celebrated Cedars stand at the foot of the steep declivities of the higher division of the mountain. They form a small wood of about 400 trees, standing on very uneven ground; and some of the old trees have four or five trunks springing apparently from one root. The country between the two ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus forms a very fertile valley, containing several towns, but planted chiefly with mulberry-trees. A very singular order of priests, called Druses, reside in these mountains. It is difficult to say what religion they profess; as, though they call themselves Mahometans, they are said to practise many of the rites of Paganism. On Mount Libanus there is a monastery of Christian monks, called Maronites, from their order being dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The monks frequently make processions up the mountains; particularly when they celebrate the festival of the Transfiguration, which they do among the cedars, having built altars against several of the largest trees, where they administer the sacrament.
Lamartine, the French poet, who visited Mount Lebanon in 1832, says, "we alighted when we reached the cedars, and sat down under a rock to contemplate them. These trees are perhaps the most renowned natural monuments in the universe: religion, poetry, and history have all equally celebrated them. The Arabs of all sects entertain a traditional veneration for them, and they attribute to them a sort of magic power. They say that some of these trees will live for ever, and that they are gifted with a kind of intelligence, which enables them to predict events; and they watch the vast boughs with anxiety, as they say, according as they incline towards heaven or earth, they can judge when the snow prepares to fall or melt." Unfortunately for the legend of the eternal duration of these trees, only seven of what may be termed the patriarchs of the forest remain, and the rest are evidently of comparatively recent date.
THE MOUNTAINS OF JUDEA.
The largest of these is Mount Tabor, which is situated to the east of Nazareth. It is about four miles in circumference, but it rises so gradually that it may be ascended on horseback. On the top is a circular plain, which appears to have been formerly surrounded by a wall. The heights of Carmel, after running for a considerable space to the north-west, terminate in a rocky promontory about 2000 feet high, running into the sea. This is Mount Carmel, and on the opposite side of the bay is Acre. Mount Zion is one of the four hills on which Jerusalem is built. Mount Hermon is a small branch proceeding from the Anti-Libanus chain; and Mount Gilead is the general name given to a group of hills in the interior of Judea.
AFRICAN MOUNTAINS.
The African Mountains are neither very numerous nor very lofty. Those of the greatest height that are actually known, are the great cluster of the Atlas, one chain of which runs southerly to the desert of Sahara and the other easterly to the neighbourhood of the Syrtes. The highest points of these mountains have an elevation of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet, and their peaks are covered with snow. Some cedars have been found on these mountains, closely resembling those of Mount Lebanon. The cluster of Abyssinian mountains on the opposite side of Africa, are very similar in their shape and grouping to those of Atlas; they are supposed to be about the same height, and their loftiest peaks are always covered with snow. The Kong mountains, which, in some maps, are represented as running across the continent of Africa in one unbroken chain near the equator, are of very doubtful existence, at least as to their continuity. Where crossed by Clapperton, they nowhere rose to the height of 3000 feet, but they were of granite; and a few degrees to the southward, two or three lofty peaks are visible from the sea, which appear to be from 13,000 to 14,000 feet high. Along the eastern coast a continued chain exists from the Abyssinian range to the Cape of Good Hope, but it does not appear to contain any very lofty mountains. The Asbestos mountains, which are farther in the interior, are composed of clay-slate, with thin veins of asbestos of various colours running through them. It is curious that the name of Asbestos among the Hottentots signifies handkerchief stone.
TABLE MOUNTAIN AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
This remarkable mountain is about 3500 feet above the level of the sea. It takes its name from its flat top, which is about two miles in length from east to west, and a mile or something more in breadth. Before a strong south-east wind begins to blow, a thin sheet of white vapour spreads itself over the summit of the mountain, and "is seen rushing over the edge of the precipice, while the sky all around is serene and unclouded. The rapidity of its descent resembles that of water pouring over the face of a rock. The air, at the same time, begins to be agitated in the valley; and in less than half an hour, the whole town is involved in dust and darkness. Instantly the streets are deserted, every window and door is shut up, and Cape Town is as still as if it were visited by the plague. Sometimes, instead of a sheet of vapour, an immense cloud envelopes the mountain, and, stretching out on all sides, like a magnificent canopy, shades the town and the adjacent country from the sun. The inferior boundary of this cloud is regulated, probably, by various circumstances; and among others, by the strength of the wind, and the temperature of the air in the Table valley. The influence of the latter is to be inferred from the fact, that, though the cloud never descends farther than halfway into the hot parched amphitheatre of Cape Town, it may be observed on the side of Camp's Bay, rolling down in immense volumes to the very sea, over which it sometimes stretches farther than the eye can follow it. Nothing can be more singular than the appearance of this cloud. It is continually rushing down to a certain point on the side of the mountain, and there vanishing. Fleeces are seen from time to time, torn from its skirts by the strength of the wind, floating and whirling, as it were, in a vortex over the town, and then gradually dissolving away. But the main body remains as if it were nailed to the mountain, and bids defiance to the utmost efforts of the gale." There are two other mountains of nearly the same height, but of a different shape near the Table mountain.
The Dry mountains, which are near the Table mountain, are composed of horizontal strata of sandstone, and some of them have a flat summit. These mountains run in one dark chain many leagues in length, and they are so steep and uniform in shape, as to give the missionaries who have described them, the idea of the Great Wall of China.
PETER BOTTE'S MOUNTAIN.
Peter Botte's Mountain in the Mauritius is said to have obtained its very singular name from a person of the name of Peter Botte, who ascended to the summit but who was dashed to pieces when he attempted to come down. From the extraordinary shape of this mountain, it is evidently of volcanic origin, for it rises like a vast needle about 1,800 feet in height, and what makes the ascent more difficult is, that it does not taper gradually to a point, but at a distance of about 1500 feet from the ground, there is a kind of platform, above which a piece of stone bulges out like a vast cupola. In 1831, Captain Lloyd, accompanied by a Mr. Dawkins, attempted to ascend this mountain, but when they had reached what is called the neck, they found the ladder they had brought with them was not long enough to reach half-way up the perpendicular face of the rock above, and they relinquished their attempt as impracticable. The following year, however, (the 7th of September, 1832,) Captain Lloyd made another attempt, accompanied by three other officers, and a number of sepoys and negroes. The ascent was up a very steep ravine formed by the rains in the wet season, and full of loose stones. Along this path, which was not a foot broad, the party picked their way for about four hundred yards, the negroes keeping their footing firm, by catching hold of the shrubs above them as they proceeded. "On rising to the shoulder of the mountain," says the narrative which has been published of the ascent, "a view burst upon us which quite defies my descriptive powers. We stood on a little narrow ledge or neck of land, about twenty yards in length, on the side which we mounted; we looked back into the deep wooded gorge we had passed up, while on the opposite side of the neck, which was between six and seven feet broad, the precipice went sheer down fifteen hundred feet to the plain. One extremity of the neck was equally precipitous, and the other was bounded by what appeared to me the most magnificent sight I ever saw. A narrow knife-like edge of rock, broken here and there by precipitous faces, ran up in conical form to about 350 feet above us, and on the very pinnacle old Peter Botte frowned in all his glory. A ladder had been left by Messrs Lloyd and Dawkins last year. It was about twelve feet high, and reached about half-way up the face of the perpendicular rock. The foot, which was spiked, rested upon a ledge which was barely three inches on each side. A grapnel line had also been left, but though it had never been used, it had become rotten by exposure to the weather. One of the negroes clambered from the top of the ladder along the cleft in the face of the rock, as he did not dare trust his weight to the line. It was a hazardous undertaking, as a single loose stone or false hold must have precipitated him into the abyss; but he used his feet exactly as a monkey would have done, grasping with them every projection as firmly as he could have done with his hands. He carried a small cord tied round his middle, and as soon as he reached the platform under the rock, he fastened it firmly, and crying, 'all right,' we all climbed up in succession. The head, which is an enormous mass of rock, about thirty-five feet in height, overhangs its base many feet on every side. A ledge of tolerably level rock runs round three sides of the base, about six feet in width, bounded everywhere by the abrupt edge of the precipice, except in the spot where it is joined by the ridge up which we climbed. In one spot, the head, though overhanging its base several feet, reaches only perpendicularly over the edge of the precipice, and most fortunately it was at the very spot where we mounted. When we reached the ledge, a communication being established with the shoulder of the mountain, by a double line of ropes, we hoisted up crowbars, additional coils of rope, and various other articles, but the difficulty was, how to get the ladder up against the rock. Captain Lloyd had prepared some iron arrows, with thongs, to fire over, and having got up a gun, he made a line fast round his body, which we all held on, and going over the edge of the precipice on the opposite side, he leaned back against the line, and fired over the least projecting part. Had the line broken, he would have fallen at least 1800 feet. Twice this failed, and then he had recourse to a large stone, with a lead line, which swung diagonally, and seemed to be a feasible plan. Several times he tried this without success, till at last, the wind changing, the stone went over and was eagerly seized on the opposite side. Three lengths of the ladder were now put together on the ledge, a large line attached to the one which was over the head was carefully drawn up, and finally, a two inch rope, to the extremity of which we lashed the top of the ladder, then lowered it gently over the precipice, till it hung perpendicularly, and was steadied by two negroes, on the ridge below. 'All right, now hoist away,' and up went the ladder, till it came to the edge of our ledge, when it was lashed in firmly to the rock. We then hauled away on the guy to steady it, and made it fast; a line was passed over by the head line, to hold on, and up came Captain Lloyd, screeching and hallooing, and we all three scrambled after him. The union-jack and a boat-hook were passed up, and old England's flag waved freely and gallantly on the redoubted Peter Botte." The party afterwards descended to the platform, where they dined and passed the night, amusing themselves by letting off some rockets and blue lights which they had brought with them, and which must have had a most singular effect seen from such a situation. The night was so bitterly cold, that they found it almost impossible to sleep. The next morning, however, they ventured again to climb up to the summit, to take a last look at a view which they were not likely ever to see again, and afterwards descended in perfect safety from their perilous expedition.