Primitive Mountains;-Secondary Mountains. 149 the pits, where snow remains, unmelted, for the greater part of the year. Upon the Risenkoppe, the highest pinnacle in Germany, he beheld all Silesia, all Saxony and Bohemia, stretched like a map before him. "Here," says he," my first thought was turned to the Supreme Creator, who gave existence to the immensity of objects, expanded before my view. The transition from this idea to that of my own relation, as an immortal soul, with the Author of Nature, was natural and immediate; from this to the recollection of my country, my parents, and my friends." XIII. Primitive mountains1 are composed of granite, jasper, serpentine, porphyry, sand-stone, trap, strata or large blocks of limestone, fluoro and gypsum, &c. No organic remains are found in them. Secondary mountains rest upon primitive ones; and sometimes even cover them. They are composed of limestone, swine-stone, marlite, chalk, and gypsum; also of substances composing primitive mountains, as indurated clay and lithomarza, jasper, porphyry, trap, silicious limestone, &c. The most beau 'Parkinson's Organic Remains of a former World. • Primitive rocks, in general, form the highest and most rugged portions of the earth's surface, and extend in the form of chains of mountain groups throughout the whole earth. These mountain tops are generally highest in the middle, and lowest towards the sides and extremities; and the mountain rocks, of which they are composed, are so arranged, that in general the middle and highest portions of the group are composed of older rocks than the lateral and lower portions. As far as we know at present, granite is the oldest and first formed of all the primitive rocks. The next rock in point of antiquity, or that which rests immediately upon tiful of British primitive mountains is Snowdon; and its mineral wealth are as low as argile, and as high as calcareous substances: but its chief strata are composed of petro silex, granite, slate, schistus, intermixed with quartz, spar, and metallic substances. Many mountains in its neighbourhood, as well as in the mineral districts of South Wales and Switzerland, have parallel strata of rock, answering to each other in heights and directions, as if they had been separated by some great internal convulsion. It is highly interesting to observe what pride a mountaineer takes in his country! Mr. Coxe, travelling near Munster, was requested by a peasant to inform him, what he thought of his country; and pointing to the moun the granite, is gneiss, which has a distinct slaty structure; is stratified; and like granite is composed of felspar, quartz, and mica. It alternates with the newer portions of the granite; and sometimes cotemporaneous veins of the one rock shoot into masses of the other. It contains subordinate formations of granite, porphyry, syenite, trap, quartz, limestone, and conglomerated gneiss. The next rock in the series is mica-slate, which rests upon the gneiss. It is composed of quartz and mica, and has a distinct slaty structure, and is stratified. It alternates with gneiss; and contains various subordinate formations; as granite, porphyry, syenite, trap, quartz, serpentine, limestone, and conglomerated mica-slate. It is often traversed by cotemporaneous veins, from the smallest discernible magnitude to many yards in width. The mica-slate is succeeded by clay-slate, which rests upon it, and sometimes alternates with it. It differs from mica-slate, gneiss, and granite, in its composition; being in general a simple rock; and in some instances principally composed of mica, in others to all appearance of felspar. Besides granite, porphyry, trap, syenite, limestone, serpentine, conglomerated clay-slate, quartz, it also contains the following formations: flinty-slate, whet-slate, talk-slate, alum-slate, and drawing-slate. The calcareous rocks, mentioned by Cuvier, as resting upon the slate, do not belong to this class; they are transition limestone, and contain, although rarely, testaceous petrifactions.-Jameson's Mineralogical Notes. Cuvier, 199. tains, exclaimed, "behold our walls and bulwarks; even Constantinople is not so strongly fortified!" And I never reflect, but with pleasure, on the satisfaction with which a farmer, residing in one of the cliffs, near Ffestiniog, replied to my assertion, that England was the finest and best country in the world; "Ah! but you have no mountains, sir; you've got no mountains!" On the summit of the Pichincha, Don George Juan and Don Antonio de Ulloa pitched themselves, for the purpose of making astronomical observations. The Pichincha is not so elevated as the Cotopaxi; but the view from it is, perhaps, more magnificent. After enjoying the prospect, for some time, they saw lightning issue from the clouds beneath; and heard the thunder rolling, in wild volumes, at their feet. The sky above was of a clear azure. spot, where they stood, was a vast accumulation of ice and snow. The cold was intense; and the mountain itself seemed to stand, as it were, insulated in the midst of a vast ocean. This scene, sublime as it was, derived accumulation of sublimity from the sound of enormous fragments of rocks, which, at intervals, fell into the gulfs beneath. The natives of these regions believe them to surpass every country under heaven. The Sicilian peasants, in the same manner, have such an affection for Etna, that they believe Sicily would not be habitable without it. "It keeps us warm in winter," say they, "and furnishes us with ice in summer." The Can the mind, susceptible of impressions, called up and embodied by such scenes as these, sink into nothing? 152 1 The Apennines ;-Mountains in Java. "Shall we be left forgotten in the dust, When Fate, relenting, lets the flowers revive? Bid him, though doom'd to perish, hope to live? With disappointment, penury, and pain? And man's majestic beauty bloom again, Bright through th' eternal year of Love's triumphant reign." XIV. The Apennines have a rounded form at their tops;they have many gulleys in their sides;-but not one large valley separates the chain. One of the finest prospects from this range is seen from the Il Cimone di Figano. It embraces part of the plain of Lombardy; the neighbourhoods of Reggio, Parma, and Modena; with a prospective view of the golden Adriatic. Towards the west, is beheld an extensive view of Tuscany, with the Arno rolling its waters from its source, down to its confluence with the Mediterranean Sea. In Java, a range of mountains extends from one end of the island to the other; varying in height from 5,000 to 12,000 feet. Among these (towards the south) are innumerable valleys, uniting all the rich and magnificent scenery1, which forests, innumerable rivers, and rivulets, with a constant verdure, can exhibit; heightened by a pure atmosphere, and the glowing tints of a tropical sun. To the summit of one of these mountains the Javanese made a broad road, with great labour and difficulty. This road leading to nothing, they were required to give reasons for such an useless expense of labour; upon which Hist. of Java, vol. i. p. 21. they replied, that a holy man lived upon the top of the mountain, and would never come down, till a good road was made for him'! Such is the superstition of a people combining many characteristics, truly amiable and estimable. Of all the Asiatic islanders, those, living among the Teng-'ger mountains of Java, appear to be the most attractive to the imagination. These people still adhere to the Hindu faith and worship. They occupy forty villages; the houses of which differ materially in structure and materials, from those of other Javanese: and, instead of being shaded by trees, they are built on open and spacious terraces. Each village has its Chief, who is selected by the inhabitants, and four Priests. The duty of the latter consists in preserving the records of the village; and a history of the origin of the world;-in disclosing the attributes of the Deity, and in performing the duties of worship. The number of this tribe consists of about 1,200; they reside in the most romantic part of the island; they marry among themselves; and solicitously guard the purity of their blood. When Governor Raffles inquired what punishments they attached to the crimes of theft and adultery, they replied, they had no punishments for those crimes in their mountains; since they were entirely unknown: and that if any one acted in an improper manner, he was reproved for it by the Chief of the village; and that was punishment enough. Among the Tunga mountains raspberries grow in profusion; the hedges bloom with roses; violets grow in every thicket; and every copse is scented with aromatic shrubs. Here reside the most ancient of the Javan race. • Vide Raffle's Java, i. p. 246, 4to. |