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THE CONTEMPLATIVE PHILOSOPHER, NUM B. LXXVI.

Farther OBSERVATIONS on MOUNTAINS.

Again, where Alpine folitudes afcend,

I fit me down a penfive hour to spend;

And, placed on high above the ftorm's career,
Look downward where a hundred realms appear;
Lakes, forefts, cities, plains extending wide,
The pomp of kings, the fhepherd's humbler pride.

I Concluded

a

laft my with paper flight sketch of the variety of picturefque appearances which moun. tains, in general, exhibit; and thefe we feldom find forgotten, either in the delineations of the pencil, or in poetical description.

Sometimes the pencil, in cool airy halls, Bade the gay bloom of vernal landscapes rife,

Or Autumn's varied shades imbrown the

walls :

Now the black tempest strikes th' astonish'd

eyes,

Now down the steep the flashing torrent

flies;

The trembling fun now plays o'er ocean blue,

And now rude mountains frown amid the skies ;

Whate'er Lorraine light-touch'd with foft'ning hue,

Or favage Rofa dafh'd, or learned Pouffin drew.

THOMSON.

If we compare the heights of different mountains, we fhall find that the greatest and higheft are found under the line. It is thought by fome, that the rapidity of the earth's motion, together with the greatnefs of the tides, in those parts, may have thrown up these stupendous maffes of earth. But, to whatever cause it may be attributed, it is a remarkable fact, that the inequalities of the earth's furface are the greateft at the Equator. The earth, indeed, is very craggy and uneven

GOLDSMITH.

near the Poles; but the heights of the mountains there are very inconfiderable. On the contrary, at the Equator, where Nature feems to sport in the amazing fize of her productions, the plains are extenfive, and the mountains remarkably lofty. Some of them are known to rife three miles in height above the level of the ocean..

To enumerate the most remarkable of these, according to their fize, I shall begin with the Andes, a prodigous chain of mountains, extending almost the whole length of South-America, parallel with the two oceans, and terminating at the ftraits of Magellan. Of these mountains we have an excellent defcription by don Juan de Ulloa, who, by command of the king of Spain, went to Peru, in with the French academicicompany ans, to measure a degree of the meridian. His account of his journey up these mountains is so curious, that I cannot forbear to give an extract from it.

After many days failing up the river Guayaquil, he arrived at Caracol, a town fituated at the foot of the Andes. Nothing can exceed the inconveniencies he had experienced in this voyage, from the flies and mofchitoes *.

We were the whole day,' fays he, in continual motion, to keep them off; but, at night, our torments were exceffive. Our gloves, indeed, were fome defence to our hands; but our faces were entirely *A kind of gnat.

Z 2

exposed;

exposed; nor were our clothes a fufficient defence for the rest of our bodies; for the ftings of thefe infects, penetrating through the cloth, caufed a very painful itching. One night, in coming to anchor near a large and handsome houfe that was uninhabited, we were no fooner feated in it, than we were attacked, on all fides, by fwarms of mofchitoes, fo that it was impoffible to have one moment's quiet. They who had covered themfelves with clothes made for this purpofe, found not the smallest defence; wherefore, hoping to find fome relief in the open fields, they ventured out, although in danger of fuffering, in a more terrible manner, from the ferpents. But both places were equally obnoxious. On quitting this inhofpitable retreat, we took up our quarters, the next night, in a houfe that was inhabited; the mafter of which being informed of the terrible manner we had paffed the preceding night, told us gravely, that the house we fo greatly complained of, had been forfaken, on account of its being the purgatory of a foul. But we had more reafon to believe that it was quitted on account of its being the purgatory of the body. After having journeyed, upward of three days, through boggy roads, in which the mules funk to their bellies at every step, we began, at length, to perceive an alteration in the climate; and, after having been long accustomed to heat, we now felt it grown very fenfibly colder.

mountain.

It is remarkable, that at Tariguagua we often fee inftances of the effects of two oppofite temperatures, in two perfons happening to meet; one of them leaving the plains below, and the other defcending from the The former thinks the cold fo fevere, that he wraps himself up in all the garments he can procure; while the latter finds the heat fo great, that he is fcarcely able to bear any clothes whatever. The one thinks the water fo cold, that he avoids being sprinkled by it: the other is fo delighted with its warmth, that he ufes it as a bath,

The ruggedness of the road from Taraguagua, leading up the mountain, is not eafily defcribed. The declivity is fo great, in fome parts, that the mules can fcarcely keep their footing; and, in others, the acclivity is equally difficult. The trouble of fending people before to mend the road, the pain arifing from the many falls and bruifes, and the being conftantly wet to the skin, might be fupported, were not thefe inconveniencies augmented by the fight of fuch frightful precipices, and deep abyffes, as excite inceffant terror. The road, in fome places, is fo fteep, and yet fo narrow, that the mules are obliged to flide down, without making any whatever of their feet. On one fide of the rider, in this fituation, rifes an eminence of feveral hundred yards; and, on the other, is an abyfs of equal depth; fo that, if he should give the leaft check to his mule, and thus deftroy the equilibrium, they must both inevitably perish.

ufe

'Having travelled nine days in this manner, flowly winding along the fide of the mountain, we began to find the whole country covered with a hoar froft; and a hut, in which we repofed, had ice in it. At length, after a perilous journey of fifteen days, we arrived upon the plain, at the extremity of which ftands the city of Quito, the capital of one of the moft charming regions in the world. Here, in the center of the torrid zone, the heat is not only very tolerable, but, in fome places, the cold is even painful. Here the inhabitants enjoy all the temperature and advantages of perpetual fpring; the fields being conftantly covered with verdure, and enamelled with flowers of the molt lively colours. However, although this beautiful region be more elevated than any other country in the world, and it took up fo many days of painful journey in the afcent, it is overlooked, nevertheless, by tremendous mountains; their fides covered with fnow, while their fummits are flaming with volcanoes. Thefe mountains seem piled one upon the other, and

rife

rife to an aftonishing height, with great coldness. However, at a determined point above the furface of the fea, the congelation is found at the fame height in all the mountains. Thofe parts which are not fubject to a continual froft, have here and there growing upon them a rush, refembling the genifta, or broom, but much fofter and more flexible. Toward the extremity of the part where the rufh grows, and the cold begins to increase, is found a vegetable with a round bulbous head, which, when dried, has an amazing elasticity. Higher ftill, the earth is entirely bare of vegetation, and feems covered with eternal fnow. The most remarkable of the Andes are the mountains of Cotopaxi*, Chimborazo, and Pichincha. On the top of the latter was my station for measuring a degree of the meridian; where I fuffered particular hardships, from the intensenefs of the cold, and the violence of the ftorms. The sky around was, in general, involved in thick fogs, which, when they cleared away, and the clouds, by their gravity, moved nearer to the surface of the earth, appeared furrounding the foot of the mountain, at a vast distance below, like a fea, encompassing an island in the midst of it. When this happened, the horrid noises of tempefts were heard from beneath, then discharging themselves on Quito and the neighbouring country. I faw the lightning iffue from

the clouds, and heard the thunders roll far beneath me. All this time, while the tempeft was raging below, the mountain top, where I was placed, enjoyed a delightful ferenity +. The wind was abated, the fky clear, and the enlivening rays of the fun moderated the feverity of the cold. However, this was of no very long duration; for the wind returned with all its violence, and with fuch velocity as to dazzle the fight; while my fears were increased by the dreadful concuffions of the precipice, and the fall of enormous rocks; the only founds that were heard in this frightful fituation.'

In comparison with the dangerous afcent thus defcribed by the Spanish philofopher, a paffage over the Alps, and a journey across the Pyrennees, appear but petty excurfions. These are the most lofty mountains in Europe; but the Alps are little more than one half the height of the Andes, fome of which we know, from geometrical and barometical menfurations, are upward of three geographical miles, or 19,026 feet, above the level of the fea. But lofty as are the highest mountains on the earth, it has been demonftrated, that they are nothing compared to its prodigious magnitude. For inftance, what proportion the thickness of a human hair bears to a globe eighty inches diameter, the fame does a mountain, a quarter of a mile high, bear to the whole globe ‡.

* This mountain is more than three miles above the furface of the fea. It is a celebrated volcano, one of the eruptions of which is defcribed in Ulloa's Voyage, Vol. i. page 442. Vefuvius, and even Etna, it is to be observed, are mere fireworks, compared to the volcanoes of the Andes, which, as they are the highest mountains in the world, are the most formidable alfo for their eruptions.

+ Some of my readers may here recollect Dr. Young's Character of a Good Man, in his eighth Night; in which one would imagine, that he had either copied, or anticipated, the defcription here given by the ingenious Spaniard :

With afpect mild, and elevated eye,

Behold him feated on a mount ferene,
Above the fogs of fenfe, and paffion's form ;
All the black cares and tumults of this life,
Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet,
Excite his pity, not impair his peace.

Whitehurst's Inquiry, ch. xii,

Moun

Mountains appear, to many, defects and blemishes in the earth; but they are certainly of the greatest fervice to the well-being both of man and other animals. Many creatures cannot live but in particular fituations; and even the tops of the higheft and coldest mountains are the only places where fome creatures will live: of this kind are the ibex and chamois among quadrupeds, and the lagopus among birds. They ferve as fkreens to keep off the cold blafts of the northern and eastern winds. They alfo ferve for the production of a great number of vegetables and minerals, which are not found in any other foil: they enable us to keep thofe mines dry, which furnish the moft ufeful metals. Befide, the long ridges and chains of lofty mountains, being generally found to run from eaft to weft, ferve to ftop the evagation of the vapours toward the poles, without which they would all run from the hot countries, and leave them deftitute of rain. Mr. Ray adds, that they condense thofe vapours, like alembic heads, into clouds; and thus, by a kind of external diftillation, give origin to fprings and rivers; and, by amaffing, cooling, and condenfing them, turn them into rain, and thus render habitable the fervid regions of the torrid The fupply, moreover, which they give to fprings and rivers, by ftopping and condenfing the clouds, is rendered more copious ftill by the prodigious quantities of fnow by which their fummits are crowned. laft circumftance, in particular, is noticed by our two philofophical

zone.

poets:

This

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Hence, when the fnows in winter cease to weep,

And undiffolv'd their flaky texture keep,
The banks with eafe their humble ftreams
contain,
Which fwell in fummer, and those banks

difdain.

BLACKMORE.

But the benefit of mountains, in general, is not only, that vapours driven against them are condenfed, fo as to be precipitated through the

chinks of the rocks, but that afterward, in their bowels, they are pre

*Mountains in Africa fo called.

ferved,

ferved, till they form rivulets, and then rivers. Vapours would fall in rain or dew, although there were no mountains; but then they would fall equally, over confiderable places of the globe at once, and thus would be fucked deep in the ground, or make a univerfal puddle. On the contrary, by means of mountains, they are perpetually pouring down in particular places, and treasuring up a conftant fupply to the rivers. Another confiderable ufe of them is the determination of these rivers; for if there could have been rivers without mountains, yet they could have flowed in a ftraight line only, if they had flowed at all; whereas, by these eminences placed up and down, they make innumerable turnings and windings, by which they water and enrich the foil of many different countries in one course, and at laft difembogue, fome

times in feveral mouths, into the fea. But, not to be too diffufive, I shall conclude with obferving, that these ftupendous maffes are not, as fome have fuppofed, mere incumbrances of the creation, or rude and useless excrefcences of the globe, but, in a va、 riety of inftances, add greatly to its beauty, and anfwer many excellent purposes. In a word, when we contemplate the mountains among the other innumerable difplays of the goodnefs, wifdom, and omnipotence of the Univerfal Creator, well may we exclaim with the prophet, The everlasting mountains were fcattered

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His ways are everlafting; or in the fublime perfonification of the pfalmift, Mountains and all hills-praise the name of the Lord; for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven †.”

An Account of the PRIVATE LIFE of the late JOHN HOWARD, Esq. Having lately given in our Magazine, an Account of the laft Illness and Death of this great Philanthropist, with a Summary of his Character, by Dr. Aikin, we fball bere prefent our Readers with a farther Extract from this excellent Work; which will evince in what a noble Way a private Country Gentleman may contribute to the Comfort and Happiness of his Fellow Creatures, even in the limited Extent of his own Estate.

A
T Cardington, Mr. Howard
fteadily purfued thofe plans, both
with refpect to the regulation of his
perfonal and family concerns, and to
the promotion of the good of thofe
around him, which principle and in-
clination led him to approve. Though
without the ambition of making a
fplendid appearance, he had a taste
for elegant neatness in his habitation
and furniture. His fobriety of man-
ners and peculiarities of living did not
fit him for much promiscuous fociety;
yet no man received his felect friends
with more true hofpitality; and he
always maintained an intercourfe with
feveral of the firft perfons in his
county, who knew and refpected his

*Hab. i. 6.

worth. Indeed, however uncomplying he might be with the freedoms and irregularities of polite life, he was by no means negligent of its received forms; and, though he might be denominated a man of fcruples and fingularities, no one would difpute his claim to the title of a gentleman.

But the terms on which he held fcciety with perfons of his own condition, are of much less importance in the view I mean to take of his character, than the methods by which he rendered himself a bleffing to the in-. digent and friendless in a fmall circle, before he extended his benevolence to fo wide a compafs. It feems to have been the capital object of his ambition,

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