* * The finest fur and the darkest color are most esteemed;
and whether the difference arises from the age of the
animal, or from some peculiarity of location, is not known.
They do not vary more from the common marten than the
Arabian horse from the shaggy Canadian.
Height of the Rocky Mountains.
VARIOUS estimates have been made of the height of the Rocky Mountains,
but it is doubtful whether any have, as yet, done justice to their
real altitude, which promises to place them only second to the highest
mountains of the known world. Their height has been diminished to the
eye by the great elevation of the plains from which they rise. They
consist, according to Long, of ridges, knobs, and peaks, variously
disposed. The more elevated parts are covered with perpetual snows,
which contribute to give them a luminous, and, at a great distance,
even a brilliant appearance; whence they derive, among some of the first
discoverers, the name of the Shining Mountains.
James's Peak has generally been cited as the highest of the chain;
and its elevation above the common level has been ascertained, by a
trigonometrical measurement, to be about eight thousand five hundred
feet. Mr. Long, however, judged, from the position of the snow near the
summits of other peaks and ridges at no great distance from it, that
they were much higher.
Pages:
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697