The Pyrenees

Travels in the Pyrenees: containing a description of the principal summits, passes and vallies (1813) by Louis Ramond de Carbonnières

I doubt whether there exists a chain of mountains more worthy the observation of the geologist than that of the Pyrenees. This chain is simple and regular through almost the whole of its extent, and will soon suggest correct ideas both of the order which must have presided at the original formation of all mountains, and of the laws to which their gradual degradation is subject. A little consideration only will be necessary to perceive a symmetry in what is apparently mishapen. The vast accumulations of the matter, the fantastic labyrinth of the vallies of the mass, will then assume a decided disposition; and in the various circumstances of the situation, the height, and relation of its different parts to each other, will be quickly impressed upon the mind, the influence and visible operation of those uniform laws whose very existence would elsewhere be with difficulty discovered.

The chain of the Pyrenees extends from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and rarely deviates throughout the whole of its course from the shortest possible line. It is composed of many parallel bands of mountains, which rise in gradation from the plains of France and Spain. The highest band of the whole mass is the crest of the chain; it forms the natural and political frontier of the two kingdoms, and separates at their source the waters which flow towards each.

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