Note 71 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
By the mensuration and computation of Baron Humboldt and Mr. Pentland, the elevation of the highest peaks, and the mean heights of the Himalaya, of the equatorial and Bolivian Andes and the Alps, are as follows:—
Peaks. Mean Height.
Himalaya 25,700 15,670
Andes between 5° N. and 2° S. lat. 21,420 11,380
Eastern Cordillera Between 18° and 15° S. lat. 21,200 15,250
Western Cordillera 22,300 14,900
Alps 15,666 7,353
However, the Peak of Dhawalaghini is certainly 28,000 feet high. Captain Gerard gives 18,000 or 19,000 feet as the height of the snow-line on the mountains in the middle of the Asiatic table-land, and 30,000 feet as the absolute elevation of the Kuen-lun, but Colonel Sabine observes that these measures want confirmation.