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192 the common ruin. But let me return from this digression.

Of the country about Jălāpă it is impossible that any words should convey an adequate idea. It stands in the very centre of some of the finest mountain scenery that the world can boast of. Nothing can be more spendid than the Peak of Ŏrĭzāvă, when the veil of clouds, which but too frequently conceals it during the day, yields to the last rays of the glorious setting sun. Such a sunset, and such a mountain, can only be seen beneath the Tropics, where every thing is upon a gigantic scale, and where, from the purity of the atmosphere, even the flood of light from above seems proportioned to the magnitude of the objects upon which it is poured forth.

Ŏrĭzāvă is 17,375 feet above the level of the sea: it is connected by a long chain of intervening mountains with the Cōffrĕ de Pĕrōtĕ, (so called from a mass of rock in the shape of a chest, which distinguishes the crest of the mountain,) and the two together form a beautiful termination to the view in the direction of the Table-land. The Coffre is nearly 4,000 feet lower than Ŏrĭzāvă, and looks quite diminutive when the Peak is visible at the same time, although when not seen together, the eye rests with satisfaction upon so magnificent an object.

On the sloping ground, which descends from the foot of Ŏrĭzāvă to the sea, are situated the towns of Cōrdŏvă and Ŏrĭzāvă, which are celebrated for the